Traditional Gender Roles Essay Example

provide for their families but the woman are the care takers of the family.

There was in an article in the “Australian Journal of Psychology” called Gender and race portrayal in children’s picture books: An analysis of recent Caldecott Medal winners. The article states that, “This research investigates recent Caldecott Medal winning children s picture books. Seventeen books are evaluated through the examination of central character gender, central character race, author gender, and illustrator gender.Because these books are widely available, I contend that many children have access to and have read the Medal and honor books, hence influencing perceptions of gender and race. Picture books play an important role in the presentation of societal values and are an indication of social norms. Since Weitzman's landmark study of children's picture books (1972), the percentage of female characters has increased by an astounding 30%.

Although males and females are approaching being portrayed in equal numbers, female authors and illustrators represent only 24% of the sample.Social implications of these findings include that children of both genders are allowed to cross traditional boundary lines. Boys wear lipstick and girls play outdoors. Adult men, also, are portrayed in traditional and non-traditional roles. Adult women, on the other hand, are constrained to their role as mother and caregiver.

Sheer numbers indicate that boys and men are more significant central characters in children's literature and that male authors and illustrators are rewarded more frequently than female authors and illustrators.

Abstract From Author

The influence in social construction in forming gender roles are important today because although you have some people who like the traditional roles of a man working and the woman being a stay at home

mom. Nowadays that tradition is changing and there is a new tradition coming about where the man and the woman work and they both take care of the family. In our Sociology book it states that,” Both sexes are physically capable of learning to cook and sew yet most Western societies determine that woman should perform those task.

It also goes on to say “Both men and woman are capable of learning to weld and to fly airplanes, but those functions are generally assigned to men. ” I think that everyone should be given an option as to what role they would like to play in their lives, whether they want to be a working man and a working woman taking care of their household together or a man working to provide for his family while his wife stays at home.Related essay: “Gender and optical illusions”

Works Cited

1. Kohler-Flynn, H. "Gender and race portrayal in children's picture books: An analysis of recent Caldecott Medal winners. " Australian Journal of Psychology 55 (02 Aug. 2003): 50-50. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Peirce CollegeLibrary. 5 Oct. 2008 Richard T. Schaefer. “Social Construction of Gender”. Sociology 11th Edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1983-2008. 298-99