Gender Representation in Arabic Language Textbooks for Iranian Senior High Schools

Abstract

The unwanted misrepresentation of cultural values like gender discrimination through textbooks is a serious problem in material development. The present study was performed to explore the representation of gender in Arabic textbooks for junior high schools in Iran. Considering recent revisions in these textbooks and their significant role in transferring cultural and social values, possible misrepresentation of socio-cultural norms through gender discrimination in Arabic language textbooks used for learners at the senior high school level make the present investigation significant. To explore gender representation in this study, all the Arabic textbooks for senior high schools in Iran, the second three-year period, were examined in five components: gender words, application of female and male names, pictures, sport activities, and jobs. For triangulation, content analysis and frequency counts were used for data elicitation and data analysis. The result of the analysis showed that in all the components, materials were not equally used for both sexes, indicating gender imbalance. Most job titles were male, leaving females with a no occupational identity. Sport activities received very little attention in general and their frequency for females was much less than that for males. Gender-related words were more frequent for males, with the only exception of the word mother, indicating the high status if mothers in the Islamic Iranian culture.