See Priya Cook: Gender Bias Pervades Textbooks Worldwide
“If aliens beamed onto Earth and read our school textbooks, they wouldn’t have a clue about what women contribute to our society,” says Rae Blumberg, a sociologist at the University of Virginia.
Blumberg has spent years looking at textbooks from all over the world. In almost every country she has studied, women are either completely written out of texts — or they’re portrayed in stereotypical, often subservient roles.
Take for instance, a history and geography book for third graders used in West Bengal, India. The book doesn’t show or mention any career women. It only depicts women cooking for men, serving men or caring for children.
An English language text book used throughout Kenya looks similar. Children read about women and girls in the domestic realm: “My mother’s cooking pot has a lid,” and “Jane should plait the doll’s hair herself.” But children read about how men and boys take action: “Mr. Momanyi drives the bus,” and “His idea is an interesting one.”
“What we see is that the boys are being described as daring and brave and kind and intelligent,” Blumberg says. “And they’re doing things. They’re taking action. The girls are essentially nonentities.”
Blumberg recently wrote a report for UNESCO on gender bias in school books. For the report, she analyzed more than 60 studies that looked at textbooks in 21 countries.
In Iranian books, less than a quarter of pictures portrayed girls or women. In Georgian history books, only 7 percent of the illustrations showed women by themselves, Blumberg reported. In Thai textbooks, women were almost always associated with the domestic realm, while men were shown holding important public positions.
“It seems like a small thing,” she says. “But a bunch of studies show that when girls don’t see themselves in textbooks, they’re less likely to envision themselves doing great things.”
In an Israeli study, for instance, first graders who used readers that portray men and women as equals tended to think that most careers and activities were appropriate for both girls and boys. In contrast, students who used textbooks that portray gender stereotypes tended to believe and accept the stereotypes.
Some countries have made efforts to fix gender biases in school books, she says. “In Sweden these days, if you see a children’s book with a picture of someone cooking or cleaning, it’s more likely to be a boy,” Blumberg says.
Most governments can’t afford a complete rewrite of school books. And even with the monetary support of organizations like the World Bank, efforts to change the curriculum tend to get bogged down in bureaucracy, Blumberg says.
That’s why training teachers to recognize and fight gender bias is an important first step, says Erin Murphy-Graham, who studies education policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
“All over the world, kids are constantly going to be coming up against gendered, biased material,” Graham says. “But a good teacher can help students critically analyze what they read and fight against these ideas.”
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