A Comparative Study Of Gender Impression In Illustrations Of Primary Mathematics Textbooks In Different Decades

Over the past two decades,gender issues in textbooks have attracted more and more experts interest from and scholars in the field of education.Understanding the gender impression of textbooks in various disciplines is one of the key topics in textbook research in China.As the starting point of basic education,primary school mathematics,as one of the core disciplines,should also attract enough attention of researchers.Illustration is an integral part of the content of primary school mathematics textbooks.Comparing the changes of gender impression in textbook illustrations of different ages is a new perspective of textbook research.This perspective highlights the gender characteristics of textbook illustrations in different periods,so as to grasp the gender impressions in textbook illustrations from a historical perspective.The gender impression in textbook illustrations refers to the explicit or implicit gender images displayed in the textbook illustrations.This study uses content analysis method to compare primary school mathematics textbooks published by People's Education Publishing House in 1994 and 2014,revealing the similarities and differences of gender impressions in textbook illustrations of different decades(1990s and the last decade of the 21 st century).Referring to the analysis categories of relevant studies and combining with the actual situation,this study identified three dimensions of the analysis framework: gender frequency,professional roles,and character activities.Through analysis,it is found that the number of illustrations in the primary school mathematics textbooks published in 2014 has greatly changed comparing with those published in 1994.Character illustrations have increased from 528 to 1843.The images of male and female characters in the illustrations have also increased greatly.The types of professional roles of men and women in the illustrations are diverse and the fields of character activities have expanded,but the overall trend is still with the 1994 edition.The textbook illustrations are presented in the same way without any change.In terms of the number of male and female characters,the number of female characters in the textbook illustrations of different ages is more than that of male ones.Especially in the textbook illustrations of the 2014 edition,151 times more than that of male ones.In terms of professional roles,besides the common professional roles of both gender,the division of other professional roles and types is clear.Women's professional roles tend to be service-oriented professional roles such as teachers and nurses,while men's professional roles tend to be technical and physical professional roles such as athletes,drivers and scientists.In terms of personal activities,education,teaching,daily life and business activities lead.Domain is the main area of women's activities.Productive labor,political life,sports activities and science and technology are the main areas of men's activities.There is a clear gender division in the scene of people's activities.Based on the above analysis and discussion on the change of gender impression in textbook illustrations of different ages,two suggestions are put forward.First,the institutions which are responsible for editing and supervising textbooks should re-examine the publishing standards and review mechanism of textbooks,and regards gender equality as an important measurement standard.Secondly,teachers should adjust teaching contents and methods appropriately in the process of teaching,so as to help students establish reasonable gender concepts.