The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

160 Chapter 5

SIDEBAR 5.4:Mother Goose and Father Gander

Father Ganderalters the traditionalMother Goosenursery rhymes to present a more equal representa-

tion of men and women and to show men and women in more egalitarian roles. For example, the old

woman in the shoe now has a husband to help her take care of the children and Ms. Muffet brings

the spider to the garden to catch insects instead of running away from it. Below are listed two classic

Mother Goosenursery rhymes along with their updated version byFather Gander(Larche, 1985).

Mother Goose Father Gander

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater

Had a wife and couldn’t keep her Had a wife and wished to keep her

He put her in a pumpkin shell, Treated her with fair respect,

And then he kept her very well. Shestayed with him and hugged his neck!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men All of the horses, the women and men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again. Put Humpty Dumpty together again!

In other nursery rhymes,Father Gandersimply extended the passage to include women. For example,

Mother Goose and Father Gander

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,

Jack jump over the candlestick!

Father Gander’s extension

Jill be nimble, jump it too,

If Jack can do it, so can you!

Father Ganderalso added some nursery rhymes that depict men and women in more equal roles.

For example:

Mandy’s Mom stays home to work,

Millie’s Mom goes outside.

David’s Dad is on the road,

Donald’s Dad works inside.

A working Mother’s really great,

A working Father, too.

A stay-at-home Mom is first rate,

Or a Dad who stays home with you.

because she is unable to recognize Snow

White or Cinderella.) When parents were

asked to volunteer at the preschool to read

stories, I selected the more egalitarian repre-

sentation of nursery rhymes to share, some of

which are shown in Sidebar 5.4. The teachers

politely thanked me, and the children were

slightly amused. Since this happened before

my daughter was 5, she has no recollection—

which is probably a good thing.

M05_HELG0185_04_SE_C05.indd 160 6/21/11 8:03 AM