Publish at March 21 2023 Updated March 21 2023
School can quickly dispel myths in a student. Lightning doesn't magically appear, we never use "if" with a verb in the conditional tense, and it was while searching for a sea route to China or the Indies that European nations "discovered" the Americas.
However, it can also propagate stubborn stereotypes in an unconscious way. The issue of gender equality in textbooks is a prime example. From France to India to the United States, many of the textbooks consulted by the youngest children continue to convey clichés.
The Indian case is very particular. The woman is still seen there as a being inferior to the man. So much so that gender selective abortions are common even though the practice was criminalized in 1994. The school has a role to play in this vision. Indeed, textbooks participate in these clichés and, at the secondary level, a story called "Bade Ghar ki beti" tells of the tragedy for an Indian family to have no sons. Thus, female role models are ignored by the literature or relegated only to domestic tasks. A reality that has repercussions, as this study explains, on students in India.
However, this situation is not only concentrated in this Asian country. In 2020, UNESCO released a rather damning report on the issue. Whether in Africa or Asia, a huge part of the school material tended to show women little and always in more passive positions than men. The place of historical female figures is meant to be famously small if compared with the male ones that dominate history and geography books. However, this reality has also been noted in Europe and America. Everywhere, it seems that patriarchal ideology remains the norm in education.
Thus, even little French children are exposed to this gender inequality in textbooks. The Centre Hubertine Auclert has been publishing a regular study of the books used in schools since 2011. As much in 2015 as in 2018 or 2020, the finding remains unchallenging: sexist stereotypes swarm particularly in moral and civic education. Moreover, when young girls are asked, they don't find their place in textbooks. As if no women have accomplished anything. When they do appear whether in photos or illustrations, they are always associated with passive actions or caring occupations, domestic chores, etc.
Few studies have looked at the long-term effects of representativeness within textbooks. Even so, most scholarly texts on the topic find that materials continue to propagate gender stereotypes. It's hard not to see a correlation between the cliché of "girls not being good at math" and their poor representation in science textbooks.
Now, it's entirely possible to reverse this trend. Some countries like Australia or Zimbabwe are incorporating a bit more parity into visual representations. Already, this is a key point. For example, in India, a few textbooks are beginning to show less stereotypical images where a boy is caring for an injured bird or a classroom where boys and girls sit together, an uncommon situation in Indian schools. Societies with English as the language of instruction are also urged to use more gender-neutral terms. Indeed, the word "man" is often used in many expressions when there are synonyms that do not readily exclude more than half the population.
Breaking down binarity, however, seems the solution through which it will be necessary to move in the future. Textbook authors and publishers will need to consider the place of women in the instructional literature. This means stopping the use of professional stereotypes of both men and women.
Why not show a nurse and a garage worker? A teacher and a chemist? A dad taking care of the kids in the house and a mom coming back from the mine? This means highlighting the women who made history. To help, the school publishing world could consult the guide published in 2020 by the Centre Hubertine Auclert to deconstruct these clichés. It provides an overview of the situation and possible solutions.
Finally, for teachers caught with more sexist textbooks, there's nothing to stop them providing context for what's displayed, or even opening up a bit of discussion with students about the images and examples. Why are they like this? What values are being conveyed? Most importantly, why do they need to be challenged today?
References:
Anil, Anjali, and Damini Mainkar. "Beyond Binaries: Developing Gender Inclusive Textbooks for Our Schools." THE BASTION. Last updated June 27, 2022. https://thebastion.co.in/politics-and/education/beyond-binaries-developing-gender-inclusive-textbooks-for-our-schools/.
"Breaking the Binary: Why Our Textbooks Need To Be Gender Inclusive." Education 2.0 Conference. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://www.education2conf.com/blog/breaking-binary-why-our-textbooks-need-be-gender-inclusive.
Chamberlain, Liz, and Caroline Dean. "Breaking the Textbook Gender Bias: Inspiring Girls and Young Women Through Providing Role Models They Can Identify with." The Education and Development Forum (UKFIET). Last updated March 29, 2022. https://www.ukfiet.org/2022/breaking-the-textbook-gender-bias-inspiring-girls-and-young-women-through-providing-role-models-they-can-identify-with/.
Chesnel, Sandrine. "Sexist Stereotypes: School Textbooks Far From Innocent." L'Express. Last updated October 6, 2015. https://www.lexpress.fr/societe/education/stereotypes-sexistes-des-manuels-scolaires-loin-d-etre-innocents_1721493.html.
"Countries are still falling short in developing textbooks free of gender-based stereotypes." UNESCO. Last updated in 2020. https://gem-report-2020.unesco.org/gender-report/countries-are-still-falling-short-in-developing-textbooks-free-of-gender-based-stereotypes/.
Edgard-Rosa, Clarence. "In School Textbooks, 'It's As If Women Accomplished Nothing'." Marie Claire. Last updated January 3, 2019. https://www.marieclaire.fr/manuels-scolaires-sexistes,1291116.asp.
Košir, Suzana, and Radhika Lakshminarayanan. "Do Visual Constructs in Social Science Textbooks Evince Gender Stereotypes and Bias? A Case Study from India." Taylor & Francis. Last updated November 14, 2022. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540253.2022.2144626.
"Les Manuels D'enseignement Moral Et Civique Véhiculent Des Clichés Sexistes." 20minutes.fr. Last updated January 16, 2018. https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/2203203-20180116-education-manuels-enseignement-moral-civique-vehiculent-trop-cliches-sexistes.
"Are School Textbooks Too Sexist?" RTBF. Last updated: September 16, 2018. https://www.rtbf.be/article/les-manuels-scolaires-sont-ils-trop-sexistes-10020701.
"School Textbooks Enforce Gender Stereotypes." Liberties.eu. Last updated April 24, 2019. https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/school-textbooks-teach-gender-stereotypes/17013.
Vivan, Sridhar. "Gender Inclusivity: Let's Start with Textbooks." Bangalore Mirror. Last updated January 27, 2023. https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/others/gender-inclusivity-lets-start-with-textbooks/articleshow/97359841.cms.
Zaina, Naureen. "Gender Bias In School Textbooks: Sexist Study Materials Prejudice Impressionable Minds." Feminism in India. Last updated August 1, 2022. https://feminisminindia.com/2022/08/01/gender-bias-in-school-textbooks-sexist-study-materials-prejudice-impressionable-minds/#:~:text=A%20study%20where%20a%20sample,visible%20disparity%20that%20exists%20here.
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