Source:

Dansereau, D. R. (2014). Considering gender: Representation in early childhood songs and implications for practice. Perspectives: Journal of the Early Childhood Music & Movement Association, 9(3), 10-13. 

What did the researcher want to know?

What gender representation exists in early childhood music curricular song material?

What did the researcher do?

Dansereau examined a sample of commonly used early childhood music education curricular materials, such as those created by Kindermusik, Music Together, and Feierabend. She analyzed songs, chants, and poems in which the lyrics referred to a human or animal character, calculating whether each was male-dominant, female-dominant, represented both genders equally, or was gender-neutral. Of the 953 songs analyzed, 299 featured lyrics that were either male- or female-dominant.

What did the researcher find?

Significantly more male characters were represented in early childhood music materials than female characters. Of the 299 songs, chants, and poems examined by Dansereau that were either male- or female-dominant, 65.2% featured male characters and 34.8% featured female characters.

What does this mean for my classroom?

If there tends to be an underrepresentation of female characters in the songs included in popular early childhood music materials as Dansereau’s findings suggest, “children are likely hearing, singing, and learning songs that favor males” in early childhood music settings (p. 12). Underrepresentation of female characters in children’s literature and media has been deemed problematic because it can limit children’s developing identities and send a message that females are less valued. It stands to reason that gender representation in children’s songs may have similar effects. Teachers who wish to provide balanced gender representation in their classrooms will need to make concerted efforts when choosing the songs they will teach their students. “Altering song texts in order to achieve balance or presenting equal numbers of male- and female-dominant songs to children are two strategies for addressing this inequality” (p. 12).