Barnlitteratur a genus : en kvalitativ studie av bilderböcker för ett- till treåringar ur ett genusperspektiv

Already in the everyday of children, a traditional view of gender can be identified. For example how toys and clothing stores’ categorize products for girls respective boys. A categorization that I consider may direct children into the constructed picture of how one is, and therefore “does”, its gender. This essay aimed to investigate the selection of children’s literature at three pre-schools, that children between the ages of one and three, from a gender perspective. The purpose with this essay was also to find out how pre-school teachers, from each pre-school, comprehend the children’s literature that they use in their line of work.The essay is based mainly on a qualitative study that used three different types of methods to collect data as the study’s foundation: photography of children’s literature, a general literature analysis of children’s literature and qualitative interviews with pre-school teachers.The result showed that the book selections of the investigated pre-schools had double the amount of books about male characters than about female characters. These characters are portrayed from a stereotypical gender perspective that, in different ways, reinforces the male dominance. The result that pertains the pre-school teachers’ comprehensions of the importance and significance of children’s literature in pre-schools showed that their statements are characterized by a double message. A message where their verbal awareness does not show in their actions, not in the way they select children’s literature nor in the way they use children’s literature.