Gender, work and national identity: The image of women in school textbooks during the Spanish democracy

• Gender biases in textbooks persist despite societal shifts in Spain. • Spanish textbooks show unequal gender representation of social actors. • Gender stereotypes in textbooks affect girls' self-image and career paths. • Discursive strategies devalue and exclude women from school discourse. • Textbook content undermines goals of a just, egalitarian study program. This research explores the dynamic intersection of gender, work, and national identity in the schooling process of primary school students during Spanish democracy through the school discourse (textual and iconographic) found in textbooks. Twelve textbooks from the period of the so-called transition period and the current decade are analyzed in order to identify changes and continuities in discursive practices throughout democracy. The methodological approach employed is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), incorporating various models of analysis. The results reveal unequal modes of inclusion and exclusion of women and men in the discourses of nation-building. Different attributes representing models of femininity and masculinity are identified as symbols that articulate the nation. Additionally, the assignment of occupational roles based on gender in the school discourse is observed, with specific implications for the development of citizenship. Finally, the study discusses the potential implications of this gender discrimination on the construction of students’ identities and underscores the urgency of adopting an egalitarian perspective in the selection of didactic resources.