Sexism In Luka's Quilt

When you think of children’s stories, do you ever think that some of them are sexist? Believe it or not, some children’s stories are sexist. When looking for things that indicate sexism, you may see one gender being left out, or not being treated equal to the other. In Georgia Guback’s children story, Luka’s Quilt, we meet a young girl from Hawaii named Luka, and her grandmother, who is also known as Tutu. In this story, we see the ups and downs of Luka and Tutu’s relationship as they work on a quilt together for Luka. In analyzing this children’s book through a feminist’s lens, it can be seen that this story supports equality between women and men. However, there is a common feminine role that is seen throughout the story, that could be seen

“Tutu takes care of me while Mom and Dad work” (Guback 1). In this quote, we see that Luka’s mother and father both work, promoting gender equality as her mother works along with her father. This shows that Luka’s mother is not expected to stay at home and take care of certain feminine roles. On the next page of the story, we see the story go against our societies gender stereotypes. On the illustration on pages two and three, we see the family eating a meal together. In this picture, we see the mother and father sitting side by side at the table. This illustration sends the message that Luka’s father is not the most important figure of the house, as he sits by her mother, rather than at the head of the table such as the leader of the household

For example, on page 23 we see a man driving the bus that Tutu and Luka rode on. In this example of social inequality, it is suggested that a woman could not drive the bus. This illustration would be more inclusive if there was a woman shown driving this bus. Along with this, in the beginning of the book, Tutu explains how she had made Luka’s mother a quilt too. However, this could be seen as gender bias, as it was never mentioned anywhere if Luka’s father received a quilt. In order to include the opposite gender, it should have been stated that the father also had a quilt made for himself. Lastly, at the end of the book we see Luka playing with a kitchen set. This is a put down as it shows Luka playing with toys that relate to her gender, portraying women negatively as it suggests that a woman’s place is in the kitchen. It could be recommended that Luka is shown playing with something else, so that the children that read this book do not internalize the model provided and believe that women belong in the kitchen.

Even though there was a common feminine roll that could be seen throughout the story, this was counteracted by the multiple examples of equality that could also be seen. With the few examples of feminism or sexism that there were in this story, they could be fixed with some small changes. After reading this criticism, has your view changed on children’s books? Do you think that