Gender Stereotypes In Textbooks:An Analysis Of Gender Representation In Chinese-Language Textbooks Adopted In Australian Primary And Middle Schools

Despite the increased female enrollment,there are still many invisible hindrances to gender equality.In the realm of education,gender bias can be communicated by textbooks.As an important socialization agent,textbooks play a critical role in transmitting gender norms to children.Stereotypical representation of females and males indicating normative gender presumptions may foreclose many possibilities in gendered life,which will negatively impact students’ view of gender and further performance.Although many efforts were made to remove gender gap in textbooks,previous studies found that female-underrepresentation was still prevalent.In this study,an in-depth investigation was conducted to examine gender representation in Chinese-language textbooks used in Australia primary and middle schools.For one thing,Chinese textbooks have a large number of Australian users.For another,these textbooks also provide information about Chinese culture,which may influence students’ perception of modern China.A total of eight textbooks from three different series was selected to collect data.In order to determine if the sampled textbooks are gender-neutral in terms of textual and visual representation,this study drew upon sex role theory,Foucault’s theory of disciplinary power and Butler’s theory of performativity,and conducted both quantitative and qualitative analysis,mainly focusing on the ratio of male to female occurrences,illustration type,occupational and familial roles performed by females and males,and activities associated with females and males.The results show that the selected textbooks have made observable but limited improvements in terms of equal representation of both genders.Apparently balanced occurrences of male and female characters were identified,suggesting increasing gender awareness.However,a closer look at gender social roles and activities revealed that gender disparity was still pervasive as females were portrayed more frequently as housewives,who were engaged in cooking and cleaning,while males tended to be breadwinners,performing a wider range of occupational roles.Therefore,joint efforts from textbook designers,publishers and Chinese language teachers are needed to achieve the ideal of a truly balanced treatment of men and women in textbooks.