Gender Stereotypes in Primary School Textbooks

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the ways males and females are represented in textbooks for primary school after Polite, the publishing self-regulation agreement with the aim of introducing an equal representation of males and females in school books. Two groups of textbooks are analysed, published respectively in 2008-10 and 2014, for a total of 1084 texts. The study demonstrates the current inequality of gender representation and the ineffectiveness of the Polite project.

Keywords: gender stereotypes, gender representations, sexism, education.