Still Looking for Gender Equality

Gender issues still rank among the key early childhood news items of interest to parents and providers alike. One of the latest contributors to the effort to provide a level playing field will offer you an opportunity to think more carefully about the films you select for your children’s classroom or to watch at home or in the car.  What children do not see can be as damaging as what they do watch.

Geena Davis, the Academy-winning actor most recently starring as the first U.S. woman president in “Commander-in-Chief,” learned from her young daughter that lots of the films they watched featured boys in both lead and supporting roles to the exclusion of girls. Many early educators have read about children’s storybooks with a predominant number of male characters. Apparently, it is true about films made primarily for children as well. Davis created the program “See Jane” as part of the Dads & Daughters organization to explore this issue through research and reflection.

"See Jane" has produced two research reports about gender roles in children’s G-rated films in the past two years: Where the Girls Aren’t: Gender Disparity Saturates G-Rated Films (2005) and G Movies Give Boys a D: Portraying Males as Dominant, Disconnected, and Dangerous (2006).

Download the PDF documents at the following URL: http://www.seejane.org or http://www.dadsanddaughters.org

Contributed by Edna Ranck

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