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significant point by Healy, and am of the belief that ascribing gender is a choice that can be challenged at school level.
Finally, the analysis of Iranian high school EFL textbooks revealed that men are mentioned before women in the majority of cases (Amini & Birjandi, 2012, p.137). In one of the books, there were 12 first mentions of males and only two first mentions of females. The researchers explained this linguistic feature as representing the traditional patriarchal view of women in Iranian society; deeply rooted traditions show that men always come first and that women are subordinate to men. A key omission from the findings is the authors’ failure to comment on how Iran, being a ‘patriarchal’ society, ranks equally with all the other countries in terms of gender inclusivity. This omission serves to conceal issues of power and ideology. To this effect, textbooks are described as “both pedagogical and political” (Aronowitz & Giroux, 1991, p.
215).
The foregoing examples serve to confirm the socially constructed nature of textbooks, as well as how textbooks should not be taken for granted, nor embraced with unquestioning trust.
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of stereotypes (Sunderland et al., 2001). My study adds to this debate by applying CDA to unearth taken for granted assumptions of gender representations in Business Studies textbooks.
The tools of CDA are useful in stripping away layers to reveal the hidden and less obvious messages.
Views on the matter do vary. Brickhill et al. (1996) question whether one can expect representation of gender equality “in the sense of gender-neuter (or unisex)” approaches to all roles in a context “where custom and culture still respect special and different roles for men and women in community and family” (p. 11). There is also the view that one cannot expect to escape differently gendered roles and the diverse reality of African men and women – which includes the role of African women in politics, as farmers and heads of households, in a variety of income-generating and professional occupations – should be represented in textbooks in Southern Africa (Brickhill et al., 1996). These writers stress the need in African contexts to address perpetuation of stereotypes through cultural beliefs. Therefore, a gender-neutral construct is not feasible as culture constrains and enables the production of knowledge, permitting certain ways of thinking about reality and excluding others. The social is forever caught within the play of hegemony (Baxter, 2004).
To elaborate further on the gendered nature of occupation representation, textbooks used in schools in Tanzania, a developing African state, were studied (Mkuchu, 2004). This study found that the textbooks presented biased images, especially of females. The illustrations as well as contents depicted males as in the majority and in important social, occupational and political roles. The male characters were not only abundant in number but also portrayed as leading instruments of action. Females, on the other hand, were portrayed in the domestic sphere, doing household chores and looking after children. Moreover, women’s work was represented as unpaid and not requiring skills, whereas in many cases men’s work was accompanied by status and wealth. Overall Mkuchu (2004) discovered patriarchal images of both genders in the material used in schools.
Ideological representations of women in Taiwanese history in elementary Social Studies textbooks revealed similar results (Su, 2007). The study found that gender-neutral laws have failed to benefit women, because lawmakers neglected to consider the contingencies of most women’s social situations. However, the study does not critically unpack who (gender) the lawmakers are nor the implications of their decisions. Instead, Su (2007) provides superficial findings without interrogating issues of discrimination and patriarchy. Men were shown doing
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work requiring more physical strength (building, wood and metal work) or anything that generally happens outside (gardening, taking care of animals), while women carried out household activities that required less strength (knitting, sewing, embroidery) and took care of children.
Content analysis of the roles of women portrayed in Australian primary school English textbooks largely reinforced the diminished positioning of women (Lee & Collins, 2009).
However, a positive aspect of their findings was that there were some cases of unconventional treatment of gender and work; for instance, of women as boxers or filmmakers.
Notwithstanding, the researchers maintained that the glass ceiling continued to exist in the textbooks, despite the few instances reflecting gender equity.
Gender sensitivity has also been evaluated in a number of textbooks in the Zimbabwean secondary school curriculum, after which a focus group interview was carried out with a purposive and gender-stratified sample of students (Mutekwe & Modiba, 2012). The study revealed that the textbooks contained gender biases, imbalances and stereotypes and embodied many patriarchal values and ideologies. The interview supported the notion that textbooks shape the minds of learners, and showed that students were affected overtly and covertly by gender representations in textbooks. In the same year a study of English textbooks in Pakistan (Hameed, 2012) and of Iranian EFL textbooks (Amini & Birjandi, 2012) obtained similar findings.
Investigations into issues of gender have focused not only on written texts but also on visual representations. For example, a study scrutinised visual images of women in selected South African History textbooks: how they were depicted visually, what types of visual images were used, who the women who were depicted are, and why certain images were used (Nene, 2014).
The focus of the study was selected Grade 12 History textbooks, which they underpinned with semiotic analysis. The findings showed that severe gender inequality existed in the visual images in the textbooks, contradicting both the Constitution of South Africa and the curriculum. African women specifically were portrayed in stereotypical roles as mothers and marginal figures, and in many instances as vulnerable and weak. However, exceptions also existed within their small sample of photographs, namely that white women were portrayed as powerful, independent and historical characters who were equal to men. White women were most often displayed for their beauty, obedience and self-sacrifice, and white men specifically for their bravery, intelligence and achievement in the workplace.
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The study concluded that teachers and learners as users need to be sensitised about the patriarchal and racist nature of textbooks. Although Nene’s study was useful in understanding the representation of women in textbooks, she did not show intersections of gender and race, but dealt with them in isolation. In my opinion, this did not allow her to provide rich and nuanced conclusions.
Studies on gender representations have also been conducted elsewhere in Africa. A Malawian study, which examined visual images found similar results to Nene (Chiponda & Wassermann, 2015). The study was a specifically empirical, feminist study, premised on the assumption of the oppression and subordination of women in society. It investigated how and why women are portrayed visually in school textbooks, to see their subordination is implicitly sanctioned in visual representations of women. The findings confirmed that it was.