Gender Roles in Children’s Literature

Everything we read constructs us, makes us who we argon, by presenting our form of ourselves as filles and women, as boys and men M. Fox It is a well know fact that childrens literary productions holds an fundamental determination in the study of young children. It has the power to teach, offer meaning and serve purpose every last(predicate) while being entertaining. Childrens literature is a widely getable resource that offers children a plentitude of insightful information. Within the pages childrens books lies an considerable resource of likewisels that aid in the modernizement of character for children, and conveys. grammatical sexuality is an important face of development and is a commonly explored theme in childrens literature. Children sop up information from numerous sources such as teachers, family and friends, barely they also crystallise it from literature. Like in every culture the utilisations of sexual urge in the States are an important area of its culture. Gender Identity is a all-important(a) part of a childs development because it helps children to bring out themselves in relation to others. A child develops their sense of sexuality at a very early age, for most children gender identity begins to develop in the midst of 18 and 30 months.After a child has developed their sense of gender they begin to realize that gender is stabile girls grow up to begin woman and boys grow up to be add men. By the time a child is the age of four or five they hasten come to prefer fighting(a) and playing in activities that are defined by night club as gender appropriate. It is during childhood that children begin to fall dupe of stereotyped behaviors. For example girls refusing to play with trucks or wear pant because it is non considered feminine by social club. Lawrence Kohlberg an American Psychologist pop outlines the stages of gender development.Kohlberg outlines gender development in three stages. The first being Gender l abeling, in this stage children signalize others as male or female establish on carnal appearance. The second stage is when children begin to recognize that gender is stable oer time gender stability. And the third stage is gender consistency children picture that gender is permanent. But what influences children to know whats appropriate for their gender? The coiffe may be lay down in a possibility know as Gender Schema. The Gender Schema is a psychological theory that explains how children develop their gender roles.This theory suggests that children learn active male and females roles from the golf club in which they live in. This theory also suggests that children adjust their gender behaviors to align to the gender expectations of their culture. Children acquire cultural information well-nigh their gender roles from a variety of sources parents, teachers, family, media and literature. Through literature children are exposed to characters that outline the pass judgment behaviors for each gender. Children take the information given to them and then try to line up themselves to what is anticipate of them.Because of this children are unable to know their full potential, forcing them to abide at heart their given roles. Since the beginning of time gender has defined ones role in beau monde. Like class, race and ethnicity, gender shapes just about every part of our lives. (Macions pg 90). hostelry places roles and expectations for each gender that are played in out in every scenery of carriage home, school, work, playgrounds and literature. As children develop they are subjected to messages from bon ton, which helps them to gain understanding of the homo around them and molds them into their given roles.The way, in which gender roles are visualised in childrens literature, significantly contri scarcees to the development of childrens gender roles and how they are perceived by society. It is important to teach children about gender roles since it is something that society holds in regards, but most of the time in literature it is done poorly. The portrayal of gender in literature is based off of the expectations of society and places bias on gender. Boys are portrayed as strong, adventurous, independent and capable and practically play the roles of fighters, adventurers and rescuers.Girls are portrayed as sweet, naive, dependent, sensitive and emotional and play roles such as caretakers, princesses and mothers. The roles of gender portrayed in literature are often a reflection of the views of society and do not offer objective insight. Even though it is important to teach children about gender roles, the fashion in which it is done in does not allow children to wait on beyond those expectations. If a young girl is constantly read stories about a womans role as a housewife, homemaker and mother, she give assume thats what is anticipate of her and will not know society will allow her to be anything she wants to be.Gen der roles in childrens literature are linked to gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes have unendingly been a part of society and are seen in almost every aspect of life. Stereotypes are defined as hyperbolize descriptions applied to every person in the same category. (Macions p. 72). For every ethnic, racial and gender category society places stereotypes to describe certain groups of people. Gender stereotypes in childrens literature are portrayed in the traits, role behaviors, physiological characteristics, and occupations of characters in childrens literature.The common messages in childrens literature about gender put emphasis on the traditional roles of men and woman. unluckily traditional roles are often unequal and place males as preponderant over woman. Traditional gender encompasses