Ayodabo Sunday, M.A English
The representations of gender in selected Nigerian children’s literature Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate how educational use of children’s literature, mainly novel, novel and poetry portrays gender issues and roles in our society. Indeed, researchers in and authors of children’s literature argue that the manner in which gender is represented in children’s literature had impacts on children’s attitudes and perceptions of gender-appropriate behaviour in society. Most
accounts reveal that there has been gender inequality since time immemorial whereby female characters have played important roles in the house but not prominent roles in the society while the male characters have enjoyed societal recognition. Hence, Children’s reflections on gender in Debo Fakolujo’s Girls are Jewels, Agbo Areo’s playtext The Witch (a play for the young) and the poetry collection by Olusola Fadiya titled The Sunrise Poetry for Junior Secondary school, are analyzed to argue our point. Most children in the works expressed positive attitudes toward a change of traditional gender.
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Introduction The patriarchal structure in our societies, as reflected in its literature, has influenced the life of women and men in traditional society by assigning different roles and identities. Most children literatures reveal that there has been gender inequality since time immemorial whereby female characters have played important but not prominent roles in the society. Girls‟ education has focused on developing skills which reinforce their socialized roles in the private domain, such as home care, economics, and general hygiene. More importantly, women have been bound to staying home. As for boys, they have been prepared for dominant and high command roles that determine societal dynamics in the public sphere. These include, among others, responsibilities in the army and other leadership aspects of society-activities often requiring intelligence, wisdom, and strength. These roles are in alignment with the roles discussed by Tsao (2008), who claims that literature is a home for gender stereotypes. These literatures have been instrumental in promoting and spreading a gender bias ideology. Many researchers in and authors of children‟s literature argue that the manner in which gender is represented in children‟s literature impacts children‟s attitudes and perceptions of gender appropriate behaviour in society (Bettelheim 1976; Hunt 1990, 1991; Geoff 1995; Zipes 1997; Singh 1998). From the texts under study, especially the novel, it stands out clearly that female participation in public life has long been culturally and socially constrained. The novel initially illustrates gender inequality as it obstructs girls in the realisation of their full rights. At the same time, however, the texts also show the strength of women fighting for change. My hope is that this gender awareness will enable children to smoothly discuss and overcome issues of traditional gender stereotypes that have long prevailed in our society. The definition and designation of children literature Theories pertinent to this study are found in the functions of children‟s literature in general (see for example, Bettelheim 1976; Hunt 1990, 1991; Geoff 1995; Zipes 1997). Children‟s literature comprises mainly material written specifically for children readership and includes literary components such as novels, poetry, drama; it also includes superstitions, games and songs, nursery rhymes, rituals, old and new tales, fables, myths, legends, poetry and proverbs. Literary critics acknowledge that children‟s literature belongs to the literary and socio-educational systems at the same time as it is read for literary experience, entertainment, and recreation, as 2
well as education and socialization (Hunt 1990; Sutherland 1997). It is generally believe that the criteria for these divisions are vague, and books near a borderline may be classified either way. Books for younger children tend to be written in very simple language, use large print, and have many illustrations. Books for older children use increasingly complex language, normal print, and fewer, if any, illustrations. There are debates on what constitutes children's literature. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as "a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier". Hence, the UN has categories children literatures into; Books written by children they opine that some books written for children, such as The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford (9yrs) or The Juvenilia of Jane Austen, written to amuse brothers and sisters, written by children. Also Barbara Newhall Follett wrote four books, beginning with a novel called The House Without Windows at the age of nine. In 1937 two schoolchildren, Pamela Whitlock and Katharine Hull‟s The Far-Distant Oxus was considered "the best children's book of 1937". Other examples includes In 1941 The Swish of the Curtain written by Pamela Brown (17yrs), Dorothy Straight's How the World Began, S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders and Nigerian 14 year old Temi Owasa‟s Story my mama told me. The second categories