Explicating Underrepresentation of Women in Elementary level Curriculum Through Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in Pakistan

Uzma Shaheen, Memoona Batool

Abstract

The research explored the gender stereotypical representation in curriculum and how the institutions of conventional depiction blemished the actual image and roles of both the sexes (female and male). For this purpose, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) through the three-dimensional model of Norman Fairclough was applied to analyze the relationship between powerful (dominating, controlling) and powerless (feeble, submissive) social groups. The present research explored identities from Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) textbooks of the middle/elementary level to identify and comprehend gender ideology. The study focused on the textual aspects that contribute to the construction of conventional images and stereotypical behavior regarding gender ideology in children at their fledgling stage of life. The research concluded that females were disregarded and excluded from the textbooks and the textbooks portrayed a diminished image of women; whereas, the males were shown as authoritative and dominating in all the socially prestigious fields like, working and earning. The present study, thus, maintained that domination and power had gone with the male members of the society; whereas, the females were publicized as feeble and submissive, working and serving at home, and maintaining their domestic and conjugal images in the textbooks. Moreover, the research recommended the revision of educational policies, curriculum, and textbooks to impart a balanced worldview to children so that socially and emotionally balanced individuals may be developed through education.