Gender Portrayal in a Nursing Textbook in Oman: Striving for Equality

This paper aims to analyze gender representation in English for Nursing 1: Vocational English Course Book (Ros et al., 2012) used to teach English for Specific Purposes courses to nursing students at the University of Buraimi in Oman. Quantitative and qualitative content analyses were used to investigate the following categories: images, occupational roles, names, pronouns, and gender firstness. Study findings show that women, in general, are more visible than men in the following categories: images, gender firstness, terms of address, and names. Pronouns are the only category in which men outnumbered women. Although traditional gender norms in the workplace are still evident in the textbook in some categories, this study shows that the gender gap between men and women is closing. The current study’s findings provide a light of hope for gender balance in school textbooks. Gender equality should be a top focus for textbook authors and designers.