are Books written for children, Children's literature is usually understood to comprise books intentionally written for children to read. Nancy Anderson, associate professor in the College of Education at the University of South Florida in Tampa, defines children's literature as all books written for children, "excluding works such as comic books, joke books, cartoon books, and nonfiction works that are not intended to be read from front to back, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference material". Some of this work is also very popular among adults. J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series was originally written and marketed for children, but it was so popular among children and adults that The New York Times created a separate bestseller list. Another work dating back to the Victorian Era is Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Both children and adults continue to enjoy this story and the lessons it teaches. Often no consensus is reached whether a given work is best categorized as adult or children's literature, and many books are marketed for both adults and children. Another set is the group of books being written by Africans for African schoolchildren. The range of stories is wide, from Cyprian Ekwensi's retelling of Hausa tales in An African Night's Entertainment to the 3
experiences of a Nigerian schoolgirl in England in Audrey Ajose's Yomi's Adventures. These books, which would have to be imported, have the advantage of presenting and interpreting African life as Africans view it. Though few of these books are of outstanding quality or have as attractive a format as some of the picture stories previously mentioned, they would be a factual supplement to the children's literature which is easily accessible in this country. The third category and the most restrictive definition of children's literature are those books various authorities determine are "appropriate" for children, such as teachers, reviewers, scholars, parents, publishers, librarians, retailers, and the various book-award committees. Parents wishing to protect their children from the unhappier aspects of life often find the traditional fairy tales, nursery rhymes and other voyages of discovery problematic, because often the first thing this story does is remove the adult influence, leaving the central character to learn to cope on his or her own: prominent examples of this include Thomas Hughes‟s Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857), F.W. Farrar's Eric Philippa Pearce‟s Tom's Midnight Garden and a story of an African boy written by Attilio Gatti, tiltled Saranga, the Pygmy. Many see such isolation of child characters from supporting adults as necessary preparation for the transition to adulthood. The broadest definition of children's literature applies to books that are actually selected and read by children. Children choose many books, such as comics, which some would not consider being literature at all in the traditional sense; they also choose literary classics and recognized great works by modern writers, and often enjoy stories which speak on multiple levels. Someone who enjoyed Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a child may come back to the text as an adult and see the darker themes that were lost on them as younger readers. In addition, many classic books that were originally intended for adults are now commonly thought of as works for children. Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was originally intended for an adult audience. Today it is widely read as a part of children's school curriculum in the United States. The importance of children‟s literature lies in the development of children‟s moral, intellectual, and linguistic abilities. Most stories are amazing and, as Yitah and Komasi (2009, 244) put it, “seek to inculcate in the child reader an appreciation for certain cultural values and disapprobation of undesirable behaviour”. Firstly, children‟s literature is entertaining and 4
associated with language acquisition. It also enhances children‟s motivation to read. Moreover, specialists in children‟s literature and education believe that it helps them grow up into sociable and virtuous future citizens (Bettelheim 1976; Hunt 1990; Sutherland 1997; Zipes 1997). Oittinen (1993, 41) holds that while reading and by experiencing different emotions, children learn how to cope with their feelings and solve problems in life. Also, Bettelheim (1976) argues that genres encountered in children‟s literature are both therapeutic and informative. Furthermore, they convey a socializing content meant to make children behave in the ways that fit them into the society. Heroes or heroines are engaged in a struggle to uproot the evil grass in the society. Secondly, children‟s literature conveys an educational message since plots in most genres are “dramatization of stormy conflicts of good and evil” (Sutherland 1997, 6). Our childhood experiences reveal that after or while listening to or reading an interesting or sad story, children internalize it and act it out in play or in their mind. In most stories the emphasis is put on positive aspects of the story where goodness will triumph over evil. At the end of the