Where are the heroines in toddlers cartoons?

[Fabulosososo]

It could just be the cartoons that DS (age 2) is in to, but all the heroes are male. I'm particularly looking at cartoons for toddlers. So we've got Thomas the tank engine, firemen Sam, chuck & friends, postman pat. Where are the female fire fighters, trucks, trains, postwomen? There seems a particular lack of female characters doing jobs (postman, fireman, policeman etc.) and rescuing others. It all seems a bit old fashioned and sexist. There is Care Bears and my little ponies that have a lot of female characters but there seem to be less heroines. As DD gets more into to I'd like her to watch somethin that makes her feel like she can do all these things too. Ideally a cartoon that has both a male hero and a female heroine in equal measure. Does anyone know of any good cartoons like that? We have CBeebies tiny pop and Netflix.

[Kenduskeag]

Cbeebies is pretty shit for this - yes, there's female sidekicks but almost no female leads. It's not just about "well, look, that show's got a girl in it." We've had that since the 1980s - the lady sidekick. It's not progress.

Kate+Mim is cheap, dismal animation, poorly written and not CBeebies usual quality. I hate Everything's Rosie as she spends all her time fixing other (male) characters' bratty mistakes and never seems to do anything she wants to do.

There's some show called Nellie and Nora, bit light on content but at least they're not sidekicks.

We download/rip DVDs to build up our own little library of stuff, so yes to Doc McStuffins, also Dirt Girl is pretty good (gardening show, used to be on CBeebies but they probably took it off because having two female led shows was too outrageous.)

[Kenduskeag]

Liinoo - Nick had some great shows back in the day. Even though I could grumble that Angelica, Lil and Susie were sidekicks, they often had episodes revolving totally around them and really, it was an ensemble show. Tommy's Mum, Phil/Lil's Mum and Angelica's mum also had really important roles to play, in terms of the role models they represented.

Hey Arnold - Helga! :) And Arnold's awesome grandma. Again, ensemble show and really did a good job of capturing different facets of growing up and fitting in; I remember Helga's hurtful comparisons to her older sister, for example.

Then Alex Mack, Clarissa, Sabrina, Sister Sister! I'll have to download all of these for my daughter.

[nancyblackett80]

I take all your charactors and raise them by...

Granny Island - Katie Morag

Best, most self sufficient lady on cbeebies.

My favourite episode was when she said she once had a pretty ring but lost it. She saved up for another but bought a generator instead, and it was a great generator!

I know its not a cartoon but Katie Morags mother is the postmistress, in fact the only ones who have actual jobs on the island are female, lady artist, teacher etc

[CoodleMoodle]

Came here to say Miss Rabbit as well! And Madame Gazelle, actually. She's awesome IMO. Teacher, skier, musician, camping skills...

Disagree about Daddy Pig having a "dull admin role" though - he's supposed to be a civil engineer/architect. Mummy Pig "works on her computer". Though she's also in the Mummy's Fire Service.

(I may watch too much Peppa )

[FATEdestiny]

Peppa pig

[ayeokthen]

PJ Masks (Disney junior) has Owlette. Doc McStuffins is a kind of heroine in that she's bright and articulate. Struggling to come up with much else tho.

[StarlingMurmuration]

DS recently discovered Thomas and Friends, and I commented to DP how annoying it is that there are eight main characters (in the song during the credits) and only one is female. He hadn't noticed, which is half the problem. Similarly, Hey Duggee, which is otherwise pretty good, has two female main characters but four male main characters.

[RitchyBestingFace]

Disagree about Daddy Pig having a "dull admin role" though - he's supposed to be a civil engineer/architect.
Ah, apologies. There's an episode where he writes something, stamps it and files it. It's a joke about how dull office life is.

Mummy Pig "works on her computer".
Clearly Mummy Pig does Forever Living

[PhotosGinAndALongLieIn]

My 2 year old loves Transformers Rescue Bots. There's Dani who flies a rescue helicopter and Frankie who is a very bright young scientist and sometimes is "Rescue Girl".

