Content Analysis and Gender Stereotypes in Children's Books

Content Analysis and Gender Stereotypes in Children's Books Author(s): Frank Taylor Source: Teaching Sociology, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Jul., 2003), pp. 300-311 Published by: American Sociological Association Stable URL: . Accessed: 12/11/2014 23:26 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@. .

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CONTENTANALYSISAND GENDER

STEREOTYPESIN CHILDREN'SBOOKS*

This article deals with gender stereotypes in popular children's books. I propose an exercise in which students use content analysis to uncover latent gender stereotypes present in such popular books as those by Dr. Seuss. Using a coding frame based on traditionalgender-role stereotypes, I assign students to small groups who then undertakea close analysis of selected children's books to see whether or not traditionalgender-rolestereotypes are apparent. Students examine the text, symbols, characters, use of color, and major themes in each book. In this article, I briefly review the theoretical underpinnings of the exercise, offer a brief summary of content analysis, and outline the delivery of the exercise, its learning goals, and major discussion points. Througha take-home assignment, students are asked to articulatethe mannerin which gender stereotypes may be perpetuated by the media. Additionally, students are encouraged to think about the ways in which their own gender identities have been shaped by the media. Actual student comments are used throughoutto highlightthe majordiscussion points.

FRANKTAYLOR EdinboroUniversityof Pennsylvania

ONE OF THEMOSTdifficult tasks we face themselvesas membersof various social

whenteachingintroductorcyoursesin soci- categories,includingcategoriesrelatedto

ology is convincingstudentsthat society gender,socialclass, or race andethnicity,

playsa largerolein directingtheirbehavior andto thinkaboutthe ways in whichtheir

andshapingtheirlives. Studentssteepedin lives have been shapedand influencedby theideologiesof individualismandmeritoc- membershipin those groups. Perhapsthe

racymuchpreferto viewtheirbehavioras a most basic social statusis that relatedto

matterof choice and outcomesin life as gender.Societymaintainsa differentset of

congruentwith their unique talents and normativeroles for womenand men, and

skills. For instance,when it comesto gen- requiresof them differentresponsibilities

deredbehavior,manystudentsare inclined andkindsof work.One'sexpectedopportu-

to believethatdifferentiaol utcomesin life nitiesandoutcomesin life correlatestrongly

for womenand men are due to naturalor withgender.

innatedifferences(particularlydifferences One method of helping studentslearn

relatedto biology)ratherthantheprocesses aboutgenderstereotypesand gettingthem

of socializationand social forces which interestedin sociologyin generalis to use might be suggested by using their the tools of qualitativeanalysis (Walzer

"sociologicailmagination("Mills1956). 2001). Theexercisedescribedhereconsists

Thus, studentsmust learn to identify of a contentanalysisof children'sbooks

which containmany commonstereotypes

"*Pleaseaddress all correspondence to the relatedto gender.Almostany type of chil-

author at Department of Sociology, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, PA

16444; e-mail: ftaylor@edinboro.edu.

Editor's note: The reviewers were, in

alphabeticoarlderL, indaM. GrantA, rtJipson,

and J. Allen Williams.

dren'sbookcan be used. Studentsperform a contentanalysisof gendermessagesin the booksby usinga codingframespecifically developedfor the purpose.Using the techniques describedhere, studentsread and

Teaching Sociology, Vol. 31, 2003 (July:300-311)

300

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CONTENT ANALYSIS AND GENDER STEREOTYPES

301

examinethe books and recordtheir find- pressionof thegeneralizedother,andhence

ings, payingparticularattentionto charac- of femalenessand maleness (Bem 1981;

tersandthemesthatarestereotypical.

1983;Mead1934).