story, the dilemma is most often resolved in an interesting, amusing, or satisfactory manner- thus constituting a good story for children. The literature serves not only to instruct but also to amuse and make moral lessons and social structures more palatable to children (Zipes 1997). All in all, as the Roman poet Horace affirms, the raison d’être of children‟s literature, like adults‟, is “to delight and instruct” the child audience in a specific way (Leitch 2001). In summary, the main kinds of children's literature which has existed are in order of decreasing frequency, factual compendia, animal stories, geographies, and stories about children. The bulk of traditional children Literature consists of folktales, which conveys the legends, customs, superstitions, and beliefs of people in past times fiction, for example the surveys of modern African life, folktales, and history. However, it is believed most children literatures have characterized by; conventional introductions and conclusions, brief stories with simple and direct plots, cause and effect, didactic morals etc. Research has revealed that writers often neglect the discourse of gender in thier survey. The reason being that writers are always conscious of the adverse psychological effect gender complexities can have on children if exposed to. But gender representations in literature have also finds its way into children literature to view how gender is represented among children. This demonstration is not viewed only from the view point of children only but also adult‟s attitudes toward the children are brought to fore. 5
We therefore seek in this essay to explore the themes of gender as represented in children literature of our choice. At foremost, we tend to examine how gender is being represented in literature generally. The historical overview will however set forth our discussions of gender representations in the carefully chosen literary works from the three genre of literature which includes; a novel by Debo Fakolujo‟s written Girls are Jewels, a play text by Agbo Areo titled The Witch and Sunrise Poetry for Junior Secondary school, a collection of poems written by Olusola Fadiya. Literature and gender The interpretation of the gender classification is believed to have more to do with the socialization process of the individual rather than the biological endowment of nature. In support of this, Simone de Beauvoir (1989) argued that one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. In the same breath, we may argue, and metaphorically so, that one is not born, but becomes, a man. How does one becomes a man or woman? Every society has its own socializing engines that effectively transfer gender ideology. However literature is one of these prominent engines. As Bisi Ogunsina (1997) points out, literature, whether oral or written, is a transmitter of ideology, it does more than transmit ideology; in many cases it creates. Obviously, creative writings in Africa particularly from the pre-colonial age to the early colonial era were dominated by male writers. Femi Ojo – Ade (1983) observes that: African literature is male created, male oriented chauvinistic art. An honour roll of our literary giants clearly proves that point…Man constitutes the majority and women the minority (158159) As it is generally consented that a writer is a product of his/her society, the unpleasant images and/or portraits of the African woman by male writers – products of a patriarchal society is informed by how women have been unreasonably suppressed and their voices and aspirations muffled. Early works of pioneer African novelists like Chinua Achebe, Elechi Amadi, and Cyprian Ekwensi have depicted the African woman in the light of the aforementioned status. In their works, weakness, indecision, and cowardice are attributed to women. For example, Okonkwo‟s illustration of a man breaking the head of a wandering goat in Things Fall Apart tells us all about the attributes of men: brutal force, and irrational behaviour. Achebe goes on in the 6
novel to tell his reader about the lionized male as husband over numerous wives, as a dictator father, and as indomitable. This portrait of the lionized male in the novel also permeates into other literary works of other writers who project the woman as a fated being whose destiny is to serve and not to be heard or respected. However, with the coming of age of the group of female writers that Tess Onwueme describes as literary foremothers, the resilience, inner beauty, radiating grace and energy, and faithfulness of the African woman started to be projected. Many women writers and critics have in desperate moves come out with several literary concepts and/or ideas. Ogundipe-Leslie propounds the concept of “Stiwanism” – an acronym meaning: Social Transformation in Africa including Women; Catherine Acholonu came out with “Motherism”; and lately Modupe Ebun Kolawole, Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo and a host of others are in the forefront of “Womanism”. These concepts and ideological stands have been reflected in literary works especially by women. Flora Nwapa‟s Efuru in Efuru is presented as a strong, resilient and noble woman; Buchi Emecheta‟s Nnu Ego in Joys of Motherhood is