It was about 24 hours after I gave birth that a friendly woman stopped by my hospital room. Still a bit loopy from the c-section drugs, I looked suspiciously at everyone who entered the room.
Do you really have to take my vitals again? Is someone going to help me get this baby to latch properly? Are you bringing food that won’t make my stomach churn?
This smiling face wasn’t here to solve any of those problems. She presented a free book to us with brochures about the importance of reading to babies.
I was a little annoyed. Lady, don’t you know my friends and family gifted us with at least 30 books before this little babe was born? You’re wasting your breath. If you don’t have a bagel to go with that book, hit the road.
Then I immediately felt guilty as I realized that not everyone is that fortunate.
Related: 5 Best Baby Shower Books
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We began reading to V in her early days, and she inhaled them with fervor. By the time she could sit up, she would hand books to us, one arm outstretched in front and one to the back, for balance. Over and over we would read The Going-To-Bed Book
Once I came out of the post-surgery painkiller stupor (kidding…mostly…) I started to wonder where the girls were. Not MY girls. My girls were a little sore and leaky. But the girls in the books. It isn’t news that our culture has long considered the white male point of view to be the default, the universal experience. The norm that stands in superiority to “the other.”
I was surprised, though, that the male experience dominates children’s books, too. After I conducted a very scientific paper and a pen research study on the 61 (whoa, really?) books in our house, I learned some interesting things.
Where my girls at?
From the front to back…. Remember that song? I digress. Anyhow, male characters made up 42% of characters while female characters were 32%.
Related: The New Classics: Feminist Books for Children
Notably, a significant portion of the books had no gendered characters at all because baby and toddler books tend to use animals as characters. For example, out of about six or seven of our beloved Sandra Boynton books, there are only one or two gendered characters total.
Several of the books with animal protagonists use male pronouns. These are likely just a default, where gender could really go either way and is not central to the story.
Related: How to Make Women’s History Month Fun for Kids
Because the character has no strong defining characteristics, it defaults to male.
With one book that labels the main character “Mr. Fish” I have started calling it “Mary Fish” instead. Why does it need to be a boy?
Where are the female protagonists in children’s books?
What’s worse than the lack of female representation is the dearth of female protagonists. With the high number of animal characters, the human protagonists are few. But the girls who center the story are even fewer.
The lead character in the story was eight times more likely to be male than female. Eight times!
Diversity in children’s books is slowly improving, but needs work
This topic warrants a full post. The days where all characters in film, television, advertisements and books reflect the actual makeup of the population are still in the future. But several of the basic word learning books, especially Priddy Books, have strong racial and ethnic diversity representations.
Related: Why Representation in the Media Matters
It’s worth noting, however, that these are word learning books with no protagonists. The number of protagonists who are people of color is almost non-existent in our collection.
It’s mama time.
Much different than hammer time. When there is a female character, she is much more likely to be a mother than a protagonist.
And female characters are much more like to be mothers than the male characters are to be fathers – while only 5.7% of the male characters are dads, a whopping 30% of the female characters are moms. 
Where are the dads? Do we not want little boys to see role models who inspire them to be good fathers? This reinforces old stereotypes that women are the primary caregivers in families and ultimately responsible for everything that happens to children.
Related: Book Review of Princesses Wear Pants and It Takes a Village
Girls learn that the most important role they can fill in life is being a mother. Or that that’s the only role they’re likely to fill. While being a mother certainly IS the most important role for many women, while our girls are kids, don’t we want them to dream of the adventures they could have underwater, jumping on the bed, getting lost in a big city, or fighting dragons?
Girls Need Role Models in Children’s Books
Reading to babies, toddlers, and children is unarguably a worthy use of time. But if children can’t see themselves in the stories, how will they know the potential they can reach?
One of our favorite current books is about a garbage truck. I love this book because it features an activity that is not considered a favorite of girls. For some reason, marketers and toy companies think that only boys love transportation. Airplanes, trains, cars, and tractors.
Related: Girls Like Trucks, Too!
But my girl gets so excited on trash day when she sees the garbage truck whoosh down the street. It was a gift from her auntie, who happens to babysit her on trash day. They watch out the window together as V learns a new, fascinating thing about our world.
What’s better is that I Am A Garbage Truck
As the saying goes….if they can see it, they can be it.
In articles on this important topic, it’s rarely mentioned how boys perceive content that diminishes female characters’ presence. They, too, need to grow up with models of active, competent women and girls in diverse roles – besides men and boys in traditionally female roles (service and nurturing).
Hi Deborah, great point. I totally agree. A variety of role models are so important for both boys and girls. They need to see men and women doing a variety of things, and having layered personalities.