[Cocolepew]

It might be for older children, The Powerpuff Girls.

[Francescaestee]

My little pony is awesome loads of strong females, both evil and good. 6 very strong and different personalitys in the mane 6, not a need for all to be pink and wearing makeup. Paw patrol I feel is one with the token female, sky pink pretty fluttering eyelashes! For the love of god when will people realise you don't have to wear pink have fluttering eyelashes and be cute to be a girl! Grrr

[Soubriquet]

TV programs my Dd (3) loves watching that feature girls

Peppa pig
Ben and Holly
Dora the explorer
Umizoomie
Bubble guppies

[BarbarianMum]

Books get better as they get older. By the time ds was 9 lots if the books he read had female protagonists or a 50:50 male/female split. In young adult books teenage girls saving the world seems to be the norm.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Bubble Guppies has a good balance. Not so much heroes, but jobs are done interchangeably.

[RiverTam]

Hey Duggee is surely the best programme the BBC have made EVER and you've got Betty and Norry there.

Charlie and Lola
Abney and Teal
Peppa Pig
My Little pony
Sofia
The Tinker Bell films aren't bad, the Never Beast one has some kick ass fairies
Agree with Studio Ghibli - My neighbour Totoro, Ponyo and Kikis Delivery Service (not seen that one but meant to be good)
Frozen
Beauty and the Beast - Belle is a strong, brunette, book-loving girl

[Minisoksmakehardwork]

There's quite a few in Thomas the tank engine - Emily, Millie, Annie and clarabel keep Thomas in check. Belle the fire steamie, Mavis, Marion the steam shovel, daisy, Ashima, Caitlin - she's faster than Gordon. They're just the ones I can think of. I'm sure there are more.

Princess Sophie is pretty awesome for a girl, rolls her sleeves up and gets on with it. Brings about change in a patriarchal Royal society with the stereotype airhead princess Amber.

[CoodleMoodle]

Ritchy I quite like Mummy Pig so I hope that isn't true!

That episode where they go to Daddy's office you find out that Mr Rabbit works with stamps, Mrs Cat works with shapes, and Daddy Pig does load bearing tangents...

[Thefitfatty]

My 3 year old loves owlette from PJ masks and doc mcstuffins and Judy Hopp from Zootopia. Otherwise her idols are all boys. She hates princesses

[MoonriseKingdom]

Sarah and duck.

My 2 year old loves it and takes her Sarah doll everywhere. It's gentle but very surreal and is one of the few CBeebies shows I enjoy.

[Lovelydiscusfish]

I agree you are right in general.
One of the Go-Jetters is female. "Suli is the pilot with the power and the speed." She's my favourite one - the one who shouts "To the Vroomster!" whenever anything kicks off. The other three are male, though, so she is outnumbered.
Agree that My Little Pony has some strong female characters ( good and evil - Nightmare Moon - argh!) and also some great messages for young women about achieving their true potential. Love it!

[StrawberryQuik]

Maya the bee is fab and on Amazon prime, I used to watch her as a child.

[TronaldDump]

We move Sarah and Duck in our house (2 DSs) and like MoonriseKingdom it's one of the few kids' tv shows I enjoy too.

Also Timmy Time - loads of non-gendered animals, the kitten is very 'girly' but the duck is female and not stereotypical. I think Beebies could be worse actually but maybe that's because we pick and choose! Did anyone mention Nellie and Nora yet? Or that Jamilla and Aladdin thing (which is awful but has a female lead)

[PacificOcean]

Agree that CBeebies is rubbish for this

[Kenduskeag]

Oh, yes to Sarah and Duck and Katie Morag.

Where have they gone, and what is it with CBeebies and removing all the great shows?

[Sanada]

While more for older kids, I would totally second studio ghibli's works. Plenty of strong female protagonists, unique stories, vivid colours and excellent musical scores. These movies are regularly on film4 and can also be purchased easily online(and sometimes can be found in the like of HMV etc).