Children’s books are almost twice as likely to feature a male central character as a female one, leading to a symbolic annihilation of women according to a recent US study. Researchers from Florida State University looked at 6000 children’s books published between 1900 and 2000 and found that males are respresented 1.6 times more than females as central characters.  Gender bias was especially strong amongst animal characters – Winnie the Pooh being a prime offender