The Relationship Between Gender and Content Selection in Art Making:

A re-examination of the gender research conducted by Donna Tuman

Joy LeinenbachARE 6905

March 25, 2009

Why should we investigate gender and content preference?

• The results are important to me as a teacher because I will gain data specific to my student population– Knowledge of preferences based on gender will

allow me to better ensure that assignments are designed to engage and challenge both genders equally

– Results will also be beneficial for other teachers’ use in guiding their planning

• “…research in art education has grossly neglected to examine if the dynamic of reinforced gender stereotyping impacts on the artistic development of children’s drawings” (Tuman, 1998, p. 170).

• Tuman’s research confirmed that there are significant gender differences in preferred artistic content, so we are obligated to become better informed about these trends and determine if there are other factors involved that have not been identified– It is important to see if the difference in grade levels of students

will yield different results from those of Tuman

Why should we investigate gender and content preference? -continued

• Methodology– I selected six of my art classes with students in grades 6,7 & 8 to

gather data from– I informed students that they would be participating in an

important research study but I did not reveal the purpose of the study. They were extremely curious though!

– During a 48 minute period students were read the same 4 page narrative as used in the Tuman study (Alyssa’s Story)

– Students were instructed to complete a pencil drawing on 81/2 x 11 white paper illustrating one of the events that took place during the story

– At the end of the drawing period, students were instructed to put their name, class period, gender, and grade level on the back of the drawing and work was collected

So how will we investigate?

Methodology continued

• After all drawings were collected I sorted each individual class period to determine the total numbers of gender and grade level for each class

• I then divided the drawings for each class period into categories based on their content– Categories were defined based on the content

domains defined by Tuman, but categories that were similar in nature were combined to serve as a single category

Demographics

• 6 classes

• 146 completed samples

• 77 male / 69 female

• 6th grade (84)

• 7th grade (35)

• 8th grade (27)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

class 1 class 2 class 3 class 4 class 5 class 6

grade 6grade 7grade 8

64

66

68

70

72

74

76

78

boys

girls

Content Domains

• Tuman’s content domains consisted of:– Male based categories

• Sports, danger, aggression, violence, power, heroism, travel, humor, adventure, and mechanical objects (Tuman, p. 107).

• I condensed the various categories into:1. Bicycle/skateboard (travel/adventure), fighting

(violence/aggression), soccer (sports/power/heroism), throwing strawberries (humor/aggression)

– Female based categories• Realism, domestic life, care & concern, animals, physical

appearance, nature, and social experience (Tuman, p. 107).

• I condensed these categories into:– Dressing up (physical appearance/social experience),

cat/kittens (animals/care & concern/nature), waking up early (domestic life)

TWMS Results

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

dressing up

soccer

fighting

cat/kittens

waking up early

throwing strawberries

bicycle/skateboard

other

girls boys

0 50 100 150

animals/care &concern

appearance/socialexperience

girls

boys

0 50 100 150

sports (soccer)

aggression/violence(fighting)

girls

boys

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

dressing up

soccer

fighting

cat/kittens

throwing strawberries

boys

girls

Results from TWMS students

Tuman’s results for female categories Tuman’s results for male categories

Comparison of results from Tuman with current results from TWMS

• Tuman’s findings revealed that “three times as many girls than boys incorporated evidence of domestic life in their drawings” (Tuman, p. 110)

• “the content domain of care and concern was scored in more than eight times as many girls’ drawings than boys’…animals were evident in nearly four times as many girls’ drawings…(Tuman, p. 111).

• Girls were “explicitly motivated to draw the dress-up scene” (Tuman, p 114) and similar results were scene in the results from TWMS, however, there were boys who also portrayed the dress-up scene in their drawings despite its categorization as a feminine content domain.

• The content areas of “sports, danger, aggression, violence, and power was significantly greater in boys than girls” (Tuman, p. 121).

• The depiction of action and movement was found to be expressed more often in male than female drawings (Tuman, 1998).

Discussion and comparison

Conclusion/reflection

• The subject of waking up early seemed to be a subject of importance to my particular grade level of students, where it was an issue that the elementary students in Tuman’s study were not concerned with

• I observed that my students were as strongly influenced in their choice of content by their gender as they were by the people they sat next to. There were a significant number of groups that had 2 or more students who chose similar content and similar ways of expressing that content

Implications

• An unexpected finding was that there were a significant number of students whose work was similar in content choices and/or design elements, which seemed to correspond to what table they were sitting at– Further study of how the work of neighboring peers’

artwork influences the subject choices of others might provide an important insight into how students form ideas and concepts in art creation

• Further study into strategies for enhancing student performance in content areas outside of their gender-preferred content could yield important and useful information for teachers

Male 8th grade student (fighting drawing)

Female 8th grade student (cat/kittens drawing)

Male 6th grade student (soccer drawing)

Female 8th grade student (dress-up drawing)

Female 6th grade student (dress-up drawing)

Female 7th grade student (cat/kittens drawing)

Female 6th grade student (dress-up drawing)

Female 8th grade student (dress-up drawing)

Female 7th grade student (dress-up drawing)

Male 6th grade student (dress-up drawing)

F

Female 8th grade student (other drawing)

Male 6th grade student (cat/kittens drawing)

Female 8th grade student (other drawing)

Male 6th grade student (waking up early / dress-up drawing)

Male 6th grade student (skateboard/bicycle drawing)

Female 8th grade student (dress-up drawing)

Female 6th grade student (throwing strawberries drawing)

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Brewer, T. (1998). The Relationship of Art Instruction, Grade-Level, and Gender on Third- and Seventh-Grade Student Drawings. Studies in Art Education, 39(2), 132-146.

Dorn, C. M. (2004). Assessing Expressive Learning. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Duncum, P. (1997). Subjects and themes in children's unsolicited drawings and gender socialization. In A. M. Kindler (Ed.), Child development in art (pp. 107-114). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

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Tuman, D. M. (1998).  Gender difference in form and content: The relation betweenpreferred subject matter and the formal artistic characteristics of children's drawing. Ed.D. dissertation, Columbia University Teachers College, United States -- New York. Retrieved April 21, 2009, from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text database. (Publication No. AAT 9839130).

Tuman, D. M. (1999). Gender style as form and content: An examination of gender stereotypes in the subject preference of children’s drawing. Studies in Art Education, National Art Education Association, 41(1), 40-60.