from magical umbrellas to occupational gender stereotypes · • mary poppins the nanny from these...

mkfrom magical umbrellas to occupational gender stereotypes

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from magical umbrellas to occupationalgender stereotypes

an analysis of Mary PoPPins

mk


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The book seems to be about an

innocent magical journey of a

nanny and the four children she’s

taking care of, but underneath

the whimsical, fantasy element

the characters in the novel show

that there are heavily gender-

stereotyped occupations

subconsciously created by the

author P. L. Travers that may

influence young children who read

the story into thinking that there

are only certain jobs acceptable for

their gender.

the underlying meaning of mary poppins


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“not all boys are bad, not all girls are prissy. not all mothers are housewives, not all fathers are doing all the work. there were just a lot of wrong messages in children’s books.” -frank taylor

These children’s books categorize

people too neatly and there is no

variation in gender acceptable

occupations.

Children’s books don’t represent the

reality of the world around us.

sending the wrong message to readers


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•ThePoliceman

•Mr.Banksthebusinessman

•Mrs.Banksthehousewife

•Mrs.Brillthecook

•Ellenthemaid

•RobertsonAythegardener

•MaryPoppinsthenanny

From these occupations, children

see that the men have the more

labor-intensive, dangerous and

breadwinner jobs, where as the

women take the roles of care-

givers to the children, providers

and stay in the home.

gendered Jobs created in mary poppins


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TheDisneymovieMaryPoppins

gives a visual picture of the

stereotypes created for the chidren

watching.

The chimney sweep,Bert,doesn’t

existinthenovelMaryPoppins.

He was created for the movie. His

character works in a dark, dingy

environment, cleaning chimneys.

There was no such thing as a

woman chimney sweep. Only men

held that job, as it was deemed

dangerous and not lady-like to

be around dirt and filth.

the movie reinforces the stereotypes


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opposing feminine and masculine stereotypes

•Submissivevs.Dominant

•Emotionalvs.Rational

•Weakvs.Strong

•Timidvs.Brave

•Dependentvs.Independent

•Passivevs.Active

•Sensitivevs.Insensitive

•Cooperativevs.Competitive

•Intuitivevs.Analytical

•Contentvs.Ambitious

•Receptivevs.Assertive


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Children will learn that these gender

stereotyped jobs are the only ones

socially acceptable for them to have.

The learning process is accelerated

by the labeling of jobs with

suffixes -man or -woman or -wife

or -lady.

•Policeman

•Businessman

•Fireman

•Saleswoman

•Housewife

effect on children reading the book


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Children in a study were asked to

identify whether different pairings of

Name - Occupation were deemed

masculine or feminine.

The results are shown to the left.

The top and bottom table have the same

names but opposing occupations.

Look at the change in responses.

Key:

Mm=Malename-MasculineOccupation

Mf=Malename-FeminineOccupation

Ff=Femalename-FeminineOccupation

Fm=Femalename-MasculineOccupation

stereotypes take over the workplace

N - O Pairing Category

Henry-AutoMechanic Mm

Kathy-Doctor Fm

Patricia-Nurse Ff

Mark-Secretary Mf

Mary-Babysitter Ff

James-Plumber Mm

N - O Pairing Category

Henry-Nurse Mf

Kathy-BalletDancer Ff

Patricia-Janitor Fm

Mark-Dentist Mm

Mary-Pilot Fm

James-Babysitter Mf


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The occupations the characters hold

inMaryPoppinsalsoreflect their

social class.

The labeling of formal titles like

“Mr.”and“Mrs.”showsthatsome

characters have a higher social

status profession than other

characters who are just referred to by

their first names.

•Mr. Banksthebusinessman

•Mrs.Brillthecook

•Ellen the maid

•Robertson Ay the gardener

class-based Job stratification


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Insteadofdividingoccupationsdown

the middle and separating acceptable

male and female jobs, gender-

neutral job titles create a gray

area between the two gender

divisons. Usinggender-neutral

terms will help children learn to be

more accomodating of both male and

female workers for more professions.

•Policemanbecomes

police officer

•Firemanbecomesfirefighter

•Saleswomanbecomes

salesperson

using gender-neutral Job titles instead


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Compared to the stereotypes shown

inMaryPoppins,theworkforcetoday

has become much more integrated

andgender-neutral.

Menandwomenareevenswitching

gender roles in the workplace.

women are no longer confined

at home and today are holding jobs

that used to be only reserved for

men, like being a doctor, pilot, or

businessperson.

Similarly,todaywe see more stay at

home dads and men caregivers.

are the stereotypes in mary poppins outdated?


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Arechildren’sbrainsdeveloped

enough to recognize the stereotypes

created, or are adults overthinking

the whimsy and innocence of a

children’s novel?

Adultsbelievethatthe magical

umbrella element of the story

distracts from the underlying

gender occupational stereotypes

that are subconsciously being

imprinted in the minds of the children

astheyreadMaryPoppins.

are adults overthinking the story?


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Content Analysis and Gender

Stereotypes in Children’s Books

Language at Work: Children’s

Gendered Interpretations of

Occupational Titles

Henry the Nurse is a Doctor Too:

Implicitly Examining Children’s

Gender Stereotypes for Male and

Female Occupational Roles

links to the studies on occupational stereotyping

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3211327?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3211327?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3696252



http://wild.psych.duke.edu/images/WilbournKee2010.pdf






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Liben,LynnS.,RebeccaS.Bigler,andHolleen

R.Krogh.“LanguageAtWork:Children’s

GenderedInterpretationsOfOccupational

Titles.”ChildDevelopment73.3(2002):810-828.

AcademicSearchComplete.Web.8Oct.2012.

Taylor,Frank.“ContentAnalysisandGender

StereotypesinChildren’sBooks.”Teaching

Sociology,Vol.31,No.3(Jul.,2003):300-311.

JSTOR.Web.8Oct.2012.

Travers,P.L..MaryPoppins.1934.USA:Sandpiper,

1981.Print.

thank you for listening to my presentation!

Molly Kime

A06 - Presentation

Design 3505

Instructor: Robin Reed DesJardins

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