"Skippar prinsessböcker med happy ending" : En kvalitativ studie av genus i fem bilderböcker och fem förskolepedagogers uppfattningar om genus i bilderböcker

The aim of my thesis was to examine if educators need to be critical of what they read to the children from a gender perspective. I examined how picture books depict gender and if the books enhances or breaks perception of gender roles. I also examined educator’s perception of gender and if they think picture books can affect children’s perceptions of gender, but also what educators think about gender equality through picture books. The study is based on analysis of five picture books and interview with five educators. The results of analyzes showed that picture books are stereotyped and enhances perceptions of gender roles. The result of the interviews showed that teachers had different perceptions of gender when they selected picture books, and most of them believed that stereotypes in picture book affect children’s perceptions of gender. The educators perceptions about equality work though picture books was different, some educators perceive it as just reading unisex picture books while other educators perceive it as reading picture books with girls in main role. My conclusion is that educators need to be critical of what they are reading from a gender perspective because books usually represent gender stereotypes. The educators also need more knowledge about how gender is represented in the picture books and what gender equality means