industrious, brave, and highly intelligent And as we argue in this present discourse, these forms of gender representations have also been permeated into children‟s literature but done in a conscious and subtle manner. Children’s Literature and Gender Everything we read...constructs us, makes us who we are, by presenting our image of ourselves as girls and women, as boys and men (Mem Fox, 1993). Besides being an important resource for developing children's language skills, children's books play a significant part in transmitting a society's culture to children. Gender roles are an important part of this culture. How genders are portrayed in children's books thus contributes to the image children develop of their own role and that of their gender in society. Characterization in children‟s literature has traditionally been gender-biased and stereotyped according to research on gender issues and role perceptions in children‟s literature (Scott and Feldman-Summers 1979; Davies 1993, 2003; Singh 1998; Trepanier-Street and Romatowski 1999; Tsao 2008). In this respect, in most children literature male characters have been portrayed as being strong, potent, and powerful, with mastery themes such as cleverness and adventure, whereas female characters were portrayed as impotent, weak, passive, naive, even sweet, with second sex themes such as beauty, gentility, domesticity, marriage, emotions, motherhood, and 7
so on. It is believed that children as old as 4 to 5 years can already associate male and female characters with supremacy and dependency respectively. Stereotypic gendered characterization can be harmful in the way that it can limit both boys and girls in the full realization of their potential and expectations. As Tsao (2008) points out in a study on gender issues in young children‟s literature, gender stereotypes depicting girls as weak, passive, and beautiful deprive them of a range of strong, alternative role models, which only increases inferiority complex in girls. However, as the situation stands in this century, women are encouraged to be independent and rely on their brains rather than beauty. Similarly, male portrayals of lacking emotions, fear, and so on, pressure in many ways boys to behave in this way. Prior research on gender role perception in children‟s literature, examining the influence of young children‟s gender attitudes regarding occupational roles (Trepanier-Street and Romatowski 1999) and assessing children‟s reactions to stories in which females are portrayed in traditionally male roles (Scott and Feldman-Summers 1979) has shown that the influence of stereotypic and non-stereotypic gender role exposure to children is enormous. When female main characters are portrayed in traditionally male roles, girl-readers are enthusiastic about their performances and eager to engage in the same activities as those performed by the main characters. A Critique of gender representation and image in Debo Fakolujo’s Girls are Jewels, Abgo Areo’s The Witch and Olusola Fadiya’s Sunrise Poetry for Junior Secondary school. Noticeably, writers have been gender conscious in their representation of gender. These writers often designed activities for the purpose of promoting gender awareness and using them to explore issues such as: respect for oneself and other individuals, similarities and differences between boys and girls, traditional and non-traditional gender roles, gender stereotypes, and friendships between boys and girls. This is true of the poetry collection written by Olusola Fadiya and. Not every poem in the collections depicts gender issues, but we seek to carefully identify the ones that discuss gender issues. Consciously, he actively portrays girls/women in a positive light with active, dynamic roles and also tries not to represent either gender in a stereotypical manner. Nevertheless, careful reading of these literatures also presents stark stereotypical difference between two sexes. For example, Debo Fakolujo‟s Girls are Jewels chronicles the disturbing story of Mr Sanya who had fifteen female children and a male child but decided and vowed not waste his money on his girl‟s educations. He is not happy because he is not having more male children. It saddens his heart and it eventually affected his relationship 8
with his female children. However, his friend‟s intellectual intervention was the factor behind the drastic turn of the event of the novel which made Mr. Sanya to appreciate the usefulness of female children in the society. Agbo Areo‟s The Witch is a funny dramatization of the hilarious and innocent behavior of seven year old Tope and her brother Ola, which sometimes causes confusion for her parent and some other adults. Though the play stresses the themes of morality, unity, and African way of life, the themes are depicted on the basics of gender association in a society. Gender representation exists in the content, language and illustrations of a large number of children's books (Jett-Simpson & Masland, 1993). This representation may be seen in the extent to which a gender is represented as the main character in children's books and how that gender is depicted. In Girls are Jewel, we are exposed to the gender bias towards female children from the parent perspectives: