A friend of mine asks "Why are children's books so sexist?"
According a study conducted by the Guardian of the top 100 bestselling illustrated children’s books of 2017 (1):
"The lead characters were 50% more likely to be male than female, and male villains were eight times more likely to appear compared to female villains. Only one book, Peppa and her Golden Boots, portrayed a sole female villain, acting alone: a duck who steals Peppa Pig’s boots and takes them to the moon.
Over the course of each book, the characters who got an opportunity to speak were 50% more likely to be male than female, and male characters outnumbered female characters in almost half the stories that made it into the top 100.
Twice as many of the characters who were given a speaking part and a main role in the story were male – and, on average, there were three male characters present in each story for every two females featured." (1)
It appears that children's books are sexist because the children's literature industry is dominated by sexist white women, on both the buy and sell sides of the industry (2);
"78% of children’s book editors and/or publishing industry staff members are women, though that number drops to 59% at the executive/board level (according to a survey by Lee & Low)
85% of literary agents that represent children’s and/or YA books are women (according to querytracker.net)
75% of school teachers are women; at the pre-school/kindergarten level that number jumps to 97.5% (according to the National Center for Education Statistics)
82% of librarians are women (according to the ALA), and the vast majority of children’s lit reviewers are librarians (I couldn’t find stats on this, but a search of submission guidelines and reviewer lists for School Library Journal, Kirkus, Booklist and PW confirms it anecdotally)
57% of children’s book buyers are women (according to Nielsen’s US Children’s Book Landscape report)
14 of the 15 members of the 2018 Newbery Award committee were women. 13 of the 15 members of the 2018 Caldecott committee were women (From ALA)"
(1) https://web.archive.org/web/20190428211128/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/21/childrens-books-sexism-monster-in-your-kids-book-is-male
(2) https://emmawaltonhamilton.com/blog/where-the-women-are-tough-questions-about-the-gender-disparities-in-childrens-publishing
According a study conducted by the Guardian of the top 100 bestselling illustrated children’s books of 2017 (1):
"The lead characters were 50% more likely to be male than female, and male villains were eight times more likely to appear compared to female villains. Only one book, Peppa and her Golden Boots, portrayed a sole female villain, acting alone: a duck who steals Peppa Pig’s boots and takes them to the moon.
Over the course of each book, the characters who got an opportunity to speak were 50% more likely to be male than female, and male characters outnumbered female characters in almost half the stories that made it into the top 100.
Twice as many of the characters who were given a speaking part and a main role in the story were male – and, on average, there were three male characters present in each story for every two females featured." (1)
It appears that children's books are sexist because the children's literature industry is dominated by sexist white women, on both the buy and sell sides of the industry (2);
"78% of children’s book editors and/or publishing industry staff members are women, though that number drops to 59% at the executive/board level (according to a survey by Lee & Low)
85% of literary agents that represent children’s and/or YA books are women (according to querytracker.net)
75% of school teachers are women; at the pre-school/kindergarten level that number jumps to 97.5% (according to the National Center for Education Statistics)
82% of librarians are women (according to the ALA), and the vast majority of children’s lit reviewers are librarians (I couldn’t find stats on this, but a search of submission guidelines and reviewer lists for School Library Journal, Kirkus, Booklist and PW confirms it anecdotally)
57% of children’s book buyers are women (according to Nielsen’s US Children’s Book Landscape report)
14 of the 15 members of the 2018 Newbery Award committee were women. 13 of the 15 members of the 2018 Caldecott committee were women (From ALA)"
(1) https://web.archive.org/web/20190428211128/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/21/childrens-books-sexism-monster-in-your-kids-book-is-male
(2) https://emmawaltonhamilton.com/blog/where-the-women-are-tough-questions-about-the-gender-disparities-in-childrens-publishing