Female Protagonists and Beyond: Picture Books for Future Feminists

Professional/Critical Resource

Female Protagonists and Beyond: Picture Books for Future Feminists

Vadergrift, Kay. "Female Protagonists and Beyond: Picture Books for Future Feminists." Feminist Teacher 9 .2 (1995): 61-69.

This article begins by introducing the problem of trying to “introduce women’s ways of knowing into established male canons”. What would be better is a time where this would no longer be necessary. Instead, young people would be “immersed into a truly gender-fair, multicultural world view from their earliest memories”. However, with the type of stories that children are hearing today, that is not yet reality. As a first and important step, teachers can, the article argues, choose stories that “offer alternatives to traditional gender expectations”. This becomes the main goal of the article, and is strengthened by research and examples throughout.

The article goes on to discuss the need to have picture books that not only include female protagonists, but also really shape the lives and perception of young women. What is interesting about the article is that it breaks down pieces of literature that have female characters into levels of female voice. For example, some books may have women as secondary characters whereas others may have a female protagonist. Some books may have universal characters that seem to almost ignore gender, and some may have strong independent females that represent self-determination. The article stresses the importance of having books that do the latter. In fact, the article states that books must “go beyond just having female protagonists” and that they must not just be “gender-fair”. Because literature has not presented a gender-fair world throughout history, doing so not is not enough. Instead, the article suggests, there must be strong female characters that reverse the negative female stereotypes that have been presented thus far. This is the first step to reaching gender-fairness.

Another important aspect of the article is that it addresses the impact of illustrations in a book. It says that picture books are “twice-told tales” in that illustrations not only go along with the text, but can also bear just as much weight in conveying meaning. It is crucial, then, to choose books that have pictures that demonstrate the determination and confidence of female characters.

Lastly, the article provides examples of books that cut across the different ranges represented in the “Model of Female Voices” mentioned above. This portion begins by highlighting books that include universal characters where gender does not matter. However, focus is put on books that go further, including Dulcie Dando, Soccer Star and A Ride on the Red Mare’s Back, where females are not just characters, but heroes in one way or another.