Children are not born with the idea that certain behaviours or tasks are more suitable for men or women, or that there is a hierarchical relationship between the two. As they grow up, their surroundings shape their thinking and perceptions. One such common tool where young minds gather their knowledge is textbooks. Apart from disseminating curricular knowledge, textbooks are also agents of socialisation. Do these textbooks present gender-biased information?
A recent publication by the Centre for Global Development found widespread patterns of gender bias, under-representation of female characters, and portrayal of stereotypes in textbooks across the world. This pattern of reinforcement of gender biases through textbooks is not a phenomenon detached from the content we consume daily. Google image search results for various professions are enough to associate attributes, roles and professions with gender identities. For example, searches for clipart titled ‘teacher’ and ‘nurse’ predominantly yields female figures, while the same for the terms ‘boss’ and ‘officer’ shows males.
Why gender audit?
According to some studies, the concept of gender in children forms as early as between the ages of three and seven. Normalising statements like “boys will be boys” or seemingly small practices like associating pink with girls and blue with boys, giving little girls dolls and kitchen sets and little boys cars to play with, asking girls to help with cooking and serving while asking boys to assist with outdoor errands, go a long way in crystallising a gender-unequal mindset. Replicating such biases in textbooks further crystallizes gender-unequal norms among children. This has long-term impact on children’s conception of their own self in relation to others and their relationship with the learning process, including retention of girls and children from other disadvantaged groups as they move to higher grades.
From a policy perspective in India, the National Education Policy 2020 mentions gender equality, awareness of multiple gender identities, and respect for diversity as some of the focus areas in the school curriculum. The National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) Mission, a flagship programme to strengthen foundational learning by the national government, recommends eliminating gender biases from teaching and learning processes and materials, while the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage states diversity and inclusion as key principles while designing and selecting textbooks.
With a vision that underlines the importance of a gender-equal education, it is imperative that gaps are identified and plugged. One of the tools to gather evidence around how gender plays out in the teaching-learning process is gender audit of textbooks.
So, what is gender audit?
Borrowed from financial audits, the word ‘audit’ is used with this exercise for a specific reason: it involves a systematic examination of the diverse elements of a textbook. It goes beyond analyzing differences in gender roles, practices, opportunities, etc. Instead, it seeks to comprehensively identify areas of the textbook’s engagement with gender. It employs structured tools to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities in the textbook to advance gender equality. Through a critical review of individual elements of the textbook, it identifies dominant patterns of awareness generation, representation, messaging, and entry points for further thinking around gender. The aforementioned elements of textbooks are identified after an initial cover-to-cover reading. Some common elements in textbooks include textual content, illustrations, exercise questions, discussion, and activity prompts.
How does gender audit help?
A gender audit of textbooks primarily has a two-fold objective:
To see how gender plays out in the content of the textbooks.
To identify opportunities to promote a gender-equal mindset through the textbooks.
Post conducting the audit, there are various ways in which the exercise can be followed up-
- Addressing the concerns identified during the course of the audit and modifying the content to eliminate gender biases or ensure equal representation
- Engaging with textbook developers, sharing findings of the audit, and collaboratively working on a way forward.
- Outlining a set of guidelines that may be recommended for any future textbook development.
- Conducting classroom observations to understand the facilitation of textbooks in classrooms.
It is worth emphasizing that the elimination of gender biases from textbooks will not be a sufficient step to create gender-equal mindsets among children. What is critical is how these instances of gender biases in textbooks are discussed in classrooms, and what prompts the teacher gives to spur critical thinking among children.
The Process
Here is a short story from a state in India. Throughout a week, some teachers and teacher trainers took a close look at the classroom resource they were most familiar with- textbooks. To figure out if textbooks are indeed projecting gender-biased ideas, we conducted a gender audit of around 40 textbooks used across 40000+ schools in India. This gender audit of textbooks was done by about 25 practitioners- a cohort of teachers, teacher trainers, and textbook writers. Some of them had even contributed to the writing of these textbooks. All of them used these in their classrooms every day. And yet they found some revelations. Some facts and truths that were right in front of them but rather latent. They had gathered to conduct a gender audit of these textbooks that were used in grades 1 through 8. They found some stark realities- more than 65% of characters- real and fictional- across these textbooks were male. Over 70% of protagonists or main characters were male. Over 75% of those shown in decision-making roles were male. Less than 35% of illustrations depicted females.
