Neutral masculinities and feminine flounce umbrellas : a gender analysis of children’s music

The purpose of this study is to analyze Swedish songs for children and their respective illustrations in songbooks and digital material from a gender perspective. The analyzed songs were the ten most frequently answered songs from a survey sent out to people working with early childhood education. The theoretical framework consists of gender theory where central concepts include performativity, representation, heteronormativity, the heterosexual matrix and hegemonic masculinity. This combined with semiotic theory paves the way for an analysis of both the lyrics and their corresponding illustrations. Through a qualitative analysis the study finds that there is a strong overrepresentation of male pronouns and characters in the material and that gender often is portrayed in a stereotypical way. Especially the female characters are portrayed with attributes to emphasize their gender. However the study also shows that inclusive and gender neutral representation in songs is possible and exists in a minority of the analyzed material. The study concludes that a continuous dialogue between coworkers in preschools about gender representation in songs is needed to fulfill the preschool curriculum goal to prevent reproduction of restrictive gender patterns