| This study aims to analyze the visual representation of gender roles in Chinese textbooks used by primary schools of China’s mainland. The analysis is based on Confucius ethics, social role theory and social semiotics. By using content analysis, we aim to find out whether there is gender imbalance in the currently used Chinese language textbooks so as to unveil the hidden ideology promoted in the discourse of Chinese educational institutions.Gender issue in this project is discussed from two angles: social & cultural perspective and social semiotic perspective. Visibility, occupational role and activity are selected as variables to reveal imbalance caused by social and cultural factors. Also, illustrations are analyzed in the framework of visual grammar (VG) proposed by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006). The analysis of representational meaning, interpersonal meaning and compositional meaning helps to reveal the patterns of how male and female images are designed pictorially.The findings show that females in Chinese language textbooks are under represented. Firstly, through social-cultural perspective, we discovered that compared with males, the number of female characters is greatly out-numbered by males, especially adult females, accounting for only 9% of the total; women’s occupational roles are powerless and narrowly-ranged; also female activities are passive, less dynamic and less dominating. In addition, from a social semiotic perspective, the patterns show that male images are more appealing, salient and informative to viewers.All the evidence shows that institutional discourse in educational settings in China’s mainland conveys and promotes the established predominating ideology that females are disvalued. It can also be interpreted by Bourdieu’s cultural reproduction theory that the current educational institution is reproducing the culture of the men-dominating society, in which Chinese traditional cultural values especially Confucius ethics play an important part. |
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