Gender Representation in HEED and STEM Occupations: A Longitudinal Analysis of German Language Arts and Mathematics Textbooks (1960–2017)

Abstract Gender stereotypes in educational materials can influence children’s and adolescents’ career aspirations, contributing to persistent occupational gender segregation. However, large-scale, longitudinal studies examining gender representation in stereotypical occupational domains in textbooks across different school subjects remain scarce. This study addresses this gap by analyzing the gender representation in two key occupational domains: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and health care, early education, and domestic work (HEED) across 820 German language arts and mathematics textbooks from 1960 to 2017. Using a binomial generalized linear mixed model with a discontinuity design we tested how representation was related to time, the 1986 governmental resolution on gender equity, subject area, and occupational domain. Results revealed substantially lower female representation in STEM than HEED occupations throughout the study period. Female STEM representation increased from 0.0% to 9.1%, while HEED representation increased from 12.2% to 23.1%. The 1986 resolution had divergent effects across subjects: female representation increased in German language arts textbooks but decreased in mathematics textbooks. A significant three-way interaction revealed that temporal changes in female representation relate to both subject area and occupational domain. In German language arts textbooks, female representation increased in both HEED and STEM domains, while in mathematics textbooks, female HEED representation increased (from 7.4% to 20.5%), but female STEM representation remained stable (from 1.4% to 1.0%). After 1986, the odds of a STEM occupation mention being female were almost six times higher in German language arts than in mathematics textbooks. These findings demonstrate that progress toward gender-equitable representation is context-dependent, with mathematics textbooks perpetuating stronger occupational stereotypes.