Essay Gender Roles in Children's Literature

In “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls,” Pollitt writes about the differences between growing up as a boy growing up as a girl. She brings up the stereotypes that society naturally creates between genders in early ages, which leads to the lifestyle and path that boys and girls are raised in. Parents and feminist alike play a big part in establishing these sex roles. They raise their kids wanting them to be successful at what they are expected to be good at based on their gender and the trend that has been set before them.

Upon reading the book “Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture”, by Peggy Orenstein, I was extremely captivated to absorb the opinions that she had on raising a girl and all of the feminine influences that naturally surround her. The author herself had stated right from the first page how she initially wished for the child in her womb was a boy. My preliminary notion that joined this book to the course material was assumed before I even began reading, as several obvious details it became apparent that the book for sure had to be about gender roles and gender identity. The whole topic of princesses in the title, as well as the way the books cover flaunted pink and shimmery glitter it was just a telltale sign to have gender specific ties. That impression continued as I began reading the very first chapter boldly titled “Why I Hoped for a Boy”. There were such forthright examples making it overly apparent that she, the author, would be discussing the sexes, meaning girls vs.

In a society filled with gender stereotypes, children often adopt gender roles as they move from childhood to adolescence because of the many factors that influence their views to the point they will deny certain roles because it does not fit the gender bias. During the early years, boys and girls will usually be drawn towards gender specific activities. Playing house for example, they little boy will imitate going to work, while the little girl will imitate cooking in the kitchen and playing with the baby doll. Gender stereotypes are embedded in our culture as a social identity giving “norms” to how gender is defined. This paper is going to discuss the child’s earliest exposure to gender roles in the home from clothing, toys and expectations to society’s role in gender bias on early childhood development.

     I have thought about many different ways to organize this paper and have come to the conclusion that the best way to approach the topic is on a book-by-book basis. My perceptions of the gender biases in these books vary greatly and I did not want to begin altering my views on each so that they would fit into certain contrived connections. What interests me most in these stories is how the authors utilize certain character’s within their given environment. Their instincts and reactions are a wonderful window into how the authors perceive these “people” would interact with their surroundings and often are either rewarded or punished by the author through consequences in the plot for

Although many are unaware, a rigid and relentless culture of outdated, and misguidedly created gender roles, act as an unofficial supreme law of land, and dictate how our society functions, and who it functions for. The strict structure of gender roles mandates how we behave, how we appear to ourselves and to others, and how we linguistically communicate, all of which play an immensely important role in our society. Even at the young age of four, children have acquired the social competence to declare whether a specific toy is marketed towards boys, or marketed towards girls, just by the outwards appearance alone; and while theses characteristics are not necessarily harmful or hurtful to the child at four years old, they can potentially turn adverse and inimical, causing harm to others in both physical, and emotional fashions. The wide spread concept and belief in gender roles has continuously through time been protested and thought of as a broken mold, and with a close analysis of the book Lord of the Flies, author William Golding, subtly, yet progressively, proves this notion through his intricate and convoluted method of storytelling.

This article will immensely add to my paragraph on childhood gender roles. "Children 's Gender Identity Development: The Dynamic Negotiation Process Between Conformity and Authenticity” provides evidence that child are indeed aware of the stereotypes that come with gender, and allow that knowledge to effect their everyday lives.

Renowned op-ed writer Claire Cain Miller in one of her articles, "Boys and Girls, Constrained by Toys and Costumes" brings our attention to the distinction between boys and girls for choices, this difference leads to the long-term notion of gender roles in the minds of the children. Claire's article is trying to sensitize the general public against gender difference. She tries to be sentimental by pointing out that the gender war started long before we were born, thus having the presence of a gaunt definition of what is for girls and what is for boys.

The literature children read reflects the sort of values adults wish to instill on future generations. Today we can see the gender norms from the past are still alive today. Gender norms are the set of ideas society holds on how men and women should act. For instance, men work and women are in the kitchen. These cliche norms come from the continued teachings to children who become adults and teach their children.

From a young age, boys and girls are told to act a certain way based on their gender. The norms they are told often contradict each other, with boys being told to be confident and girls compliant. As a UNICEF report from 2008 describes, “Children start facing norms that define ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ from an early age. Boys are told not to cry, not to fear, not to be forgiving and instead to be assertive, and strong. Girls on the other hand are asked not to be demanding, to be forgiving and accommodating and ‘ladylike’.

Gender stereotypes have always been common in American literature. Gender stereotypes obligate both sexes to traditional responsibilities and ambitions. Common stereotypes found in literature usually force characters to behave in the way the society considers appropriate. The majority of the literary works portray women as objects rather than wives. This is because men are portrayed as the individual who has the most power and authority.

Children books today are enforcing the many gender stereotypes and roles that are prevalent in society. Lack of female characters in books is sending children a message at young ages that females occupy a role beneath men in the society. This is then causing a possible contribution to our young girls feeling unimportant, and the boys privileged. Boys are also choosing not to pick up books that don't gender related to themselves or focused on things they like. Boy children are less likely to pick up a bright pink book with a female character on the front, whereas to girls will read everything.

As teachers, whether it is a parent, caregiver, or school teacher, we each have the responsibility to teach children to read to succeed later in school. The article, “Building on Windows and Mirrors: Encouraging the Disruption of “Single Stories” Through Children’s Literature” by C. Tschida, C.Ryan, and A.Ticknor. is a good example on how stories separate by gender. According to Bishop, “Children have the right to read books that reflect their own images and books open less familiar worlds to them.( Bishop, 2012,p.9) So our society thinks that we will make it easier by having kids read books that shows kids how they should see the world according to what other people want them to see. For instance the story about Cinderella, Cinderella is

It would be beneficial for children to read books about diminishing gender roles because then they could learn from a young age that they don’t have to conform to society’s expectations to be accepted and be happy. For example in the book, The Knight in the Sparkly Dress, Prince Willis doesn’t hesitate to wear Princess Zinnia’s dress to help her; he even later expresses how great he looks in dresses. Even after her parent’s find out about Zinnia’s escape the authors purposely keep Willis wearing the dress, even though it is no longer necessary, to continue promoting the idea that a boy wearing dresses is no big deal. The authors further tried to portray this message of acceptance by preventing the princess from killing the dragon. If she

"Gender development is a critical part of the earliest and most important learning experiences of the young child"(Peterson & Lach, 1990, p.188). Mendoza and Reese (2001) state that characters and events in children’s literature encourage children to identify their own actions beliefs an emotions. Therefore, in order to teach children about gender role, most of educators and parents use books as cultural mechanism to convey the information that they want young children to learn as books provide role model for children and play a big influence on children’s development and perceptions (Turner-Bowker, 1996). The book “I’m glad I’m a boy, I’m glad I’m a girl” written by Whitney Darrow, is one of many children’s picture books that emphasizes the difference of traditional roles between boy and girl.

     “So it is naturally with the male and the female; the one is superior, the other inferior; the one governs, the other is governed; and the same rule must necessarily hold good with respect to all mankind.” This quote, spoken by the famous Aristotle, proves to be timeless. The words express knowledge concerning gender that proves to be centuries ahead of its time. Aristotle however, may not have even realized the amount of truth expressed in these few, simple words. Men are commonly thought of as the dominant of the two sexes, but as we have seen through many of the literary works studied, this is most certainly not the case. In dealing with books such as Macbeth written by