Gender representation in a Hong Kong primary English textbook series: The relationship between language planning and social policy

Language-in-education planning in the form of materials planning has an important role to play in achieving a society’s social goals. Gender stereotyping has been found in previous language textbook studies. Although gender bias has declined, some recent studies suggest that it still exists. This study analysed the content and language of a recently published Hong Kong English language textbook series for grade one students to explore its gender representation. The results of the study showed that males and females were almost equally represented and were portrayed in a similar range of activities. Females were also more visible in both illustrations and texts. The phenomena of females being underrepresented and male dominance that occurred in the previous textbook studies did not exist in the textbook series examined, though males were still mentioned first when two nouns were paired for gender. One implication that can be drawn from the results is that gender stereotyping or how gender is represented in textbooks should be an important factor to be considered when school teachers select textbooks for their students, and this aspect should be highly emphasized in the government’s policy manual for selection of textbooks for use in schools, given the fact that textbooks may have strong influence on children’s development of values and attitudes. Copyright © 2011 Taylor & Francis.