Gender Stereotypes in the Picture Books

Gender Stereotypes in the Picture Books

Learning goal: By the end of the activity, you will be able to identify gender stereotypes in children's books.

Individual work /2 minutes

Please share your definition of gender stereotype in one sentence.

A generalized view or preconception about attributes, or characteristics that are or ought to be possessed by women and men or the roles that are or should be performed by men and women.

Gender stereotypes can be both positive and negative for example, “women are nurturing” or “women are weak”. (United Nations Human Right, 2014)

Definition

Gender Stereotypes

Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky (1997)

• Time: 2 mins

• Work in groups/pair

• Write down your answers to the questions below.

1. What female and male gender stereotypes in the image can you think of ?

2. Do you think male and female characters are treated in the same way?

(e.g. Could [character] have been male or female?)

The Bem's Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) (1974)

What terms in BSRI you will use to describe the male/female characters in the image?

• Time: 3 mins

• Work in groups/pair

• Write down your answers to the questions below.

By Shannon Hale,

Dean Hale; illustrated

by Nathan Hale

(2008)

By Paul O. Zelinsky (1997)

Comparison of two versions of Rapunzel

• Time: 3 mins

• Work in groups/pair

• Write down your answers to the questions below.

• What are differences of portraying the female character (Rapunzel) in the two versions of stories?

• What features of the female character against gender stereotypes?

​Self-reflection (5mins)

​Gender stereotypes in children's books