A look at the biased representation of gender and gender roles in children’s books in India
Ashmi Sheth for YAS! (Young Adult Space)
Literature, Culture
“Everything we read, […] constructs us, makes us who we are, by presenting our image of ourselves as girls and women, as boys and men.”
This observation made by teacher and writer Mem Fox back in 1993 explains how the characters portrayed in children’s literature mould a child’s conception of socially accepted roles and values, and indicate how males and females are supposed to act. Children, right from preschool, start developing a sense of gender identity by processing and making sense of what they see in the world. Preschoolers develop a ‘story schema’ by reading their illustrated storybooks again and again. By the age of five, children have a fairly developed sense of gender identity and begin to understand what it means to be male or female. The “nurturing” female and “protecting” male characters in books naturally facilitate the socially conforming gender roles that children are attempted to be boxed in, right from their first cry.
India is often called as the “cradle of children’s literature.” Children’s literature in India has a rich heritage of ancient oral narratives such as myths, legends, fables and folktales, which has continued to influence the contemporary books for children. One of the prominent scholars in the field of children’s literature in India, Navin Menon, points out that material from Indian epics, ancient lore, classical tales and folk tales, the Panchatantra forms the majority of contemporary children’s literature in India. Children across different cultures are united by several pan-Indian narratives such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Panchatantra, which are written mainly by men, primarily from a men’s point of view. It has been noted by several scholars that women have hardly been represented in these tales, and if they are, they are often represented in a negative light. For example, Anuradha Sharma points out that in the Panchatantra, “women are depicted as ignorant, speechless, dumb as well as conspirators and seductresses who do not follow ethics of life.” A similar representation is shown in fairy tales, wherein females are either ‘mothers’ who are caring, nurturing, naïve and dependent or are witches, seductresses, or duplicitous. On the other hand, males are depicted as powerful, rescuers, protectors, adventurers and decision-makers. Such stereotyped portrayals of the sexes and misrepresentation of the underrepresented female contribute negatively to children’s development, limit their career choices, and frame their attitudes about their future roles as parents.
In a study of Newberry and Caldecott award-winning books, male protagonists outnumbered female ones three to one, and 21 out of 25 books contained images of women wearing aprons. Moreover, a UNESCO study in the year 2016 has pointed out the strong gender bias found in teaching materials in countries worldwide. In India, only 6% of the illustrations in primary English, Hindi, Math, Science and social studies textbooks showed only females, while more than half showed only males. What’s more appalling is that not a single woman was shown as an executive, engineer, shopkeeper or merchant in mathematics textbooks. In most of the children’s storybooks, the main characters are male and the female characters often do not do anything but instead, have things done to them. Such portrayal of women as “passive receivers” clearly suggests the sexism largely prevalent and comfortably ignored in children’s literature. Moreover, a study found that on a website that suggests “50 Indian books that every parents must read to their child,” only 10 books have women protagonists. “This lack of female characters in children’s literature curtails the opportunity for the children to identify themselves with their gender and understand their position in the society,” the study says.
“Content analyses of children’s literature research are often based on an understanding of how texts are nested in the social, cultural and political context in which they are both created and read,” note literary critics, Galda, Ash and Cullinan. At the very basis of the popular children’s genre of ‘fairy tales’ lies the sexist assumption that princesses need to be ‘saved’ by either a nurturing fairy or a protective, bold and handsome prince; and yes, what more do women want except for beauty, wealth and a handsome prince? Parsons remarks, “a primary goal of gender construction in patriarchal culture is to prepare young girls for romantic love and heterosexual practices, girls come to know that their value lies in men’s desire for them and the characteristics and qualities that will assure their desirability are revealed in cultural storylines.” Seen from a Freudian and Jungian lens, a number of fairy tales “are brimming with misogyny, sexual desire and repressed carnal instinct,” yet we relish these stories and pass them on from generation to generation, without giving them a critical thought. Now, it is time, we critically analyse these narratives through a feminist lens.
Several research studies suggest that gender atypical storybooks increase child’s play with gender-atypical toys, challenge children’s stereotypes about gender-appropriate behaviour, occupations and activities as well as influence their future aspirations and career goals. Consequently, several attempts have been made to change the quantity and content of representation of women in children’s literature. Sowmya Rajendran’s The Weightlifting Princess, Anushka Ravishankar’s Excuse Me? Is this India? Ashutosh Pathak’s Friends Under the Summer Sun, Pratham Books’ How do airplane fly? and Tine and the Faraway Mountain are few examples of children’s books that have tried to challenge the conventional portrayals of women and have displayed the women characters in a different light.
Thus the issue of women’s representation in children’s books is threefold: sexism, misrepresentation and underrepresentation. Publishing houses should encourage content having a more realistic portrayal of twenty-first century women and thereby, prepare and condition the future generations to be critical, egalitarian and responsible citizens. Can we, as parents, be critical and aware of what are we reading out to our kids? Charity begins at home.
