Breadwinners, sportsmen and conforming girls

School textbooks occupy a central role in classrooms, and can be compared to mass media. Often they are said to be the realization of the curriculum in practice. The goal of promoting gender equality is stated in the Finnish core curricula, but what kind of gender ideologies are actually learned in school? Earlier textbook studies on representations of gender have confirmed bias and projection of stereotypical views and beliefs especially on female characters. But are the textbooks of today different? How are men and women, boys and girls portrayed? What characteristics, interests, action and roles are assigned to males and females? What types of linguistic, visual, and editorial choices contribute to the process of constructing gender ideology? This book presents an analysis of five EFL textbook series, spells out the methodological framework and provides illustrative examples of the textbook contents.

Autorentext

Ilona Laakkonen, MA. Teacher and researcher at the Centre forApplied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä.