Who We Are: Russian Dolls and Female Stereotyping in Children's Books

...Those Russian dolls...What are they called? the ones that are painted on egg shapes which stack inside eachother? I worked for a Jewish family once that had a painting of them, with a saying something to the effect of: "We are Jewish inside", or "Inside, we are Jews". I don't know a lot about that family's history, but I do know that the mother and her sister were survivors of the Holocaust. From what I gathered, the mother of these two women died because of the Holocaust, but she and her husband sent their daughters to a kid's farm/refugee boardinghouse in England during the war. As a result, the mother of the house I worked for, had great love and respect for England. She wasn't so hot about France, I do recall. I remember wondering about the story of this family as I looked at the painting of the Russian dolls.

For some time now, those dolls have taken a new meaning for me. The significance is real and personal, but with a different twist. One day I will explain this to my son and it will remain a family secret. I've not shared it with anyone and it has originated with me, therefore, it's safekeeping is absolutely secured, until the day I share it with my son (probably not until he's 18), and then he will have the responsibility of keeping the secret.

If I could find it, I would like a copy of the painting, even in a card or something that I could frame.

I have been trying to figure out my son's reading level. He is bored by some books, loses interest half-way in others, and adores the rest. I've noticed he is drawn towards non-fiction,with photos, rather than drawings. But there are some fictional books he goes back to again and again, so I've gone online this morning to find some new titles for request from the library. One book he likes is called "Sombreros del Mundo Entero". He seems to enjoy hearing it in Spanish and then hearing my English translation (I read one page at a time, first in Spanish, then English: "Mi sombrero es duro"/My hat is hard"), and it has real photos of people. Some books that are in Spanish, I can translate, but others, I struggle with, like "Frida" by Jonah Winter and Ana Juan. Most books don't have overt gender constructions, but I noticed, in one of the books my son likes, called, "Counting Kids" by Kim Golding, there is a definite portrayal of boys as active and girls being passive. See below:

1. "One little boy and his teddy bear."
2. "Two little girls with bows in their hair." (no noticeable difference yet...)
3. "Three little boys building with blocks" (active, with active photo)
4. "Four little girls wearing odd socks" (passive, with passive photo)
5. "Five little boys in a car that is red." (neutral but with active photo showing boys driving)
6. "Six little girls sleeping in a bed." (passive, passive)
7. "Seven little boys playing hide and seek" (active, with very active photo)
8. "Eight little girls looking very sleek" (passive, passive)
9. "Nine little boys eating from a bowl" (active, active)
10. "Ten little girls dancing 'round a pole." (active, active,with stereotypical feminine dance)

There are 5 pages about girls, and 5 pages about boys.

3 of the 5 pages about girls are about their appearance (bows in hair, wearing odd socks, looking very sleek). None about the boys are about how they look.
4 of the 5 pages about girls are passive. The ONE active page (dancing round a pole) shows the girls dancing around a maypole, which has always been done by girls/women and not included men, making it a stereotypical female dance. Not to mention that dancing around a pole, later, for women, means something else entirely, and is done for the pleasure and entertainment of men (and few women).

From this book, kids learn that boys/men do the following: build, play active games, drive cars, and eat. Girls/women do the following: wear bows, wear socks (odd socks, that is, so let's give them credit for being "fashion-forward" and breaking the fashion rules), sleep communally, look "very sleek", and dance round a pole.

A woman wrote this book!

And people wonder why there is still a "glass ceiling" for women in the workplace or even society. Perhaps it's because of early lessons that boys/men climb around and on top of the glass and girls/women are, or should be, happy to catch a glimpse of their reflection in the glass and find they are indeed, "looking very sleek".

This book is a first edition, published in the year 2000 by Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. in the United States of America.