Gender Positioning in Textbook Images and Their Interpretation by Young Readers in Nepal
This research explores the gender patterns in the images within the newly implemented curriculum textbooks in Nepal. Secondly, it investigates how children relate to the images and what kinds of gender and cultural patterns are reflected in their own drawings and image selection, discerned through participatory activities and interviews. To meet these research objectives, this research adopted a case study method, with Grade 1 children drawn from two schools. A social semiotic approach was used to analyse the data. The findings from the analysis of textbook images revealed cultural as well as gender implications. The new textbook cover images published by the government present greater gender equality in comparison to the previous curriculum textbooks and the government endorsed textbook covers. However, the analysis of illustrations indicated that despite improvements in the balance of depictions, females were still shown more in settings suggesting domestic chores, and male dominance was maintained in outdoor spaces and occupations. The findings from the participatory children’s study and interviews demonstrated the influence on children of the images that they encountered in their textbooks alongside existing Nepali social context and gender attitudes. Their drawings showed an iconic and idealised Nepali environment, for example, presenting the typical houses of the textbooks rather than the type of houses they actually lived in. Children’s gender attitude was apparent in their oral description of their images associating females with cooking and washing activities, although they indicated, as an afterthought, their awareness that males should also take part in these chores. Theoretically, this study contributes to the field of gender from a human rights and social change perspective. Methodologically, its contribution lies in its use of social semiotics to explore the representations of gender and understandings of young children in a social context. Practically, this study contributes to the field of Nepalese education regarding the value of images in textbooks. The findings from this study also have policy implications in gender and other representative aspects of textbook illustrations.
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