Gender Representations in Dramatic Texts for Children and Youth

Abstract

Theater, including drama, plays for an underaged audience, is considered an active mechanism for reproducing or challenging gender relations in power that reflects the ideological and political beliefs of a society. Under such circumstances, it is interesting to discover whether theatrical texts for children and youth gender fairness and to investigate whether or not traditional and stereotypical perceptions govern the way male and female citizens are presented in theatrical texts. The purpose of this research is to investigate theatrical texts addressed to children and youth as to the way in which men and women are portrayed as citizens. The research material was decided to consist of theatrical texts, namely texts with dramatic features, such as dialogical form, plot, etc., addressed to a juvenile audience, which was published in Greece, by Greek authors, during the period 1985-1995. In order to achieve the individual aims and objectives of the present research, the content analysis method was used. According to the results of the study, the analysis of activities of the heroes in children’s theatrical works shows that men have power in their hands, make political decisions, and have active and decisive roles in social life. They are the leaders and those who control the society’s fortune, whereas women are generally detached from any serious political, social, and economic activity or decision. The theatrical works for children portray the woman only in the capacity of a mother or housewife without any dynamic presence in modern socio-political life.