Technology in children’s picture books as an agent for reinforcing or challenging traditional gender stereotypes

Abstract

AbstractTechnology is a field with strong connections to the female/male dichotomy. Children start to stereotype everyday life regarding this dichotomy as early as the age of two. The preschool, through its activities—among them reading aloud from picture books—is an arena where societal norms can be either preserved or challenged. Books about different artefacts, e.g. cars, airplanes and boats, often serve as an introduction for children about the human application of technology and may influence how they identify and categorise the technology they encounter in everyday life. The aim of this study was to investigate the technological content in a selection of picture books from a gender perspective. Since preschools in Sweden often use books from libraries in their daily activities, the empirical material was derived from the library sections Facts for youngsters and Technology for youngsters, aimed at children aged 1–3 and 3–6. A thematic analysis was used to discover the dominant themes within the books. The results show that there is a focus on how separate artefacts function but no detailed explanation of how these artefacts are connected or what kind of implications they have in a societal context. There also seems to be an emphasis on traditionally masculine coded technology.