ender equality is a deep-rooted global issue. In many parts of the world gender inequality means women face pervasive discrimination across political, economic, cultural, and social spheres. The global significance of gender inequality is appallingly evident in the distribution of resources; according to a UNDP report, more than 80 million women are unemployed worldwide, women receive only one-tenth of the world’s income, and women own less than one percent of the world’s property. Nearly 70% of the total population living under the poverty line are women, and women make up two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults. The outlook for many women worldwide is dismal.
Alongside many scholars globally, the authors of this paper believe that education is the primary tool in achieving gender equity. Classroom environments and curricula reflect the social, cultural, and linguistic realities of the societies they represent. Conversely, curricula and teaching materials with equitable gender representations, along with opportunities for critical thinking and discussion, can promote gender equity in real life as they encourage students to consider gender through the lens of equity. This paper examines several ways that textbooks perpetuate gender inequity—through unequal representation, gendered roles, gendered language and terminology, sexualization and objectification, and historical omission—and presents tangible solutions to help address this pervasive, global issue.
How School Curricula Reinforce Gender Stereotypes
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1979 encouraged the elimination of gender stereotypes from textbooks. Yet, after four decades, gender stereotypes in textbooks are still considered one of the five most important challenges towards gender equality in education. In a survey of 12 introductory textbooks at the university level in the United States, only 28.29% of images and 9.7% of texts depicted female characters, while all the rest were male. Across the world—in the U.S., Japan, Malaysia, and Syria, the authors’ countries of origins, and many others—textbooks typically portray men in leadership roles and as breadwinners while women are depicted solely as caregivers. In a social studies textbook in Japan, for example, men are depicted as politicians, and women are shown doing domestic chores like cooking and cleaning. Underrepresentation in textbooks, especially in subjects like science and mathematics, can create a perception that these fields are not suitable for women, leading to a gender imbalance in these professions. Overrepresentation in other fields, such as depicting women only as teachers or nurses, can dissuade men from pursuing those fields as well or funnel women into them. While engaging in these professions is valuable regardless of gender, such stereotypes can create imbalances that negatively impact people who defy stereotypes to engage in them.
Textbooks can also influence perceptions of gender roles in society through the language and terminology the textbooks employ. In many Japanese textbooks, the terms "housewife" and "mother" are often used to describe women, while men are called "working fathers" or "breadwinners." These labels reinforce traditional gender roles. The same is true in Arabic textbooks. Arabic is a strongly gendered language and has many gender-biased words. A strong and empowered woman is called a “sister of men,” while a girl who does not conform to stereotypical behavior is called Hassan-Sabi, or tomboy (a phrase which also appears in English). “Miss” and “spinsterhood,” conveying a woman’s marital status, do not have an equivalent for men, while the feminine form of “judge,” “army officer” and “pilot” is rarely used.
Textbooks can both sexualize and objectify women, particularly in illustrations and photographs. This can contribute to a culture of objectification and harassment. Ascribing physical characteristics to women such as “beautiful,” rather than using character descriptions in textbooks, impacts all genders. Studies show that such depictions can impact girls and women’s self-perception and influence boys and men’s views on women’s bodies and roles.
Some textbooks have been criticized for omitting or downplaying the contributions of women in history. This can create a distorted view of history and reinforce gender stereotypes. Several university-level Arabic teaching textbooks in the U.S., for example, fail to mention any female poets, painters, or writers despite their documented contributions to Arab society. We have also observed an overwhelming pro-male narrative across Malaysian secondary school history textbooks, including examples in which women’s contributions to the struggle for independence were depicted as subversive.
Eliminating Gender Discrimination from Curricula
While some progress has been made in recent years to address gender stereotypes and biases in education, a few studies have focused on the process of eliminating gender discrimination and stereotypes in the curriculum. We recommend in this essay a few specific steps regarding designing curricula and supplementary material:
First, curriculum design teams must be balanced and diverse. An ideal team should include teachers, administrators, publishers, students and even parents from diverse backgrounds to ensure that the curriculum reflects the diversity of backgrounds and experiences represented in the classroom. The team would be responsible for considering equity both in developing and selecting curricula for classrooms. We recognize that the social and political contexts of a region can make such design teams difficult to implement, however. If resources permit, we also recommend hiring an expert in inclusivity as a consultant to guide the process. The new editions of “Kontakte,” a German textbook for English speakers, was prepared with the assistance of an inclusivity consultant.
In some instances, social and political pressures make it difficult to change curricula. Supplementary materials become especially important to support gender inclusive learning. Consider inviting female politicians and male nurses into the classroom to talk about their careers. Teach students about women in STEM. Tell stories of women in history and show movies with female lead characters. If a curriculum depicts sensitive issues like aggression and violence against women, use cartoons and animated movies in the teaching materials to foster conversation and raise students’ awareness of the problems they portray. Finally, adopting a critical pedagogy in class that stimulates critical thinking helps shape a generation of leaders and social agents of change.
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Real World Gender Equity Starts with Better Curricula
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
March 24, 2023
Gender inequality is deep rooted and pervasive-women receive around 10% of global income and own under 1% of all property. Solutions also need to dig deep-one approach is eliminating gender description from school curricula, write Rana Raddawi, Annelise Claire, Tomoo Nakayama, and Farihah Fahmy.
