Gender Norms.edited.edited

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1 Gender Norms, Biases, and Stereotypes Student’s name Institutional Affiliation Professor’s name Date of Submission

2 Gender Norms, Biases, and Stereotypes Children read different works of Literature, which influence their identity. They include nursery rhymes, fairy tales, textbooks, and novels. Children’s Literature contributes to events and attributes a child uses for identity. They use it to evaluate their emotions, beliefs, and their actions. Children's Literature that proposes gender bias, gender stereotypes, and biased gender norms poses detrimental effects on them. An example is stereotyping gender roles based on traditions that women are not supposed to be leaders and are to be subordinates of men. This notion may result in an inferiority complex among growing girls as they feel inferior to their male counterparts. The absence of good representation of gender roles for girls may make them shy away from the future careers they would like to pursue if they contrast with the societal view as they read in biased Literature. It is due to the fear of being ridiculed, and those willing to undertake the careers may face opposition from their friends, lowering their self-esteem. Gender bias in Literature is reflected in children's Literature by the extent to which a male or female is used as a main character and how gender is portrayed. Most children's Literature emphasizes male characters by using male names for most characters, using male names in book titles, and subordinating female characters, which is gender bias. “Most book titles contained the main character's name and reflected the character’s dominant attributes” (Taylor & Julia, 2017, p.124). Children observe the inferiority of females and a tendency of superiority among boys during growth hence prejudice between genders. Also, they may feel that the only way to identify as male is to be superior to their female counterpart, which negatively impacts them. “Findings from our analysis

3 of children’s books featuring gendered inanimate objects and nature-based entities mirrored previous findings that male characters were represented more than female characters in children’s books” (Taylor & Julia, 2017, p.127) Gender stereotypes also reflect in some children's Literature, where girls are depicted as naïve, dependent, physically weak, and sweet. At the same time, boys are portrayed as physically strong, aggressive, independent, and adventurous (McCabe et al., 2011). Boys are given roles of great fighters, rescuers, and adventurous people. In contrast, girls are given positions of caretakers, characters needing help or rescue from men, and characters only supporting men. In some children's Literature, females are depicted as frightened, worthless, and beautiful, while males are portrayed as fierce, huge, and horrible. “Unlike male characters who are depicted as level-headed and unemotional, female characters are portrayed as emotionally fragile, even unstable ” (Taylor & Julia, 2017, p.126) These stereotypes negatively impact children as they are biased and irrational and tend to promote one gender. They portray inequality in society and encourage prejudice through unrealistic ideas of gender. It may negatively influence children's thinking, behavior, and relationship between boys and girls. They portray a specific character, such as masculinity being male, which children may apply as a source of their identity. “Overall, found that over half of male characters were given qualities typically associated with masculinity” (Taylor & Julia, 2017, p.125) As children read different Literature, they tend to identify with the characters of their genders. The inadequacies of female characters in various Literatures reduce the chance of young girls realizing the place they should

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4 occupy in the society. Gender stereotyping tends to restrict children's freedom, views, and perspectives of the world. They tend to be limited to conducting themselves in a way perceived as gender appropriate rather than behaving in a way that suits their different personalities. Children's Literature which challenges stereotypical roles and norms enhances gender identity among children. The story of My Dad Takes Care of Me by Patricia Quinlan (1987) challenges stereotyping of gender roles. Traditional roles, in this case, are inverted. The father is portrayed as a career person and a nurturer at the same time. The factory in which the father works is closed and they have to relocate to a new home. The father has to stay in the house taking care of kid. The writing educates about gender roles and challenges gender stereotyping in traditional perspectives as the father becomes a nurturer. It differs from traditional gender norms where the part of child care is associated with women. Multicultural children's Literature is essential in influencing a child's identity on gender norms, thus enhancing social justice. It is a resourceful learning material in which children learn, see and experience the world. How gender is portrayed influences their perspective of the world and societal place as they grow up. Children's Literature full of gender stereotyping and bias describes a discriminative society that affects their identity as male or female. Teachers, authors, and publishers can make a huge difference in how children's literature materials are written, published, and used in the classroom by children. They must first realize and work on their attitude and views toward gender. They must also incorporate gender issues in children's Literature as they arise and address the issue of gender stereotyping and gender bias. Teachers can

5 ask children to compare various characteristics of male and female characters often stereotyped in different cultures and give their views to get their opinions and educate them on gender balance. Teachers, authors, and publishers of children's Literature should publish multicultural books with characters of different personalities irrespective of gender. These books should reflect equality and fairness and inspiration to all genders. Authors should increase female characters, representation in book titles, and their central roles to mitigate the existing gender bias. They should enhance critical thinking among children on gender issues so that children can develop their views and understanding of gender roles. It will enable them to learn different personality traits and behaviors of people of different genders and hence have a wide range of ideas of gender identity. Gender-neutral Literature should portray individuals with different distinctive personalities. The characters' achievements in these books should not be attributed to a particular gender. Occupations of various characters should be free of any gender. A personality such as body strength should be gender-free (Jabeen & Mehmood, 2014). The language used should be gender-free and individual emotions portrayed upon the situation. A combination of traditional and non-traditional multicultural Literature provides a diverse picture among children of how gender is perceived in different contexts. These measures will promote correct identity among children and different perspectives of males and females, thus enhancing social justice.

6 References McCabe, J., Fairchild, E., Grauerholz, L., Pescosolido, B., & Tope, D. (2011). Gender in Twentieth-Century Children’s Book: Patterns of Disparity in Titles and Central Characters. Gender & Society, 25 (2), 197. Quinlan, P. (1987). My Dad Takes Care of Me (V. van Kampen, Illus.). Annick Press. Jabeen, L., and Mehmood, A. (2014). Children Literature: Shaping Gender Identities . Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 2, 240-242. Taylor, B., Julia W. (2017). The Gendered Portrayal of Inanimate Characters in Children’s Books. Journal of Children's Literature, 43(2), 4–15.

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