Abstract
Gender representation in school textbooks across societies has been researched and discussed
persistently since 1970s. A considerable number of these studies unpacked that gender bias in textbook
(GBIT) is quite persistent and virtually implicit obstacle in the way of gender equality. This does not mean
that another study looking at the gendered messages in school textbooks is unnecessary as textbooks,
especially in the developing countries like Pakistan, need to be regularly examined to sensitize concerned
authorities (textbooks writers, policy makers and approving authority) for adopting appropriate steps for
the elimination of gender bias in textbooks. Drawing on feminist analysis of textbooks, this paper
examines the representation of boys and girls in textbooks in Pakistan and asserts that gender biased
illustrations in textbooks make the child an object of educational gaze and conditions boys and girls to
accept the stereotypically engendered and hierarchical ways of seeing and reading the social world. The
study is informed by social constructionist theory of ‘gender’, and therefore draws on feminist
poststructuralist. Gender biases in 24 textbooks (Social Studies, Urdu and English) from class 1 to 8 were
analyzed with the help of a qualitative content analysis approach. The overall claim that this study
reached is that public school textbooks are still embedded with gender bias illustrations which may have
adverse effects on the children’s identity formation.
