Mid Sweden University

The reason for this study is to investigate if stereotypical gender roles exist in greeting cards designed for children in Sundsvall, Sweden and to what extent. Studies show that gender cues in design can have an effect on people's self image and that children are especially affected. Because of that this study wants to investigate what the common graphic elements used to divide cards by gender are in greeting cards design for children. Another interesting aspect of this study is that the study takes place in a city in Sweden which is a high ranking country regarding gender equality in Europe. It is therefore interesting to see if gender cues in greeting cards occur in a gender equal country. 

For this study, a quantitative content analysis was conducted. 238 greeting cards from four different stores were analyzed with the help of rules of interpretation. The result showed that stereotypical gender roles do exist in greeting cards designed for children in Sundsvall, Sweden. A majority of all the cards collected were considered to have gender cues in them and the most common graphic elements used to divide cards by gender were by color and typography.