Journal Articles

Gender representation in Hong Kong primary school ELT textbooks – a comparative study

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Title:
Gender representation in Hong Kong primary school ELT textbooks – a comparative study
Authors:
- Lee, Jackie F. K. Dept. of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies, Hong Kong Institute of Education
Source:
Gender and Education, 26(4), 356-376, 2014
Publisher:
Routledge
Year Published:
2014
Education Categories:
Keywords:
Gender Hong Kong Sexism Stereotype Textbook
Region:
- Hong Kong
Period:
- 1997.7 onwards
Level:
- Primary Education
Abstract:
This article seeks to investigate whether the improvement of the status of women in Hong Kong in recent decades, effected through various efforts to promote the values of equal opportunity concepts, is reflected in patterns of gender representation in primary school textbooks used in Hong Kong. A comparison of a popular series of primary school English-language textbooks that was published in 2005 with the same series published in 1988 (12 books in total) revealed increase in gender equity in the more recent books, including increased visibility of women both visually and textually. Nevertheless, the findings also revealed a perpetuation of some stereotyped images of the two genders and portrayals of women in a more limited range of social roles than men. The 'male-first' phenomenon and the visual and textual under-representation of women were still prevalent in the contemporary textbooks. The potential impacts on children of unbalanced gender representation in textbooks are discussed within the framework of social cognitive theory.
[Copyright of Gender & Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2014.916400]
Language:
- English
Document Type:
Journal Articles
ISSN:
- 09540253
DOI:
- 10.1080/09540253.2014.916400
Permalink:
https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/e5522e50
Entry Date:
2014-10-22