FirstI discusstheoreticalbackgroundto By ageseven,andperhapsas earlyas age

theexercisein relationto languageandgen- four,childrenbeginto understangdenderas

dercodes. Next, I brieflyreviewthe litera- a basic componentof self. The literature

ture relatedto genderstereotypesin chil- affirmsthatmanymasculineand feminine

dren'sbooksandreviewthe learningobjec- characteristicasrenotbiologicalat all; they

tives of the exercise and what previous are acquired.Genderschematheory, for

learningstudentsshouldhave masteredin instance,suggeststhatyoungstersdevelopa

orderfor the exerciseto be effective.This sense of femalenessandmalenessbasedon

is followedby a brief review of content genderstereotypesand organizetheir be-

analysis.I thendiscusstheexercisedelivery havior around them (Bem 1981, 1983,

andsomeinstructionosn how to carryit out 1984; Eagly and Wood 1999). Children's

successfully.Finally,I bringup some use- booksmay be an importanstourceof gen-

ful pointsof discussionthatcan follow the der stereotypesthat childrenuse to help

exercise.Thisarticlecontributetso thepre- organizegenderedbehavior.

sentliteratureon genderstereotypesby pre- An interestingaspect of ideology, and

sentingactualstudentobservationsand re- genderideologyin particulari,s thatpeople

flections.

practiceit (Taylor1998). Ideologicalmes-

sages aboutgenderare embeddedthrough-

THEORETICALBACKGROUND out ourculture,andwhenwomenandmen

use them as standardsof comparisonto

Languagesetsthestageforthedevelopment makejudgmentsaboutthemselvesor about

of self-consciousbehavior and thought. others, we may say that they are

Throughlanguageand interactionc, hildren "practicingg"enderideology.Genderideol-

acquirea social self (Mead 1934). Lan- ogy is internalizedas a systemof signs;in

guageallowshumansto makesense of ob- other words, a code. For example,when

jects, events,andotherpeoplein our envi- trying to emulate cultural standardsof

ronment. Indeed, it is the mechanism beauty,womenmay use cosmetics,certain

throughwhichhumansperceivethe world styles of dress, andeven certaincolors in

(Sapir1929; 1949;Whorf1956). As chil- orderto alter their appearanceT. he same

drenlearnhow to read,theyareexposedto maybe saidfor men. Peoplemaynot even

the culturalsymbols containedin books. be awarethattheirperceptionas boutreality

Giventhe assumptionthatlanguageshapes and their place in it are constantlystruc-

andconditionsreality,thenit mightbe use- turedin anideologicaml anner(Heck1980).

ful to ask whatchildrenmightbe learning This exerciseattemptsto help studentsun-

aboutgenderwhentheylearnhowto read. cover the gendercode and thinkaboutthe

Children'sbookspresenta microcosmof waystheirliveshavebeenstructurebdy it.

ideologies, values, and beliefs from the

dominantculture,includinggenderideolo-

LITERATUREREVIEW

gies andscripts.In otherwords,whenchil-

drenlearnhow to readthey are also learn- Children'spre-schoolbooks are an impor-

ing aboutculture.Learningto readis part tant culturalmechanismfor teachingchil-

of the process of socialization and an impor- dren gender roles. A 1972 study of award-

tant mechanism through which culture is winning children's books discovered that

transmittedfrom one generationto the next. women and girls were almost invisible.

For example, children may use the gender Boys were portrayedas active andoutdoors-

scripts and ideologies in these books when oriented, while girls stayed indoors and

they are role playing and forming an im- behaved more passively; also, men were

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302

TEACHING SOCIOLOGY

leadersandwomenfollowers(Weitzmanet

or whetherthey actuallyhelp produce

al. 1972). This researchwas replicatedin

genderstratification.

1987, and the researchersconcludedthat 5. Facilitatea discussionon patriarchaynd

althoughsome improvementsin roles for

sexism.

womenhad takenplace, the charactersin thebookswereportrayedin traditionaglender roles (Williamset al. 1987). The 1987

CONTENTANALYSIS ANDEXERCISEDESIGN

researchfound a majorityof the female characterssharedno particularbehavior, The exercise relies on contentanalysis-a

girls in the booksfailedto expressany ca- strategyforcollectingandanalyzingqualitareer goals, femalerole modelswere lack- tive data throughthe use of an objective ing, and male characterswere still por- codingscheme(Berg2001). Thisdiscussion trayedas more independentM. ore recent is intendedto assistinstructorisn carrying research, based on the same Caldecott out a simple contentanalysisand is not

