Browsing by Author "Göös, Mari"

The subject of this thesis is the image of women in children´s literature. The study surveys gender in picture books. The aim of this study was to examine women are described in the Finnish picture books published in the 2010s. The study also wanted to find out what women are professional. According to previous studies women are described most often as mother or in stereotypical occupations of women in literature. Children’s literature transmits the image of society and culture to children. Using literature, a child builds his own identity. It would be important to write and publish children’s books which convey an image about the society that supports the diversity of people, gender equality and human individual-ity. Everyone should have the right to do life choices as an individual, no defined by one’s gender. The study data consists of 13 Finnish picture books which were published in the 2010s. The study de-scribes roles, appearance and agency of women through the descriptions of the texts in the books. The study is a qualitative research and the data is analyzed mainly by applying content analysis. Also content distribution specific to quantitative research was used to support content analysis. The results of research point out that women were described very often as mother in picture books. Mothers act in different operational environment together with their families. A woman as a mother was described making food to family or comforting and cuddling with a child. In picture books women described also working in their own professions. In addition to these, stories of independent women and their life were described in picture books. Overall, women were represented both in lead-ing and minor roles.