An analysis of the presentation of women in five high school world history textbooks

This dissertation examines five high school world history textbooks for the presentation of women in four major world history themes: Ancient Greece, the Roman and Byzantine Empires, Ancient Egypt, and the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamian Civilizations. The five textbooks chosen for research sample includes World History: People & Nations, World History: The Human Experience, World History: Patterns of Interaction, World History, and World History: Connections to Today. This study employs both qualitative and quantitative research methods through the use of content analysis. Content analysis has long been a method that social studies and multicultural educators use to analyze textbooks for the presentation of women and other diverse groups. This content analysis of textbooks outlines the significance of critical pedagogy, as a theory and application, to teaching world history.;As a research tool, content analysis has caused much controversy because it incorporates elements of both the qualitative and quantitative methods of research. This duality is inherent in the creation of the evaluative criteria called the Criteria for Evaluating World History Textbooks (Criteria) that serves as the coding mechanism that analyzes four things: (1) The gender dynamic of the persons who work behind the scenes in making the textbooks (authors and consultants). (2) The presentation of women in sentences. (3) The presentation of women in illustrations. (4) The roles the illustrations portray women as having.;The analysis of the five world history textbooks through the Criteria reveals that in numbers, the men received more representation than women statistically when it comes to their presentation in sentences and illustrations. This finding comes despite the fact that women had a near equal role in authoring the five textbook and reviewing them as consultants. The textbooks, however, varied in quality regarding how the illustrations in the five textbooks presented the roles women held.;Multicultural and feminist educators alike have made the call for the creation of history textbooks that contain information that will incorporate the diverse perspectives of students based on gender, race, class, etc. Research has shown that textbooks serve as the main medium of historical access for students, and the information, regardless of quality, students choose to take out of these textbooks will help them determine historical significance. This study also reviews the complex socio-economic process involved in creating history textbooks and how certain groups (interest groups, state adoption committees, and state boards of education) influence what information is placed in them. Moreover, research has shown that students tend to view teachers as the history experts, and the students will also determine the significance of history based on their teachers' perspectives. These findings have led feminist scholars, both men and women, to advocate critical pedagogy.;This study represents the addition of world history to demonstrate that content analysis of textbooks represents one of many examples of critical pedagogy. Furthermore, the results of this study would seem to support the arguments of educators calling for the inclusion of diverse perspectives in the teaching of history through critical pedagogy. Until teachers, publishers, and students all work together for a more inclusive world history curriculum, the history of the world will continue to exist as a subject that covers men.