Of mice and monsters and the masculine default: Gender assignment in children's literature in translation

Abstract

This study examines how gender-neutral beings become gendered in translation from genderless languages or languages with more gender-neutral options into languages where gendered pronouns are required. We used a corpus of Hungarian and Swedish children's books translated into English, German, and Dutch to investigate the patterns and processes of gender assignment for genderless supernatural characters and anthropomorphized objects and animals. Our results reveal a significant masculine bias in translation in all languages, as gender-neutral characters receive predominantly masculine pronouns in translations. The study shows that animacy, individuality, and cultural stereotypes significantly influence gender assignment decisions in children's literature translation.