There has been a “significant” drop in the presence of racially minoritised characters in children’s books, according to a new report.
A Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) survey found that the share of children’s books featuring characters who are racially minoritised fell from 30% in 2022 to 17% in 2023. “Racially minoritised” is a term CLPE uses to refer to individuals who “have been actively minoritised through social processes of power and domination, rather than just existing in distinct statistical minorities.”
Though this is still an increase on the 4% reported when the survey began in 2017, it marks the first year-on-year drop.
“Whilst this is disappointing, we have always expressed cautious optimism regarding the increased output of recent years,” writes Farrah Serroukh, CLPE research and development director, in the report’s foreword. “Historical patterns would indicate that gains regarding inclusion are susceptible to being constrained by the cyclical nature of publishing trends.”
The number of racially minoritised main characters dropped by half – from 14% to 7% – between 2022 and 2023, the first time this figure has decreased since 2017, when it was reported as 1%.
Looking at last year’s report, “we could be forgiven for […] congratulating ourselves on a collective job well done”, said CLPE chief executive Rebecca Eaves.
“These most recent, more sobering results, particularly after a summer of racially motivated riots, remind us that the job is far from done. It’s more important than ever that all children can see themselves and those that look like them in the books they read.”
CLPE invited publishers to submit fiction, nonfiction and picture books published in the UK in 2023, aimed at children aged three to 11 and featuring racially minoritised characters for review. Of the 5,884 titles eligible for the study, 999 featured such characters.
Thirty-two per cent of books with racially minoritised characters only featured them as background characters – an increase from the 25% reported last year.
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A rise in the presence of racially minoritised background characters with a parallel drop in main characters “could lead to a regression in which racially minoritised characters are relegated to tokenistic wallpaper as opposed to meaningful presence”, states the report, which was published on Friday.
Picture books tend to have a higher proportion of racially minoritised characters than fiction or nonfiction. The survey found 55% of picture book titles published in 2023 had characters from minoritised backgrounds – an increase from 3% in 2017.
The report’s conclusion calls for inclusion to be made integral to each stage of the publishing process, and encourages the industry to recognise that while inclusive literature can be responsive to social injustice, if it is “solely regarded as a type of text designed to explore either suffering, subjugation, struggle or success, it will only be deemed necessary and appropriate for exclusive purposes”, such as for specific audiences or to “mark or respond to particular events”.
On the other hand, “if efforts are made to ensure that the content of the literature we consume is inclusive as a basic standard requirement then it will forever be the case regardless of what happens to be going in the world beyond the bookshelf”.