Jack Went up the Hill … but Where Was Jill?

Abstract

To assess the premise that picture books are important transmitters of sex-role information, 206 picture books for children, ages 3 to 6, were analyzed. Three groups were formed: (1) titles published before the women's movement (1903–1965); (2) titles published after the women's movement (1966–1975); (3) titles chosen from a specialized nonsexist list of books about girls (1882–1973). Analyses indicated that children are presented with sex-typed book models: females, underrepresented in titles, central roles, and illustrations; males, overrepresented in instrumental pursuits and underrepresented in expressive activities. On the other hand, the third group of books featured mostly female characters and contained a predominance of instrumental models with a minimum of expressive activities. The data revealed that picture books today provide stereotyped models for young children to emulate.