An Analysis of Gender Displays in Selected Children Picture Books in Kenya

Abstract

Children’s books are an early source of gender role stereotypes. Gender displays in such books can be read or interpreted as a social problem in any education system. The study aimed at identifying common gender displays in 40 children picture books used as supplementary English texts for classes 1 to 3 in Kenya published between 2005 and 2010. Five forms of gender display were evaluated based on Ervin Goffman’s model of decoding gender displays and visual sexism. Through content analysis, mean stereotyping scores for each behavioural category were computed and the overall score for each year determined. Findings indicate that the behaviour of females is significantly different from that of males in the selected books. Both positive and negative images about females have been given although the pattern changes from year to year. Suggestions for practice and further research are given.