Award-winnincghildren'sbooks,foundthat meantto be a thoroughanalysisof methodwomen were still portrayedin traditional ology. The discussionwill be restrictedto gender roles usually associatedwith the the aspectsof contentanalysisnecessaryto householdandtoolsusedduringhousework, carryouttheexercisein a meaningfuflash-

whereasmaleswerenon-domestiacndasso- ion.

ciated with production-orientetdools and A contentanalysisexaminesthe artifacts artifacts(CrabbandBielawski1994).How- of materialcultureassociatedwith social

ever, otherresearchconductedin the 1990s communicationT.heseartifactscan include

suggests that the traditionalportrayalof writtendocumentsor otherformsof social womenin children'sbooksis givingwayto communicationsuch as children'sbooks,

a moreegalitariandepictionforbothwomen andmen(Clark,Lennon,andMorris1993). This certainlysuggeststhat the issues are farfromsettledandrequiremoreresearch.

television programs,photographs,magazines, or musicrecordings.The methodology is usefulfor inferringmanifestandlatent contentby systematicallyand objectivelyexaminingthe messagescontainedin

LEARNINGOBJECTIVES

the artifact(Abrahamson1983;Berg2001;

Holsti1968;1969;Selltizet al. 1967).

Inorderto successfullyachievethelearning

objectivesof the exercise, some previous SamplingStrategy topics should have been fully addressed, A numberof standardsamplingprocedures includingsocializationc, ulture,andgender canbe adaptedforuse in a contentanalysis. inequality.The following learningobjec- However,purposivesamplingis best suited tives are derivedfrom the theoreticaldis- for this exercise (Berg 2001). In a pur-

cussionof theimportancoef languagein the processof socialization: 1. Demonstratethat gender ideology is

embeddedin popularchildren'sbooks. 2. Uncoverthe dimensionsof genderide-

ology presentin the booksthroughthe useof contentanalysis.

posive sample,the researcherdrawsupon his or her expertiseto select a samplethat exemplifies certain characteristicsof the populationto be studied.Sincethe goal of the exerciseis to demonstrattehatcultural messages about gender are embeddedin children'sbooks,a purposivesamplebased

3. Connect the gender ideology in chil- upon an ideal type is acceptable. In this case

dren's books to gender inequalities re- an "ideal type" is a genera of books in

lated to work, occupation, income, and which gender stereotypes are known to ex-

education.

ist. For example, some researchers have

4. Discuss whether the books are simple used CaldecottAwardbooks for the obvious

reflections of innate gender differences reason that if gender stereotypes are found

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CONTENTANALYSISAND GENDERSTEREOTYPES

303

in award-winningchildren's books, pro- contentis not arbitrary(Berg 2001). The

gress towardgender equalityis probably criteriaof selectioncan yield eitherquanti-

lackingthroughouthe genre of children's tative or qualitativedata; quantitatively,

literature.

tally sheets can be used to determinethe

Prior to conductingthe exercise, I ask frequencyof certainelementsin the mes-

studentsto write out a list of children's sage. Qualitativelyt,he studentscan exam-

booksthey are familiarwith. Dr. Seuss is ine the ideologies, symbols, and themes

the most frequentlymentionedchildren's embeddedin the messagesand write out bookseries.The BerenstainBearsandDis- summariesof their findings.In this exer-

ney series are also popular,along with a cise, the criteriafor selectionare basedon

host of other children'sbooks. Out of a traditionasltereotypesaboutgender,usually populationof 1,357 studentsat four sepa- presentedas a genderdichotomy,andboth

rateinstitutionws ho completedthe exercise quantitativaendqualitativeapproacheswill

in my classes over a five-year period of be used.

time, 88 percentindicatedthat they were

familiarwith the Dr. Seuss series and 71 ManifestandLatentContent

percentwere familiarwith the Berenstain Manifestcontent in an artifactof social

Bears.

communicationrefersto elementsthat are

Thissampleis, therefore,not a represen- physicallypresentandcanbe countedaccu-

tativesampleof booksactuallyreadby any rately.Forexample,studentscan countthe

particulargroupof studentsparticipatinign numberof male or female role modelsin the exercise. However, since the exercise the books. Additionally,the numberof

seeksto demonstrattehatgenderstereotypes womenin rolesoutsideof thehouseholdcan

were actuallypresentin the books many be countedor thenumberof womenin lead-

studentsreporthavingread as children,it ershiproles,andso forth.

