Children’s picture books are filled with talking animals—but did you know that these characters are overwhelmingly male? A recent data‑driven feature from The Pudding reveals that male animal characters are referenced twice as often as female ones in popular children’s books, with male pronouns (“he/him”) nearly three times more common in both books and reader‑submitted stories .
The study focused on 821 anthropomorphized animals that appeared in at least ten books each, analyzing pronouns and gendered cues. Only birds, ducks, and cats tended to be portrayed as female, while animals like frogs, wolves, foxes, elephants, dogs, monkeys, bears, rabbits, mice, and pigs skewed heavily male. Gender‑neutral references (it/they) were rare—just about 2%.
By shaping early exposure, these gender imbalances may influence how children subconsciously assign gender to animals (and beyond). The Pudding’s insightful visualizations encourage readers to question why we default to “he” so often—and consider choosing stories that give female and nonbinary characters a brighter spotlight.
To explore more, visit https://pudding.cool/2025/07/kids-books/