Gender Themes in Czech Books for Children of Younger School Age

Abstract

Children’s literature can become one of the means of shaping personal identity, including gender socialization. The main characters portrayed in a book can become a kind of gender role model. The study examines gender themes in Czech books for children of younger school age that have been awarded the Golden Ribbon and Magnesia Litera prizes. The selected books (n=15) were analysed through quantitative content analysis and qualitative thematic analysis. The main findings include the fact that 596 different characters (as well as 29 main characters among them) are represented from a position of gender imbalance (boys and men are represented twice as often as girls and women). In other similarly focused research, the gender imbalance in the number of literary heroes did not have an effect on readers' popularity or the impact of reading on readers, regardless of their gender self-identification. From the results obtained, therefore, we do not conclude on social discrimination, since from a gender perspective we do not encounter any erosion of respect for any individual.