Despite that fact he (Mr. Sanya) had money, his children were not well educated. More so sixteen of them were girls. His money could not give him the deserved and desired happiness and joy. There are certain things money cannot buy. He saw all his daughters as children of sorrow (6) Mr. Sanya also confirm; “My friend you are fortunate to have married a wife. And this single wife bore you four boys and a girl, you are having a peaceful home,” Mr. Sanya explained (6). The African traditional belief of viewing female children as no children at all persists in this novel. It is believed that a family of only female children has austere future while a male child, even only one will definitely continues the family traditions. Mr. Sanya further confirms this position by prophesying doom: I cannot deceive you. I shall be having a bleak future. Bisi, Bolu, KiKe, my first three female children got impregnated. As a result I have decided not to send then and other female children to school. The only one boy among them, I shall spend my last kobo upon…and the boy will take over my property (6) It is painfully that this kind of social construct also adversely affects the general development of female children in the society as seen in Sanya‟s reluctance to further the education of his female children. The general identification of female as dormant and sometimes unimpressive sex is brought to the fore when Sanya is of the opinion that his wives cannot give him any useful 9
advice. “They are all after money” he said. Hence, he went to his „male‟ friend Gbade who he believes is adequately effective than his „female‟ wives. In Agbo Areo‟s The Witch, the mythical verification of „female‟ old women as witch (aje) is brought to fore as Tope asks her mother during their story time: The old woman we saw one day when we are going to school, why is she a witch? (5) Unfortunately, the myth gradually penetrated into the school. She tells her mother that she comes across the story from her „aunty‟ in the school But aunty told us at school that a witch is an old woman. That she looks thin, like the moon I saw one night. That she kills children, fries them, and eats them with her friends in the night (6) In a different way, Olusola in his poetry seeks to establish a bias gender free representation of the sexes when he sees or tries to advocate for equality between the two; Baby girl is as good as baby boy/Both of them can grow up/Baby girl is as good as baby boy/Baby girl, baby boy, all are future doctors/Child is child/Either male or female. (30) Children's books frequently portray girls as acted upon rather than active (Fox, 1993). Girls are represented as sweet, naive, conforming, and dependent, while boys are typically described as strong, busy, adventurous, independent, and capable (Ernst, 1995; Jett-Simpson & Masland, 1993). This individual representation is evident in Girls are Jewel as Gbade highlights the different between both sexes; Boys of today have no time for their parents. They are busy planning how to be somebody in life…this is the true situation with all boys. But girls in their marital home will keep on remembering their parents, confirmed Gbade. (10) Child and girls as symbols of sexual harassment and abuse also depict girls as instrument that is always acted upon. In Girls are Jewel, Bisi a primary five school student is sexually abuse by a cocoa merchant, Mr. Boladale who is also a friend to the girl‟s father. He had jokingly said to Bisi‟s mother; “You are having a charming girl in this house…I am going to marry your daughter, Bisi. I admired her. She looks gay” (48) The mother thought he was joking until Mr. Boladale made his intentions known to her husband which was met with violent opposition. This 10
had been the practice in our societies, especially Africa. Young girls are exposed to early marriage proposal at a tender age which completely eroded female education in our society. Boys tend to have roles as fighters, adventurers and rescuers, while girls in their passive role tend to be caretakers, caring mothers, and princesses in need of rescuing, and characters that support the male figure. In African societies, it is regrettable that women have been brainwash to accept this kind of gender symbols that present them as weaker sex. A good example is seen in Girls are Jewel during the student‟s rampage on the campus against various governments‟ dishonest activities. It was the „male‟ students that actively partake in the protest while the „female‟ students were mandated to cook for the entire student. (43) Often, girl characters achieve their goals because others help them, whereas boys do so because they demonstrate ingenuity and/or perseverance. An ethical representation of gender is the one that depicts women as the repository of moral and ethics. In The Witch, the children are always seen going to their mother after the day‟s job to tell them stories that teach them about morals, ethics, and Africa traditional norms. As one of the gender role expected of women they are responsible for inculcating the mores and values of the society to children through telling them stories and legends while they are still young. In the contrary men are portray as the busy type. In the story, the