seems, on the face of it, that these books Latentcontent, on the other hand, re-

are acceptablefor analysis. Ratherthan quires an interpretivereadingby the re-

drawinga sampleof books from each se- searcher, who interrogatesthe symbolic

ries, I purchasedthe entire collections. meaningof the datain orderto uncoverits When I conductthe exercise, I ask each deepstructuraml eaning(Berg2001). Obvi-

group of studentsto select a book they ously, a contentanalysisof latentmessages

mightreadto theirchild.In fact, manystu- is moredifficultto achieve.Whenemploy-

dents do report that their selection was ing a latentanalysis,the researchershould

basedon a booktheywere familiarwithas use corroborativteechniquess, uchas using a child or, in the case of some nontradi- independentcoders or providingdetailed

tional students,a book they had actually excerptsfrom the data,which supportthe

purchasedandreadto theirchildren.

statedinterpretationAs. richlatentanalysis

maynotbe feasiblein one classperiod,but

Criteriaof Selection

studentsshouldbe encouragedin the at-

The issue of exactlywhich elementsfrom tempt.Also, a latentanalysismaybe appro-

thebookswill be analyzedrefersto thecri- priatefor a take-homeexercise, whichthe

teriaof selection;in thisexercise,the crite- instructocraneasilydevelop. ria areusuallyworkedout in advance.The

criteriashouldbe exhaustiveenoughto ac- Whatto Count

count for variations in messages, explicit A content analysis can proceed in either an

enough so that the analysis can be easily inductive or a deductive manner or some

replicated, and should reflect the relevant mixture of both (Strauss 1987). If the in-

aspects of the messages. Additionally, the structorhas the time to devote to an induc-

criteria of selection should be applied con- tive approach, students start by examining

sistently so that inclusion or exclusion of the message in detail and seek to identify

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304

TEACHING SOCIOLOGY

themes that seem to be important

EXERCISEDELIVERY

(Abrahamson1983). The deductive ap-

proach,on the otherhand, uses a coding StepOne

schemedevelopedin advanceof the analy- Startby dividingtheclassintosmallgroups

sis. The researcherdevelopsa hypothesis of two or three students.I have used the

from a theoreticalframeworkand tests it exercisein largerclasseswherethe groups

usinga codingschemewhileperformingthe canbe as largeas five students,althoughin

analysis.A codingscheme-in thisexample largergroupsthechanceof socialloafingis

one basedon the traditionagl enderdichot- greater.Oncethe groupshave been estab-

omy foundin manyintroductionto sociol- lished,allowthemto select a bookto ana-

ogy textbooks-is providedto the students lyze andhandout the codingsheets. Each

in advance.

group shouldhave one book, one coding

Althoughalmostanythingcan be counted sheet, anda copy of the traditionagl ender

whenperforminga contentanalysis,seven roleslistedin Figure1.

major elements are usually emphasized. At this point, give the studentsexplicit

These elements include words, themes, instructionasboutwhattheyareexpectedto

charactersp,aragraphsit,ems,concepts,and do. Explainthattheyare goingto readthe

semantics(Berg 2001). For this exercise, booksandlookat thepictureswiththe spe-

studentsshouldeasily be able to identify cific goal of determiningto what extent

words,themes,andcharacterrselatedto the genderstereotypesarepresent.The impor-

traditional gender dichotomy. Students tanceof systematicalllyinkingtheiranalyses

shouldbe instructedto look for these ele- to thedatacannotbe overemphasize(dStalp

mentsin thebook'stext, as well as theuse and Grant2001). This is accomplishedby

of color,thestoryline,phrases,picturesand askingthestudentsin eachgroupto develop

anythingelse relatedto gender.

operationadl efinitionsof the genderstereo-

typestheywill code.

