A National Comparative Content Analysis of Gender Stereotypes in Children’s TV Shows

Abstract

Gender stereotypes negatively affect people’s views and opinions on gender and, thus, bolster gender inequalities. Recently, the children’s TV industry has been reinforcing gender stereotypes throughout its shows, which can be highly detrimental to a child’s upbringing. In addition, countries of different socioeconomic levels vary in the progress of gender equality. This discrepancy creates a barrier in identifying where exactly change needs to be initiated in the children’s TV industry. Therefore, this study 1) identifies gender stereotypes in children’s TV shows, 2) examines the differences in gender stereotypes in the United States and India, and 3) examines whether or not gender stereotype patterns have changed over the past decade. Based on specified criteria, the 4 following TV shows were selected: 1) Arthur, 2) Thomas & Friends, 3) Chhota Bheem, and 4) Bapu and assessed on 5 gender-stereotyped domains: 1) the prominence of female and male characters, 2) terms used when describing characters, 3) activities & occupation, 4) talkativeness, and 5) appearance. To measure the variability of gender stereotypes in each show, momentary-time sampling, and average mean were also used. Overall, findings show that gender stereotype patterns are present in children’s TV shows, have decreased over the past decade, and have a greater presence in Indian TV shows than in American TV shows. These results show a need for drastic change and equity worldwide in the children’s TV industry.