father is always busy with the television whenever the mother is educating the children through stories and fairytales (7). When the children tries to question the gender inequality they observed between their parent; “but mummy, when you are cooking in the kitchen, Daddy does not cook with you” the mother is however quick to educate them about each gender roles: Mummy: Tope! But Daddy does not complain that Mummy eats everything. And I don‟t complain that Daddy does not come to cook with me at kitchen. The day I complain, I will go on strike, from the kitchen. (18) It is believe that African woman do not feel that the acceptance of her man‟s dominance necessarily diminished her. On the contrary, some critics view female‟s femininity as consisting in her cheerful acceptance of and willingness to fulfill her allotted role Daddy also went on to describe one of those allotted roles often attributed to women when he eulogies his mother as a nice and caring woman. Daddy says that: 11
Tope, my late mother was not a witch. She was kind to everybody. Before she died, when you were a baby, she came here to help your mother to care for you. She bathed you, she washed your dirty nappies. She kept you warm on her back with her wrapper cloth. When you cried, she rocked you and sang you beautiful songs. Lullabies. She loved everybody, and everybody loved her. She was not a witch (24) In the poetry collection, The Sunrise Poetry for Junior Secondary school, the author also established the role played by each gender. In the poem “Monday Morning”, the male are seen as active while the female takes care of the house; father is busy preparing to go work/Sister is busy, busy serving the breakfast/mother too is busy tidying up to go to work. (Line 2-4, p 14) Another good example is seen in the poem “Priceless mother” and “Busy father”. “Priceless mother” beautifully depicts the women as caretaker and a caring mother whose major role in the society is to have children; Who is like my mother/Who gave me life and I live/Who gave me her breast to suck/Her breast I suck and I grow so well. (Line 1-6, p 26) This representation suggested that the African woman‟s importance only resided in her nurturing and soothing potential, and in her reproductive fertility. The poem “Busy father” on the other hand described a hardworking man as against the passive mother; Father is busy/working round the clock for the sake of the family/Father is working hard, wakes early before others/Walking to the work place/For the sake of all (line 1-8, p. 28). The importance of folktales as a tool of teaching morals and unity is observed from the important roles women played in the play The Witch. The moral lessons derive after the story of Mr. Belly (p. 13-15) reveals that everybody is important because of their collectiveness. The play did not only preach unity but figuratively advocate for gender equality. The mother comment; That is, we must all work together every time. Everybody must do his or her duty without complaining. If anybody fails to do his duty in the family, all will not go well in the family (17) It is believe that tales about human beings and those about animals are nearly equal. They all teach the same morals. In most collections of African folktales for children, animal stories are predominant. However, gender representation from insect‟s perspectives is also depicted in the collection. This is funnily done as the author takes a cursory look at productive and reproductive life of the bees. He explored their idealistic and organizational skills. He opens with the exaltation of the bees; Busy bees wonderful bees/How organized is your city/Well arranged and 12
tidy/Everywhere is very neat. (Line 1-4) and later move to show each social roles; Soldiers (male) bees defend the city bravely/Builder bees are hard-working/The queen bees are rather big/Bringing forth the baby bees/Bees city has many nurses/Who care for the baby bees. The big size of the female bees no ways present them as dominant but actually as a spacious type whose size is only useful for the production of many children. Their size can be connected with the biological part of female being that differentiates them from the male. This is one of the poems that excellently portray gender as perceived in African society. Obviously, Fadiya do not intend to portray each gender in a stereotypical manner, because he tries as much as possible to portray both sexes, especially the female in a positive light with active, dynamic roles. In fact he follows the path of other African writers who have placed women on a pedestal and worshiped as “Mother Africa”, but they are still seen essentially in their role as nurturing, fertile, compassionate wife and mother. Hence, we are presented with divergence roles where the male is seen as more active than the female counterpart. Gender stereotypical roles are constraining to both genders. Just as females are trapped in passive and whiny roles, boys and men are rarely described as people demonstrating emotions of sadness, fear and selflessness, having hobbies/occupations that are not stereotypically male and in roles where they aren't competing or meeting high expectations. “Greed” shows the extent to which a boy can