Interpretation of Gender Perspective in Punjab English Textbook 8

Fizza Riaz, Mazhar Iqbal Ranjha, Tahseen Muhammad

Abstract

Gender is a socially assigned phenomenon that includes all the societal expectations, values and content of identity formation which are associated with men and women. Gender has a great importance in the process of identity formation in the children. From the age of seven, children try to create the gender notion fixed in their mind. They tend to learn that a person's outward form can be changed however masculinity or femininity remains fixed. So, they are inclined to form their own perception regarding gender. Formal education in the age can help a child to associate himself and others with the information he receives through education. Considering the impact of education, the study was conducted to observe the gender portrayal in the pictures and text of English textbook of class 8th. The study calculated the frequency of the representation of gender in the text and pictures as well as the notions associated with genders were observed through the content analysis. The themes were derived to grasp the main ideas discussed in the book. The study revealed the gender disparity in the content of the textbook. An underrepresentation of female was observed in both pictures and text of the textbook. The theme of women empowerment was not well supported in the content of textbook as the active inclusion of females is made only once in it. It is suggested that in order to construct the gender sensitized
content, curriculum must be composed with the inclusion of gender experts in the
team of book construction