Gender Biases in Textbooks is a Mirror to Understand preferences of the State

Gender Biases in Textbooks is a Mirror to Understand Preferences of the State

I reviewed textbooks but not in official capacity but as private researcher yet in news item it is reported otherwise. I did research regarding content analysis and review of pictures two times in last 6 years yet i also check old textbooks too. Although there is a visible change in PCTB books yet a lot more work is still pending partly due to bureaucratic mechanism and partly due to capacity. Anyway, here I am sharing two news items especially with reference of only Gender biases.

Complete story of Tribune Published at March 7, 2017

Women cook, men work: Gender bias rife in Pakistani textbooks

Extracts

Double Play by the Mushraff

During Pervez Musharraf’s era, the country decided to reform textbooks to ensure gender parity with the help of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) but a 2015 study reveals the books remain as biased as they were in 2004. Masculinity and ‘male knowledge’ prevails while female representation is limited to roughly 20% in characters and pictures. Fewer women are shown in nondomestic pursuits.

Another study, conducted by former book reviewer at Punjab Textbook Board Aamir Riaz, corroborates these findings. His research, which looked at content for grade one till 10 for year 2014-15, confirmed that textbooks had minimal women representation, urban biases, men-dominated occupations and specified roles for women, such as cooking and cleaning

Through such representation in textbooks, Riaz says gender biases are ingrained in children’s minds from a very young age. “This is image making; the message for women through texts and pictures is very clear,” Riaz explains.

Study findings: ‘Textbooks full of gender, urban biases’

He said that the role of military governments in the weakening of the process of nation-building hardly got mentioned.

Riaz said that representation of gender across textbooks was questionable on normative grounds. While citing example of gender bias, he said that mixed public gatherings might not get acknowledged by an author. Similarly, he said a girl might always get shown doing household chores in illustrations in a textbook.

Riaz lamented that women were associated with numerous trades but under the influence of a specific mindset, somehow we did not want to accept it.

He said that in some instances some positive development had also taken place. Some sections of books now promote religious tolerance and plural values, he said.

Are we ready to address the Gender Issue?