Have you noticed that the overwhelming majority of kids books are male-centric? I find far fewer books where girls are front and center, leading the pack, being the heros. Society already has gender stereotypes and the under-representation of females in books can perpetuate this. In fact, in the Time's list of the 100 Best Children's Books Of All Time, 68% of the books featured a male protagonist. Basically, not even a quarter of the "best children's books of all time" center around a female character! Furthermore, if they do feature girls, they play second fiddle to boys or are less likely to speak up. I find myself acutely aware of this and wonder what it means for my boys...

Without even realizing it, what if we are inadvertently raising children that perceive gender bias? The messages conveyed through over-representation of males and under-representation of females in books may skew children’s ideas of what it means to be a boy, girl, man, or woman.

 A small action I started taking in recent years is balancing the representation of books in our home library. I seek out kids books that depict a girl as the main character, a girl who fights to save the day, a girl with a bright idea, a girl who speaks her mind. At home, I also try to share stories of women who have done amazing things in real life (think Jhansi ki Rani, Malala Yousafzai, Marie Curie, Serena Williams, Hilary Clinton, the list goes on...but if we don't talk about it, they may not know!)

Below I share links to some sites which provide an excellent and comprehensive list of female character-centric books...to empower your girls and inspire your boys! :)