SEXIST STEREOTYPES AND HETERONORMATIVITY IN CHINESE TEXTBOOKS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

Abstract: Gender-normative representations in textbooks could have egregious effects on children’s understanding of gender and future career aspirations. This study sets out to explore the portrayals of femininity and masculinity in Chinese reading schemes for primary education. Grounded in a poststructuralist theorisation of gender, this study employs a content analysis to explore how male and female characters are depicted in illustrations of the reading schemes for third and fourth grades. The findings revealed that, in addition to androcentrism, femininity in textbooks is commonly associated with activities such as cooking, nurturing children, and buying household goods, whereas masculinity is rarely, if ever, identified with such activities. Male characters, instead, are breadwinners bestowed with power and authority. Textbooks also reinforce gender divisions in the labour market, while androphilia and gynephilia are epitomized as the most natural and valued forms of sexuality. The findings suggest that official educational policy for teaching materials does not appear to have sufficiently embraced measures for promoting gender equality. As they stand, these textbooks predispose children to accept anachronistic gender roles and contribute to the reproduction of gender inequalities and the maintenance of a patriarchal gender system. Government officials and textbook authors need to become more sensitized to the significance of the gender messages promoted through the curriculum material.