be so selfish; Greedy boy, selfish boy Continue to eat, continue to drink Greedy boy, selfish boy Do you remember that other children Are still coming to this birthday party? Still you want to collect the fourth plate of rice Collect and eat, you are so greedy (line 1-11, p. 36) Male‟s giddiness persists in “A Thief” where male children are portrayed as thief, rude, callous; A thief is guilty of theft/He steals biscuits and chin-chin/ /He lifts mother‟s soup‟s pot cover/And steals pieces of meat and fish (line 1-8, p.44). Children's books are often illustrated, sometimes lavishly, in a way that projects the major themes of the novel. Generally, the artwork plays a greater role in books intended for the youngest readers (especially pre-literate children). Children's picture books can be a cognitively 13
accessible source of high quality art for young children. Gender as discuss in this essay is further exemplified by artwork (pictures). In Girls are Jewel, pictures on pages 26 and 36 relate the experiences and characteristics of females to their roles. Picture 26 pictured arrays of well seated women and their children that were listening attentively to a man who also give out money to them. In the poetry collection, each poem is attached with illustrative pictures that added meaning to the poems. In the poems “Priceless mother” and “Busy father”, picture 27 pictured a sitting mother breastfeeding her baby while p.29 present a well dress man going to work. A boy dipping his hands into a pot definitely signifies a thief in the poem, “The Thief”. Another stereotypical picture can be found on p.64 where hunters were shown dancing and carrying guns in their hands. This signifies traits of bravery, boldness and aggressiveness that are regularly associated with males. At the same time, however, books containing images that conflict with gender stereotypes provide children the opportunity to re-examine their gender beliefs and assumptions. Thus, texts can provide children with alternative role models and inspire them to adopt more egalitarian gender attitudes. In conclusion This study set out to identify gender related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African societies. It specifically examines a selection of three literary texts from Nigeria. The texts were studied to uncover the gender-inflected themes, images, language and pictures. Our discussion of the texts has shown that gender as portrayed in children literature is seen from different perspectives. The novel Girls are Jewels portray women from both positive and negative side. The novel demonstrates two levels of gender understanding as constructed by both girls and boys. The first level is that of the egalitarian view of gender. The male characters in the novel emphasized that there should not be any distinction as to who goes to school and not. They state that girls‟ potentialities should not be underestimated or underrated. The second level is that of outstanding performance of females who were later given the chance to go to school. For them, it is not strange that females outperform males. The poetry collection by Fadiya seems to be neutral and gender conscious in term of its discourse with few poems examining the difference between the sexes. The Witch turn out to be a positive representation of the feminine gender by debunking the falsified myth of every „old women is a witch‟. Another 14
lesson drawn from the drama concerns the parents‟ consideration of their children. Both parents reflect on thier children in the same way. Both Tope and Ola wash the plate, cook food and clean the house together. However, for better presentation our suggestion is for writers to write books and stories that do not portray either gender in a stereotypical manner. It is pertinent to write gender-neutral books where individuals are portrayed with distinctive personalities irrespective of their gender.
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References Areo, A. 2004. The Witch. Ibadan: Agbo Areo Publishers Davies, B. 1993. Shards of glass: Children reading & writing beyond gendered identities. New Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc Fadiya, Olusola, 2006. Sunrise Poetry for Junior Secondary Schools. Ibadan: Lasswell Books. Fakolujo, Debo. Girls are Jewels Geoff, F. 1995. Celebrating children’s literature in education. New York: Teacher's College Hardy, E.2005. „Children Literature‟. The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopedia Leitch, V. B. 2001 (ed.) The Norton anthology of theory and criticism. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc. Ojo-Ade, F. 1983. Female writers, male critics. Recent trends in the Nigerian novel. African literature today. Ed. E.D, Jones .London: Heinemann. 158-159. Pierre Canisius Ruterana.2012. Children‟s Reflections on Gender Equality in Fairy Tales: A Rwanda Case Study. The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.4, no.9.
Singh, M. 1998. Gender issues in children's literature. ERIC Digest. Accessed October 14, 2012, from http://www.indiana.edu/-reading / ieo/ digests/ d135.html Tsao, Y. L. 2008. Gender issues in young children‟s literature. Reading Improvement 45 (3):10814.
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