A University psychology professor has claimed that children's books are falling short when it comes to gender roles -- they still promote stereotypical images of men and women.

Basing his study on illustrations from Caldecott award-winning books since 1937, Peter Crabb stated in his unpublished study that men and women are continually portrayed filling traditional roles in children's literature and providing misleading images for young minds.

"The same picture basically had been coming through for 51 years," Crabb said. "I certainly want to alert people that these books are showing this representation."

For his study -- which will be published in the psychological journal Sex Roles this spring -- Crabb looked to children's literature for evidence of society gender-typing technology; women performing housework while men do construction work. The 39-year-old Ogontz Campus professor selected Caldecott Medal books because of their popularity and prestige.

"One way to see if that was true was to see what kids were seeing in children's books," he said. "We assumed that Caldecott books are typical reading material for kids."

Caldecott Medal awards are given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a branch of the American Library Association, for distinguished illustration of children's books.

But a former member of the Caldecott award-selection committee found some flaws in Crabb's work. Steven Herb, an education librarian at University Park and collection development specialist for children's literature, said Crabb may have lost track in his translation of illustrations to scientific data, but added that he was not surprised by Crabb's findings.

Caldecott books are often modern versions of traditional stories when the gender roles portrayed were true to life, Herb said.

"You're looking at a story where the pictures need to fit the words and the words are 380 years old," he said. "Even if a book was published in 1993, the story is from 1610."

Gender-role issues cannot be superimposed onto characters from different time periods, said Kim Spanos-Telsing (graduate-language and literacy education). Since 1970, 13 Caldecott award-winning books were folk tales and five were historical fiction, she added.

"They're not contemporary gender roles -- you have to put things into historical context," Spanos-Telsing said. "You have to realize that they're in the past and that people lived that way."

Spanos-Telsing suggested Crabb should look into why the Caldecott Medal is usually bestowed upon books based on historical fiction or folktales instead of modern-day stories.

Although Caldecott books are quality children's literature, they are a limited example of books, said Linda Duerr, University Park's child development laboratory coordinator.

"If you were to just choose Caldecott and Newbury Award winners, you would be lacking in diversity," Duerr said. "It kind of has a narrow focus and there's so much out there that doesn't get recognized."

Duerr said she tries to select books that give children a nonbiased look at the world because children develop gender-based distinctions at a young age.

"You want children to see themselves in books," she said. "If all books contain a white middle-class family with a golden retriever, that's not necessarily the real world."

One student who teaches 2-to-4-year-olds at CEDAR Day Care/Child Development Center, 127 CEDAR, said more realistic depictions of men and women are beneficial.

"I think it's good that books show what's happening in the real world so (children) are not so alienated," said Deb McCarty (sophomore-communication disorders).

Traditional gender role ideas are ingrained in our society and carried through common and popular culture, said Craig Heller, a women's studies lecturer.

"It's all subconscious," Heller said. "It's these stereotypes we have trouble getting away from because it's so indoctrinated."

Some progress has been made in children's literature, as the gender neutral "he/she" is replacing "he" in many stories. But Womyn's Concerns co-director Alex Sotereanos said while the texts may be changing, illustrations have a long way to go; too many books still use male images for undefined characters.

Change is necessary because children's books are a main ingredient for gender stereotypes, Sotereanos said.

"We need to change the semantics and the vocabulary to allow children to see women in expanded roles," she said.

And Crabb himself said the future of children's literature is unsure.

"Time will tell whether this situation will change," he said. "Maybe children's books just haven't caught up with the everyday reality of gender roles."