Sexism in the pictures of children's readers: East and West Germany compared

School readers from East and West Germany were analyzed to test the hypothesis that children's literature in both socialist and capitalist societies shows stereotyped sex-role bias favoring males, but that socialist literature shows less bias. A content analysis of pictures was done for grades 1 through 4, using a sample of approximately 22% of West German readers and all four of the universally used East German readers. West German books increased in bias from the 1960s to the 1970s. Both countries showed patterns of increasing bias from grades 1 through 4. West Germany was significantly more biased than the East on nine variables. The hypothesis was thus confirmed.The author would like to express gratitude to Dr. Norbert Siara, Ms. Göldner, and the staff of the Institut für Bildungsmedian in Frankfurt (M) for their assistance and the use of their library, from which the BRD sample was taken.