by Dreamweaving

Created on: December 09, 2006   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

How far have we as a community of learners, progressed in providing opportunities for all our citizens, both male and female, in recognizing each for the qualities students possess? What stereotypes still remain? I chose to examine gender stereotypes by analyzing the illustrations used in elementary school mathematics textbooks. Lack of stereotyping would mean that representations of both genders would appear an equal number of times in illustrations. Lack of stereotyping would mean that represents would depict both genders in a variety of roles within illustrations. I would like to think that I would see progress, meaning that I would find a nearly equal representation of both males and females in illustrations in elementary mathematics textbooks, with both taking on a variety of roles. Before I began the study, I felt confident that my results would demonstrate equality of gender representations in textbook illustrations.

My methodology consisted of looking at textbooks from three different grade levels and three different publishers. I chose grades 2, 5, and 8. I chose the textbooks currently in adoption in a large southern state which practices statewide adoptions. I counted the overall number of illustrations that contained persons, whether adults or children. I tracked the number of illustrations depicting males, females and mixed groups. I will report the data in percentages of the total.
The number of illustrations containing persons varied from 40 - 70 per textbook. Between 65 - 80% of the illustrations contained only males. In all the illustrations containing males, the male figures were actively involved in doing math. One illustration depicted two young males in a bedroom, stretched out on the floor playing a math board game. Of the illustrations depicting females, few showed females actively involved in mathematics; they were depicted putting on costumes, make-up, or acting silly. One illustration depicted two females in a dime store photo booth, making faces as they were being photographed. In illustrations with small groups of mixed gender, the females were always depicted in passive roles. Of the textbooks I examined, I found no instance of a female in a leadership role in a group setting.
This raises concerns that textbooks are sending subtle messages to our young female students that mathematics is not for females. Such depictions continue to encourage males to be successful, to dominate, and to take initiative to secure the best careers. At the same time, depictions subtly encourage female students to take little initiative, to not demonstrate intelligence, and to not try to achieve in mathematics. The highest paying career fields require proficiency in mathematics, and textbooks appear to encourage females to pursue other careers, and/or let males be successful in mathematics.

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