CodingFrame

I like to use a dialecticalapproachthat

This exercise employsa coding frameto mixes inductiveand deductivetechniques.

organizethedataandto help studentsiden- Studentsfirst take a cursorylook at each

tify findingswhile analyzingthe books. I book to see whetheror not genderstereo-

haveusedthe codingframepresentedhere typesarepresent.Forexample,if thegroup

with great success, and instructorsshould thinksthe book containsan exampleof a

findit easyto reproduce(see Appendix). womanbeingpassive,they beginto try to

Figure1.GenderThemesBasedonTraditionaGl enderStereotypes*

FemininTeraits

MasculinTeraits

Submissive Dependent Unintelligent

Emotional

Receptive Intuitive Weak Timid Content Passive

Cooperative Sensitive Sex object Attractivedue to physical appearance

Dominant Independent Intelligent

Rational Assertive

Analytical Strong Brave Ambitious Active

Competitive Insensitive

Sexually aggressive Attractivedue to achievement

"*Foundin Macionis(2001).

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CONTENTANALYSISAND GENDERSTEREOTYPES

305

identify other behaviors associated with theyfindandtheycancountandtallyexam-

passivity.I instructhe studentsto writeout ples foreachoperationadlefinition.

their operationaldefinitionsso that they

mayreferto themwhilecodingin steptwo. StepThree

Whenthe studentsarefinishedcodingtheir

Step Two

books, ask two or three groupsto share

Onceeverythinghas been handedout and their findings and observationswith the

the instructiongsiven, the instructoractsas class. Ask eachgrouppresentingto explain

a facilitator.Some groupswill need more their operationadl efinitionsand how they encouragementthanothers,and in my ex- codedexamplesof genderstereotypesG. en-

periencewith the exercise, studentsasking erally, studentsexplain their operational

for helpwill adoptan instructor'sinterpre- definitionsandthenpointoutpicturesfrom

tationverbatimif they can. The instructor theirbookor readtextfromtheirparticular

shouldmakeeveryeffortto avoidprojecting bookthattheyfeel exemplifiestheirdefini-

his or her interpretationosnto the groupif tions of gender stereotypes.While each askedfor help. One idea for limitingthe groupis presentingits findings,the instrucinstructor'isnfluencein the codingprocess torwritessummarieosn the boardthatwill

is to reservea bookto whichhe or she can help studentsdraw conclusionsfrom the

referwhenansweringquestionsandprovid- exerciseandfacilitatethediscussion.

ing examples. The goal is to get the studentsto do the StepFour

coding. Instructhemto be consistentand Studentswill take the exercisemore seri-

encouragethem to analyze the data mi- ously if they know therewill be some as-

nutely,pointingout, for instance,thatcer- sessmentof theirwork.To thatend, I ask

tain colors are frequentlyassociatedwith studentsto writea short(1-2 pages)reflec-

genderandthatthis fact shouldbe partof tion paperin whichtheydiscusswhatthey

their observations. Likewise, students learnedfromthe exercise.Instructorws ho

shouldexaminethe text, and even certain wish to give studentsmoretimeto conduct words,for genderstereotypes.The nature, a latentanalysiscan do so duringthis step

type, andnumberof charactersc, haracters' by allowingthemto takethe bookhome. I

body size, behaviors,and even the title of performanothercontentanalysisof the rethebookshouldall be examinedby thestu- flectionpapersandthenpresentthatdatato

dentsto uncovermanifestandlatentgender the class at a laterdate.Thecommentsand

stereotypes.

remarksreportedin the discussionsection

All the membersof the groups should comefromthestudentreflectionpapers.

participatein the codingprocess, and they

shouldenterdataon the codingsheetonly

DISCUSSION

whentheyaregenerallyin agreemenat bout

whetheror not a stereotypeis present.In Overseveralyearsof conductingthe exerthispartof the exercise,studentsshouldbe cise, I have discoveredthatthe discussion

allowedto disagreeand discuss their dis- portionof the exercise tends to gravitate

agreementbsecausethishelpsthemdevelop towardsome fairly predictableissues and a deeperunderstandinogf theprocess(Stalp themes. Whilea varietyof issuesemerge, and Grant2001). Additionally,encourage studentsrepeatedlyinvoke three general

them to jot down their thoughts on a sepa- conclusions: 1) the book is only a book and

rate sheet of paper to refer to later during we are reading too much into it-children

the discussion and to help them write the are not affected by the ideologies in the

reflection paper. Students can code in both books; 2) things have changed and more

a qualitativeand quantitativemanner: they recent children's books no longer reflect

can write out explanationsof the stereotypes attitudes about gender, especially for

