Analysis of Gender Roles in Primary School (1 st to 4 th Grade) Turkish Textbooks

Abstract

Purpose: Textbooks can directly or indirectly affectgender stereotypes. In this study, text characters andpictures of textbooks were examined to find out how the messages were given about gender. This study examined text characters and the pictures in the primary school Turkish textbooks respectively in terms of Bem’s Sex-Role Inventory and gender stereotypes. Research Methods: This paper explored the roles oftext characters and pictures in the primary schoolTurkish textbooks through document analysis. Thematerial for this study consisted of twelve primaryschool Turkish textbooks from the 1 st to the 4 th grades.Textbooks were selected out of the ones used in Burdurin the 2015-2016 academic years. A “Text CharacterEvaluation Form” arranged in line with Bem’s Sex-roleInventory and “Picture Evaluation Form” was used inthe study.Results: The texts included male characters with feminine and masculine roles, and femalecharacters with feminine and masculine roles. The first, second, third and fourth grade textbookshad more male pictures than female pictures. All colors were used for both males and females inthe textbooks examined in this study. Dress, skirt, shirt and t-shirt were mostly worn by thefemales in the textbooks. Male clothes consisted of trousers, shirt and t-shirt.Implications for Research and Practice: It is observed that text characters have androgynousroles, and it can be argued that using more texts with characters possessing such qualities mayhave a positive effect on children’s opinions about gender.