Gender Representation in Instructional Materials: A Study of Iranian English Language Textbooks and Teachers’ Voices

The aim of this study is to examine how gender is represented in the “English for School Series, Prospect”, newly published by the Iranian Ministry of Education. We investigated whether the gender bias found in previous textbook studies in order to perpetuate Islamic gender ideology was repeated, or whether the authors showed any form of gender awareness in line with global efforts to promote gender equality. The manual and computational analyses in this study revealed some gender consciousness among the textbook authors, including the use of gender-neutral vocabulary and fair distribution of male and female dialogues. However, low female visibility is still prevalent. It seems that the authors tend to embrace the Islamic culture of male predominance, confining females to family and school contexts and associating women with stereotypical jobs. Interviews with school teachers revealed a strong need for textbook changes to seek gender equality in education for the provision of equal learning opportunities to students. The study has implications for teachers and textbook authors across the globe in the pursuit of more equality in education.