The audit was designed to bring forth a mix of objective and quantitative findings with respect to how textbooks engage with gender, and qualitative findings on what kind of biases and messaging currently find place in textbooks. Since the auditors were closely associated with these textbooks, either as writers or users, the quantitative element particularly enabled them to review with objectivity and minimal scope for individual bias.
An audit framework was created based on primary and secondary evidence. This included a literature review of gender audits done previously and in various country contexts. The scope of the framework was defined after a preliminary look at the textbooks to be audited.
The framework focused on three areas- representation, messaging, and scope for conversation. Representation included looking at the gender distribution of characters and illustrations in the textbooks, the gender distribution of main and supporting characters, and the roles and professions assigned to them. Messaging looked at the themes chosen by textbooks- macro and micro, depiction of decision-making and authority figures, qualities and attributes associated with people of different gender identities, relationships among them, access to and use of spaces, and ownership of resources. Finally, the framework looked at whether the textbook actively created or enabled any scope for conversation around gender. This could be in any form- for example, through questions, discussion, or activity prompts.
After the development of the framework and its testing with sampled textbook content, a detailed proforma/template was created for the auditors to enter raw data. Post an orientation on the framework and a discussion on the process, they started reviewing each textbook. Post the workshop, the data collected in individual proformas was analyzed- quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Based on the trends that emerged, a detailed recommendations report was prepared.
A Glimpse of Findings
Gender Representation of the characters
More than 65% of male characters
Over 70% of protagonists or main characters are males
Over 75% decision-making roles were males
Gender Stereotypes
Families were shown in stereotypical roles- mother in the kitchen, father going to work, sister helping the mother and the brother playing or studying
Professions assigned to characters were pre-dominantly associated with their gender- male scientists, astronauts, farmers and female nurses and caregivers.
Character Diversity
Negligible diversity in body shape, size, and skin color across illustrations
No non-binary characters
Halfway through the audit workshop, a teacher exclaimed- “I never realized but our textbooks have so many characters! I’m now planning to teach through these characters- I will ask students to trace the journeys of these characters. I’ve even thought of some projects I can ask them to undertake.” This emphasized on a critical yet untapped potential of textbooks- to give children the opportunity to explore the lives and experiences of different kinds of people- fictional and real. This is an opportunity to give children exposure to diversity beyond their immediate surroundings.
Key Learnings-
One of the key lessons emerging from this exercise was that textbooks hold tremendous potential to move towards gender transformative education. This potential, as of now, is largely untapped. Right from representing men and women in diverse roles and professions to acknowledging gender as a non-binary identity, textbooks can pave the way forward. Messaging around gender-equal values and practices is also crucial as is intersectionality of gender with other socio-cultural identities.
Second, there is need to look at textbook illustrations from a gender and inclusion lens. These are not just visually appealing but also powerful in terms of the impression they cast on children.
Third, apart from intended system-level usage of the findings and recommendations of this audit, the most immediate and direct result was the increased awareness of teachers and teacher trainers i.e. practitioners on how textbooks give out subtle and strong messages to children on gender. The dynamism in the room with respect to ideas, strategies and activities that can be added to make textbooks more gender-equal was palpable. A conservative estimate would say that this cohort will have a more gender sensitive approach to the teaching-learning process. With sustained engagement, they would perhaps take more active steps on the path to gender responsive education practices.
Finally, the facilitation of textbooks in classrooms is of utmost importance. It must be acknowledged that no textbook can claim to be perfectly gender-equal or transformative. It is through classroom discussions around themes in these textbooks that students can be nudged to think of gender around them. Textbooks are at best a great resource. Significant work on how it is used in the classroom process is needed.
Perhaps the most memorable takeaway from this exercise was that engagement and contribution of stakeholders to reflect on unconscious biases and their impact on children is key. As one of the teacher-auditors put it- “I was a part of the textbook development team. I always thought our textbooks do not have any gender bias or discrimination. But after spending the last few days going through it so minutely, I now know we left a lot of subtle biases without even realizing!”
