Caribbean Baby launches “Today I Am an Astronaut,” and explores gender bias in children’s publishing

BY PAUL JUNOR

It has been over three years since Donna Ferguson wrote an article that highlighted the increasing marginalization of female and minority ethnic characters. The article revealed that BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) characters are generally biased against girls.

Data from Nelson BookScan of the top 100 bestselling-illustrated children’s books of 2018 indicates the following disturbing statistics:

• 41% of characters were female, while 59% were male
• 85% of illustrated human characters were White, while 15% were portrayed as BAME
• Male characters continue to dominate the most popular picture books
• 70% of the books with illustrations of BAME characters featured them only in non-speaking roles
• Not a single bestseller features a BAME make as its central character

Jess Day, of the Gender Equality Campaign, “Let Toys Be Boys” states, “ It’s really disappointing to see that things are getting worse, rather than better and that newer books aren’t helping to make our kids’ bookshelves more balanced. What we tell very young children has a strong influence, and what they’re seeing in books is a world where male is the default, male voices dominate and BAME characters are rarely at the centre of the story.”

The lack of diversity in books is further indicative among authors and illustrators. There was not even one single author or illustrator of a bestselling picture book that was recognized as BAME.

Jill Coleman, Director of Children’s books at BookTrust observes, “While there is lots of positive work happening to help level the playing field, there is still a long way to go. Children need and deserve to see themselves in books and to have access to a rich and diverse range of voices.”

Emma House, Deputy Executive of the Publishers Association has drawn attention to the “highly concerning” findings which indicate that publishers have to take an active role in ensuring that diversity is emphasized in children’s books, although it will not occur within a very short time, especially to reach the bestsellers lists.

Charlotte Hacking, of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, analysed 9,115 children’s books that were published in 2017 and found that a mere 1% had a BAME main character compared to 96% with not even one BAME character. She states, “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” with respect to the views among publishers that books that show diversity among characters will not sell, and will inevitably lead to bias that favours White characters.

In order to overcome gender bias in children’s publishing, Trinbagonian author Lisa Henry has launched a new children’s board book titled, “Today I am an Astronaut.” This third book is part of the “Today I Am” book series, which focuses on diverse occupations. Lisa believes in “Empowering children to imagine themselves in different occupations through reading.”

I interviewed Lisa on Thursday, December 1^st, 2022, and she shared with me how her journey into children’s publishing started. Her daughter played a crucial role in encouraging her through her love of reading. She was inspired to come up with characters that kids can relate to that represent images that they can positively connect with to build their self-esteem. Lisa believes that this has a long-lasting effect on their sense of well-being. The children’s books are currently available in Barbados, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Surinam.

The website: preggplus.com describes the importance of the “Today I Am” series. It empowers kids to imagine themselves in different occupations through play. It uses fun rhymes and beautiful illustrations to build a child’s imagination such as:

• Encourage early readers with simple rhymes
• Empower children to imagine they can be anything
• Provide hours of delight to children at home and ahead