Exploring Female Images in the Caldecott Award Books

(1980-2003)Luz Carime Bersh

The University of Alabama

Tuscaloosa, July 8th 2003

Purpose

• Explore how female images are represented in the Caldecott Award books (1980-2003), as they relate to female experiences in contemporary society.

Research Questions

• What is the gender distribution of the main and secondary characters in the Caldecott Award books (1980-2003)?

• What is the intersection of gender, race and class distributed across the main characters in the Caldecott Award books (1980-2003)?

• How are female images represented in the illustrations of the Caldecott Award books (1980-2003)?

Research Questions, cont.

• How are these female images represented in the context of the considerable changes in women’s social status since the Second Wave feminist movement?

• In what ways do these female representations provide alternatives for girls (across races and classes) in considering possible and attainable worlds toward a more egalitarian society?

• What factors are empowering or diminishing the opportunities for females according to the representations?

Issues Guiding the Study

• Prevalence of gender inequalities in society: social and economic disadvantages of women.

• The role of schools, education, teachers, and cultural texts as vehicles for reproducing gender inequalities.

Significance: Exploring Gendered Meanings in Children’s Literature as Cultural Texts

• Extend the body of literature of gender representations in contemporary children’s literature.

• Fill gaps in the body of scholarly research in children’s literature recognizing female images, qua visual text, as an important vehicle through which gender meanings can be transacted between text and reader.

Significance, cont.

• Fill a gap in the scholarly literature of feminist textual analysis.

• Fill a gap in the research of gender issues in children’s literature.

• Construct a bridge across disciplines:– Children’s literature– feminist research methods– sociology of education

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

• The Social Construction of Gender• Language and Imagery: An Early Start in the

Assimilation of Gendered Behaviors

• Educational Theories: The Role of Schools in the Construction and Reproduction of Gender.

• Gender and Schooling: What is Happening in the Classroom?

– The Role of Instructional Materials in the Construction of Gender Stereotypes.

– Gender Representations in Children’s Books.

– Gender Representations in Teachers’ Selection of Children’s Literature.

The Caldecott Awards

• Historical perspectives

• Studies on gender representations in Caldecott Award books.

• Qualitative methods: Multiple issues in evaluating gender stereotypes in Caldecott Award books.

Theory and Methods

• Feminist Textual Analysis:– Analysis of female images in the Caldecott

Award books: Cultural texts.– A vehicle for an emancipatory project.• Issues of representation in postmodernity.

Qualitative Methods:– Observations– Field notes– Descriptive statistics supporting the description

of qualitative analysis (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992)

– Systematic data collection and analysis through an emerging methodological design:

• Analysis of non-sexist images in children’s books (Lehr, 2001; Rudman, 1995; Short, 2001).

• Art Criticism in Postmodernity (Wolcott, 1994)• Feminist Photo Analysis (McDowell & Court, 1994; Sakuma-Sato,

1998)• The “Good Girl” Image (Harper, 1998)

Data Collection and Analysis

• The data collection and analysis were conducted simultaneously, utilizing constant data comparative analysis (e.g.Creswell, 1994; Glesne, 1999).

• Three levels of data collection and analysis. Protocols tested and validated in a pilot study using a method of inter-rater reliability (Silverman, 1993).– Level 1: Gender, race, and class distributions of primary

characters in 98 Caldecott Award books (1980-2003).– Level 2: Analysis of the female image in 34 Caldecott Award

books featuring females in primary roles.– Level 3: Analysis of intersectionality issues of gender, race, and

class in six Caldecott Award books.

Findings for Level 1

• Males outnumber females.

• Whites outnumber other races.

• Middle-upper class dominates class distribution.

Gender distribution in primary and secondary roles of the characters

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Medal Honor

male 1

female 1

male/female1

gender-less

male 2

female 2

Not identified

Comparative Racial Distribution for Medal and Honor Award Books

Medal Award Racial distribution

70%

11%

19%White

Asian

Not identified

Honor Award Racial Distribution

57%

8%

2%

29%

4%

White

Asian

Not Identified

Black

American Indian

Class Distribution in the Medal and Honor Award Books

05

1015202530354045

Medal Honor

Upper

middle-upper

middle

lower-middle

low

not identified

Findings for Level 2

• Context: Females depicted in restricted contexts (home). – Occupations: household

chores, serving others, caring for others (babies, siblings). Other activities in search for freedom: physical, artistic.

The Caregivers

Work outside home: Witchcraft

Image and Character Traits:

• Thin, small, young, beautiful, clean, and predominantly White.

• Related to:• Lack of expression,

fragility, selflessness, helplessness, passivity, and naivete.

• Ugly, old, crooked, angry, scary, evil.

• Related to:• Expression, strength,

wisdom, fearlessness, power, control, activity.

Clothing and Character Traits

• Light blue dress and white apron.

• Connection with an elemental level of character development.

Positive, Non-Sexist Character Traits

• Self-efficacy

• independence

• creativity in problem -solving strategies

• initiative

• courage

• intelligence

• curiosity

Strong, Positive Relationships with Human Male Characters

• More depictions of positive relationships between the female protagonist and male characters, than between female characters.

• No strong negative relationships with human male characters.

Findings for Level 3

• Female gender is shaped by the intersection of class.

• Race does not play a significant role in shaping female character traits.

Middle-Lower Class

• Multidimensional• Genuine• Authentic• Multiple interests• Expression• Independent• Autonomous• Character strength

Lower Class

• Sadness, hopelessness, inferior status among the social group in which she is contextualized.

• Limited scope of action, exploration, and discovery: Limited opportunities and choices.

Upper-Class

Implications

• The present study’s findings support previous studies that indicate an asymmetric distribution of gender in the Caldecott Award books as cultural texts.

• The findings reflect how the U.S. culture continues to reinforce the upper-class, White male hegemony through institutionalized texts.

Implications, cont.

• The gender, racial, and class distributions in the texts fail to reflect the real diversity in the U.S. society at large.

• They fail to reflect the authentic multidimensional female experiences within the scope of social institutions in the past 24 years.

The Female Image

• The Good Girl image prevails, holding traditional stereotypes of femininity: “conformity, compliancy, control of the body, voice, emotions and physicality” (Harper,1998, p. 224), lacking a sense of self, with limited opportunities, and scope of action. Her primary role is that of care-giver.

The Female Image, cont.

• The trend of progressive female is emerging, shifting to a more authentic representation of females in today’s society:

• Multidimensional, creative, fearless, active, wise - beautiful in unconventional ways.

Intersectionality Issues of Gender, Race, and Class

• The message conveyed to readers is that social class affects the female in her choices, opportunities, and independence:

• Lower and Upper Classes are limited. Middle-lower class is not.

• Race is not a factor affecting the females’ empowerment or diminishing their opportunities.

Recommendations

• For elementary school teachers: Include more gender equitable literature for children in their classroom libraries.

• For children’s literature instructors at teacher education programs: disseminate multicultural awareness by highlighting issues of gender, race, and class in instructional practices and curriculum materials.

Recommendations, cont.

• For researchers in the fields of children’s literature, education, and feminist studies: Further exploration of gendered meanings emerging from children’s books and other social texts used in schools today is needed.

• More research is needed to bridge the gap across disciplines in order to expand the understandings of the gender dynamics in contemporary society.

Final Thoughts• As educators and researchers we have the

privilege of influencing the beliefs of many individuals. Keeping the issue of Gender in a forefront position in our political educational agendas can lead to increased awareness of prevailing inequalities. This awareness is the first key step in an emancipatory project leading to gender equity in our society.