the concept of masculinity and femininity. In many countries around the world, the traditional roles of gender are greatly valued. The traditional role of gender places woman as the homema kers and men as the provider. Girls are always shown as passive and girls are always shown as being active. (BookStove. com).With such emphasis on tradition, childrens literature does not allow children to see past the stereotypical expectations of society. It is no wonder wherefore gender contrast in childrens literature is so prevalent when society places unequal views upon gender. Unfortunately much of the childrens literature today contains gender stereotypes as previously discussed. One would most likely assume that this is something of the past but it is as present today as it was in past decades. A reason for this could be that Gender-role development is one of the most important areas of homophile development (Noppe).Since gender roles are an important aspect of development for children, it is a significant topic in literature. However in the bulk of childrens books the main characters are predominantly male, thus limiting opportunities for girls to identify with and su pport their own gender. The male gender has been the dominant of the two sexes since the beginning of time, which explains why male characters are dominant in childrens books. The majority of childrens books have a male as the main character, leaving females with the nonage of literary experiences aimed for them. In an analysis of childrens book titles by S.Ernst it was found that male names represented nearly twice as often as female names (Tsao). Ernst also found that books that had gender unbiased and girls names were actually about boys. Gender roles and stereotypes force young children to set to traditional stereotypes regarding gender. Because of this, boys look pressured to live up to the standards of masculinity while girls feel pressured to be feminine. Gender based beliefs are incorporated into a majority of literature written for children. Even though the stereotypical divide between males and females is not a large as it was 40 years ago, it is stillness present today . When they are repeatedly given stereotypical messages, their choices of what they want to render or accomplish is limited by these gender stereotypes (Bookstove. com). Today both males and females are doctors, soldiers, teachers, athletes, government leaders, stay at home parents and much more, all the same this is not fully represented in childrens literature. Females in childrens literature are all in like manner often portrayed in a narrow and biased way (Bookstove. com). Over the past hardly a(prenominal) decades societal changes in gender roles have lead the stereotypical beliefs of gender to represent something different than what it used to.With so many changes in the views of society you would think that childrens literature would reflect these changes but all too often they do not. And most often the books that do challenge the beliefs of society draw great controversy causing them to be put on the back burner in favor of more traditional childrens books. The stereoty pical roles of gender that are portrayed in childrens literature have been the cause of much controversy in recent years. However a solution to remedy the abundance of gender stereotypes in literature has not yet been reached.It is believed that the ideas of masculinity and femininity are too deeply introduce in society making it especially difficult to change. Every aspect of society is shadowed with stereotypical beliefs that are perceived through media, advertising, literature and socialization. These models are a constant reassure that exploits gender stereotypes. According to Bookstove. com, guidelines were use in an attempt to eliminate sexist roles in childrens literature. These guidelines were expected to encourage a healthier development of gender for young children but unfortunately did not persist to combat the situation.Thus making it evident, that stereotypes are too deeply rooted in society. It will be interesting to see how the issue pans out over the coming decades . Gender identity is a crucial part of a childs development and will most likely remain a common theme amongst childrens literature. The views of gender depicted in literature may prevent children from participating in activities that would best suit their capabilities and personalities. It is important to understand and learn the expectations of society but childrens literature does not fully allow children to develop concepts of individuality.Today society places value on individuality and does not limit life chances to certain genders, but this is all too often not shown in childrens literature. In order to help children in the process of gender identity one must realize that children need chances to interpret the world around them without the insight and beliefs of society. Hopefully in time childrens literature will steer away from the stereotypical beliefs of gender and focus on non-traditional gender roles, allowing children to see themselves in many different aspects.Works C ited Macions, John J. societal Problems. New York Pearson, 2008. Noppe, Illene C. social. jrank. org. 1 December 2010 . Tsao, Ya-Lun. Gender Issues in Young Childrens Literature. interpretation Improvement (2008). Unknown. 12 3 2007. Bookstove. com. 5 December 2010 . Gender growing Gender Schema Theory. Encyclopedia of Women and Gender Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender. Oxford Elsevier Science Technology, 2001. Credo Reference. Web. 06 December 2010. Fox, M. (1993). Men who weep, boys who dance The gender agenda between the lines in childrens literature. Language Arts, 70 (2), 84-88. EJ457107.