Gender Representation On-Screen
Children begin to form ideas and concepts of gender early on in life. Specifically, by age 2, children start to use gender to guide their social and learning preferences and by age 3, children’s awareness of gender develops into a rigid social category and they become increasingly aware of basic gender stereotypes. With this, it can be argued that preschoolers are particularly vulnerable to these types of stereotypical messages both in society and in the media.
Although children gather (and observe) a lot of information about gender from their parents, peers, and teachers, screen media also plays a large role in children’s learning about gender and gender roles. Children in the 21st century are spending significant amounts of time watching, engaging, interacting, and communicating with a range of media and media characters. However, when closely examining the types of characters they are interacting with (specifically in children’s television programming), scholars have found a consistent presence of one-dimensional, stereotypical characters that are often defined by their social group, such as their gender. Specifically, these stereotypical portrayals are largely evident when examining the appearance and behaviours of female media characters.
For example, content analyses have consistently observed that girls/women characters are significantly more likely to be thin and sexualized than male characters (e.g., wearing revealing clothing). It has also been found that male characters are more likely to engage in problem-solving than female characters, specifically by using STEM and physical power, whereas females are more likely to use magic and talking to solve problems.
Regular engagement with these types of characters can alter and influence children’s beliefs and attitudes about various issues (e.g. gender roles) and might largely impact children’s perceptions about different groups of people. Recent studies have found that exposure to stereotypical television clips led to different effects than counter-stereotypical clips. For example, Bond (2016) discovered that girls who watched a stereotypical clip of a television show, were more likely to express interest in stereotypical feminine careers and were less likely to draw a female when asked to depict what they thought a scientist looked like.
Overall, it is clear that media has the power to shape children’s beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours about gender and content creators must be actively aware of this as they create new projects.
Actionable Insights
Here some actionable insights for content creators:
Aim for gender parity and gender equality. Male characters should not consistently outnumber female characters—they should be equal and featured in the same types of roles (e.g., lead roles).
This also means increasing the number of diverse characters in the cast, who may not identify as male and/or female.
Showcase women and female-identifying characters in complex and intricate roles instead of rigid, simple, and stereotypical roles.
A character’s gender should not define who they are. There is nothing wrong with behaving or appearing in a gender stereotypical manner, but consistently portraying women/female-identifying characters this way can be harmful. Give these characters more substance!
Create multi-dimensional characters.
Develop detailed character profiles that showcase the different layers to a character. If we want children to see themselves reflected on-screen, we must create realistic characters who have human-like qualities. This means showing all sides of a character—regardless of gender (e.g., strengths and weaknesses, varying emotions and personalities, struggling and overcoming obstacles, etc.).
Adrianna Ruggiero
Ph.D. Student, Ryerson University
Junior Fellow of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers