Gendered technologies: Gender in electronic children's literature.

摘要

Studies of gender fairness in schools have shown that girls are not equitably represented in the images and text of books and other curricular materials (AAUW, 1990). The absence of examples of girls in stories, texts and pictures, is thought to have a negative effect on girls self esteem and role identity. In particular, gender bias in schools is thought to be one reason why girls are less likely than males to pursue the fields of math, science, and technology (Sanders, 1997). During the past decade, electronic forms of children's literature (ECL) have become a part of the curricular materials used in schools. The issue of gender bias in ECL has been acknowledged in the literature but very few studies have been conducted. The purpose of the present study was to examine the issue of gender bias in ECL. Specifically the study looked at the presence of male and female main characters in ECL. The study also addressed the question of whether ECL contains gender stereotyped settings, behaviors and activities as is found in the traditional canon of children's literature. A content analysis was performed on 17 ECL titles. It was found that the overall pattern of gender bias found in schools and curricular materials is also being perpetuated in ECL.