Gender Stereotypes In Children's Books

Where does women stereotypes began? One should first read children’s learning books, as stated by Annie Nakao, Chronicle Staff Writer of the San Francisco Chronicle. Nakao brings up a great point when he wrote, “When I was growing up in San Francisco, all of my senses were like a big sponge” (Nakao 2003). Meaning children learn not by only watching but by reading as well, drawing information in like a sponge. Many children picture books, portray women negatively, or perform “women tasks” such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping. One such book, I’m Glad I’m a Boy! I’m Glad I’m a Girl from the 1970’s let women know from a young age, that they were inferior from their male counterparts. With most, if not all pictures portray women negative. The

I’m Glad I’m a Girl, one could not notice that men are far smarter than women just by viewing this book. One of the book captions state, “Boys fix things. Girls need things fixed” and “Boys invent things. Girls use what boys invent.” States we never had a women inventor such as Marie Curie, who discover Radium, Polonium, and also, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for pioneering research on radioactivity. Also, arguing the books point “Boys invent things. Girls use what boys invent”, boys use what girls invent more. Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of Kevlar, which is main ingredient in the production of bulletproof vests, which saved countless lives of male soldiers, as well as the “Boys are policemen” stereotype portrayed in the

I’m Glad I’m a Girl, is the classic bias and stereotypical roles is this captions, “Boys can eat. Girls can cook.” In the paper Boys Don’t Play with Dolls: Mothers’ and Fathers’ Gender Talk during Picture Book Reading, states parents should give gender talks to their children when reading these books to them (Endendijk). Honestly, why read the book in the first place, if you going refute what is from the book. Just like the Bible argument, individuals should not select or alter certain sections from a book. Going as far on page 141 that, “Gender talk is defined as the way parents talk to their children about gender, for example, by contrasting females and males or emphasizing gender categories” such as which is acceptable for both