Australian parents are being encouraged to ditch some popular classic children’s books, including Possum Magic, Hairy Maclary and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and instead choose more ‘diverse’ books to read to their little ones.
Dr Helen Adam from Edith Cowan University’s School of Education believes several of these children’s books ‘perpetuate outdated stereotypes’ and don’t reflect modern families.
Dr Adam and her team of researches observed the stories and characters from the books and broke them down intostereotypical, gender restrictive, sensitive to gender or gender neutral.
The study had 44 educators working with 271 children and 186 books, across eight early learning centres in Australia and the US.
The study concluded that 90 per cent of the books did not represent multicultural Australia fairly and were not inclusive.
Many of the older books in the study were first published in the 1950s and 60s and showed ‘outdated viewpoints and lifestyles’.
“Purely and simply this research shows, there’s a lack of representation of boys and girls in non-traditional gender roles in these books,” explained Dr Adam.
“Book characters provide role models and implicit definitions of masculinity and femininity for children,” the study claimed, and can have “a long-term influence on children’s gender development because they communicate cultural and social norms to children.”
The study found the books do not include gender diverse or ethnically diverse characters.
“This can contribute to children from these families and backgrounds feeling excluded or marginalised,” Dr Adam said.
Dr Adams insisted that the books themselves weren’t the problem but the fact that didn’t but educators and parents would often choose them over many of the new books with diverse characters and storylines.
“The majority of the books shared by educators in this study promoted traditional, binary and stereotypical viewpoints of gender and gender roles,” she wrote in her study.
“Although books are becoming more diverse with an increased balance between leading female and male characters, many of the roles played by these characters still reflect only traditional gender roles and expectations,” she said.
“This makes it challenging for adults when choosing empowering books to share with children.”
Getty Images
Classic children’s books considered ‘detrimental’ to kids
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Possum Magic by Mem Fox
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd
Wombat Stew by Marcia Vaughan
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