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306

TEACHING SOCIOLOGY

women; and 3) the books simply reflect dren'sperspectiveasboutgender,as gender

reality.

schema theory suggests. Moreover, it is

Regardingthe claim that the analysis apparenthatthese womenhad not previ-

readstoo muchintothe books, it is impor- ously given much thoughtto the gender

tantto pointoutto studentsthatchildrenare rolesactuallyportrayedin thebooks.

just beginningto acquireself andpersonal- In turn, this female student'sreflection

ity at the very time they are readingthese handilydemonstratehserabilityto findgen-

books. In otherwords, they are beginning derscriptsandthemesin children'sbooks:

to learn how to organize their behavior

alongthe patriarchalg, enderedcodes embeddedin suchbooks.Itcanalsobe pointed outthatchildrenwill face similarmessages from the broaderculturalmilieu. Aside

fromthe messagesthey contain,the books are themselvessocial artifactsthat do not

exist in a vacuum,but in relationshipto otherartifactsand social relations.Gender

ideologiesapparentin the books are also

Therewasa partin thebookwherea female dog askeda maledog if he likedherhat. Everytimehesaidno, untilintheendhe finallysaidyeswhenshehadonthemostfancy hat.Thelastpictureshowedthemgoingoff togetherT. his was a symbolof powerof looks.Showinghowthe maledog wouldn't takeheruntilhelikedherhat,andthat hegirl doggota newhateachtimetoimpreshsim.

embeddedin children'stoys, the massme- This observationcertainly illustratesthe

dia, andeven clothing.It is thereforeim- connectionbetweengender scripts in the

portantthat studentslearn to see these media and the continuingimportanceof

booksas onlyone componenot f patriarchal personalattractivenessfor women. Thus,

gendercodes. If languagedoes shapeand women in the classroombegin to under-

conditionour perceptionsof reality, then standthattheymayhaveinternalizecdertain

parentswhodesireequalityfor theirdaugh- behaviorsandattitudeswithrespectto their

tersor egalitarianismfortheirsonsoughtto appearancewhen they were very young.

lookmorecloselyat whattheirchildrenare Conversely,the same is true of the men,

reading.Studentswhoexpectto be parents, who beginto see thattheyhave learnedto

or perhapsalreadyare,cangaina greatdeal see women,partly,as sexualobjects.

of insightfromtheexercise.

Anothercommonthemethattendsto sur-

I havekeptstudentsummariesof the ex- face duringthe discussionis the claimthat

ercise for severalyears and presenthere gender inequalityis a thing of the past.

someof theirmoreinterestingobservations. Whileit is truethatsignificantsocial, edu-

In relationto whetheror not genderideolo- cational,and occupationaglainshave been

gies and stereotypesare present in the madeby women,thereis stilla longwayto

books, two female studentsmake the fol- go beforegenderequalityis reached.Gen-

lowingcomments:

der stratificationremainsapparentin the

family,in educationi,n the massmedia,in

I haveneverthoughotf theseideasas I have thelaborforce,in houseworki,n thedistri-

readthesebooksto mychildrenI. amquite offendedby themessagetshatareso craftily hiddenbytheauthors.

butionof incomeand wealth,andeven in politics(Bernard1981; Bianchiand Spain 1996; Charles 1992; Davis 1993; Pear

I neverrealizedhowchildren'bsookscould 1987;FullerandSchoenberge1r991;Ollenhavesuchstereotypicavliews withinthem. burgerandMoore1992;Waldfogel1997). However,nowthatI amawareof theseunder- Even when women are in the work force

lyingviews,I willbe moreobservant.

they often encounter a glass ceiling which

prevents their rising much beyond middle-

From these observations it seems clear that level management (Benokraitis and Feagin

the exercise helps students understandthat 1995; Yamagataet al. 1997). Women still

children's books can actually influence chil- face a considerable amount of violence in

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