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Sexist Textbooks

Author

Listed:
  • Lee Crawfurd

    (Center for Global Development)

  • Christelle Saintis-Miller

    (Center for Global Development)

  • Rory Todd

    (Center for Global Development)

Abstract

Textbooks play a critical role in schooling around the world. Small sample studies show that many books continue to under-represent women and girls, and to portray men and women in stereotypical gendered roles. In this paper, we use quantitative text analysis to assess the degree of gender bias in a newly assembled corpus of 1,255 English language school textbooks from 34 countries that are publicly available online. We find consistent patterns of under-representation of female characters and portrayal of stereotypical gendered roles. Women and girls occur less frequently, are portrayed as more passive, are less likely to be associated with work or achievement, and are more likely to be associated with the home and traditionally female occupations. Comparing across countries, female representation in books is correlated with higher GDP and more legal rights for women.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee Crawfurd & Christelle Saintis-Miller & Rory Todd, 2024. "Sexist Textbooks," Working Papers 678, Center for Global Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:cgd:wpaper:678
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender; Education; Textbooks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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