G
ender equality is a deep-rooted global issue. In many parts of the world gender inequality means women face pervasive discrimination across political, economic, cultural, and social spheres. The global significance of gender inequality is appallingly evident in the distribution of resources; according to a UNDP report, more than 80 million women are unemployed worldwide, women receive only one-tenth of the world’s income, and women own less than one percent of the world’s property. Nearly 70% of the total population living under the poverty line are women, and women make up two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults. The outlook for many women worldwide is dismal.
Alongside many scholars globally, the authors of this paper believe that education is the primary tool in achieving gender equity. Classroom environments and curricula reflect the social, cultural, and linguistic realities of the societies they represent. Conversely, curricula and teaching materials with equitable gender representations, along with opportunities for critical thinking and discussion, can promote gender equity in real life as they encourage students to consider gender through the lens of equity. This paper examines several ways that textbooks perpetuate gender inequity—through unequal representation, gendered roles, gendered language and terminology, sexualization and objectification, and historical omission—and presents tangible solutions to help address this pervasive, global issue.
How School Curricula Reinforce Gender Stereotypes
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1979 encouraged the elimination of gender stereotypes from textbooks. Yet, after four decades, gender stereotypes in textbooks are still considered one of the five most important challenges towards gender equality in education. In a survey of 12 introductory textbooks at the university level in the United States, only 28.29% of images and 9.7% of texts depicted female characters, while all the rest were male. Across the world—in the U.S., Japan, Malaysia, and Syria, the authors’ countries of origins, and many others—textbooks typically portray men in leadership roles and as breadwinners while women are depicted solely as caregivers. In a social studies textbook in Japan, for example, men are depicted as politicians, and women are shown doing domestic chores like cooking and cleaning. Underrepresentation in textbooks, especially in subjects like science and mathematics, can create a perception that these fields are not suitable for women, leading to a gender imbalance in these professions. Overrepresentation in other fields, such as depicting women only as teachers or nurses, can dissuade men from pursuing those fields as well or funnel women into them. While engaging in these professions is valuable regardless of gender, such stereotypes can create imbalances that negatively impact people who defy stereotypes to engage in them.
Textbooks can also influence perceptions of gender roles in society through the language and terminology the textbooks employ. In many Japanese textbooks, the terms "housewife" and "mother" are often used to describe women, while men are called "working fathers" or "breadwinners." These labels reinforce traditional gender roles. The same is true in Arabic textbooks. Arabic is a strongly gendered language and has many gender-biased words. A strong and empowered woman is called a “sister of men,” while a girl who does not conform to stereotypical behavior is called Hassan-Sabi, or tomboy (a phrase which also appears in English). “Miss” and “spinsterhood,” conveying a woman’s marital status, do not have an equivalent for men, while the feminine form of “judge,” “army officer” and “pilot” is rarely used.
Textbooks can both sexualize and objectify women, particularly in illustrations and photographs. This can contribute to a culture of objectification and harassment. Ascribing physical characteristics to women such as “beautiful,” rather than using character descriptions in textbooks, impacts all genders. Studies show that such depictions can impact girls and women’s self-perception and influence boys and men’s views on women’s bodies and roles.
Some textbooks have been criticized for omitting or downplaying the contributions of women in history. This can create a distorted view of history and reinforce gender stereotypes. Several university-level Arabic teaching textbooks in the U.S., for example, fail to mention any female poets, painters, or writers despite their documented contributions to Arab society. We have also observed an overwhelming pro-male narrative across Malaysian secondary school history textbooks, including examples in which women’s contributions to the struggle for independence were depicted as subversive.
Eliminating Gender Discrimination from Curricula
While some progress has been made in recent years to address gender stereotypes and biases in education, a few studies have focused on the process of eliminating gender discrimination and stereotypes in the curriculum. We recommend in this essay a few specific steps regarding designing curricula and supplementary material:
First, curriculum design teams must be balanced and diverse. An ideal team should include teachers, administrators, publishers, students and even parents from diverse backgrounds to ensure that the curriculum reflects the diversity of backgrounds and experiences represented in the classroom. The team would be responsible for considering equity both in developing and selecting curricula for classrooms. We recognize that the social and political contexts of a region can make such design teams difficult to implement, however. If resources permit, we also recommend hiring an expert in inclusivity as a consultant to guide the process. The new editions of “Kontakte,” a German textbook for English speakers, was prepared with the assistance of an inclusivity consultant.
In some instances, social and political pressures make it difficult to change curricula. Supplementary materials become especially important to support gender inclusive learning. Consider inviting female politicians and male nurses into the classroom to talk about their careers. Teach students about women in STEM. Tell stories of women in history and show movies with female lead characters. If a curriculum depicts sensitive issues like aggression and violence against women, use cartoons and animated movies in the teaching materials to foster conversation and raise students’ awareness of the problems they portray. Finally, adopting a critical pedagogy in class that stimulates critical thinking helps shape a generation of leaders and social agents of change.
