Woman is rare in school books
Women are underrepresented in schoolbooks used by first graders in the subjects of Dutch and mathematics. Few non-Western people can be found in the lyrics and stereotypes regularly come up.
Image: pixabay
That appears from research by Professor Judi Mesman of Leiden University. She conducts research in the field of youth and society and has plowed through all Dutch and mathematics textbooks - from VMBO to VWO. She analyzed a total of 13 'characters' that appear in the assignments. She chose the books for the subjects Mathematics and Dutch because publishers and writers come up with the characters for assignments themselves. “And these are compulsory subjects for first graders,” says Mesman.
Vrouwen
The research shows that women are underrepresented in textbooks as well as images. According to Mesman, the proportion of women in textbooks is 41 percent. Women are also less likely to have a profession in school books than men. The proportion of women was 28 percent of the interviewed characters with a profession. There are also stereotypes. For example, there are more women who fulfill a parenting role or household task in the school books. Men appeared more often as top athletes, scientists or with something technical.
“It's not like all the stereotypes are splashing off the pages,” says Mesman. “You won't find typical 50s pictures in the books. It's more about subtle patterns that you discover when you start counting. This is not only happening in the Netherlands, it is also the case in other countries."
Non Western
The professor also took a closer look at ethnicity and looked at characters with a non-Western background. She compared this to the proportion of residents with a non-Western background in the Netherlands. Mesman: “This is going very well in the picture, but this group is lagging behind, especially in text. It is often about 'Peter' and 'Marieke'. Only 5 percent of the names were non-Western, and if I broaden the definition, it's 9 percent. So there is profit to be made there, because 13,9 percent of the population has a non-Western background." It also turned out that non-Western characters more often had professions with a lower status.
Every person has to deal with automatic associations
The authors of the books do not do it on purpose, the professor emphasizes. “Every person has to deal with automatic associations. These are subtle patterns, but students do pick up on those messages, we know from previous research. For example, girls may start to feel less important than boys. For example, it turned out that girls who see a photo of a man doing a chemistry test perform worse than when a woman takes the test. They then subconsciously think, 'beta is for boys' and become more nervous.”
Publishers
The publishers cooperated in the survey and their trade association is late a press release know through Leiden University that they are going to work with the conclusions to avoid unconscious stereotyping.
