Figure 4.8: a security guard Figure 4.9: a caretaker
Further, the stereotype of women’s and men’s appearance is also found in the textbook. Men are stereotyped with a muscular body, while women are
stereotyped with a slim body. The following pictures show such common stereotypes.
Figure 4.10: a muscular man Figure 4.11: a slim woman
The second is number of femalemale mentioned. It was identified from female and male names e.g. Lia, Firman, nouns e.g.
mother, father, father’s, surnames with title e.g. Ms. Hidayah, Mr. Widi, title e.g.
Sir, Ma’am, pronouns including subject pronouns e.g he, she, object pronouns e.g. him, her, and
possessive pronouns e.g. his, her. By counting the number of femalemale mentioned in each chapter of the textbook, it was found that female are mentioned
more than males. Thus, there is a dominance of female in the aspect of femalemale mentioned.
The next is femalemale roles. The femalemale roles analyzed in the textbook refer to social roles or professions. The roles are identified from
pictures, exercises, and reading texts in each unit. However, femalemale roles are not found in unit 8, 9,10 which talk about things and animals. Most of roles
presented in the textbook are students and teachers. It relates to the audience for the textbook who are students see appendix 3.
Furthermore, the representation of male is dominance in games or sports. The textbook presents more male games than female games. It likely shows that
men are considered stronger and more active than women. Consequently, men are associated with more extreme and challenging games such as football,
skateboarding, racing, futsal, and tae kwon do. Likewise, male dominance is also found in the aspect of femalemale role
models. There are three male role models presented in the textbook. Those are identified from exercises and reading text. While, only one female role model is
found in a reading text developed in the textbook. The last, the pattern of mentioning femalemale names is female firstness.
Female names are mentioned first in a single phrases. Therefore, in this aspect the representation of female is dominant.
C. Interpretation
Based on the data analysis, there are some important findings to discuss. First, male pictures dominate the textbook. According to Muthali
’in, It indicates bias against women since there is male picture dominance.
1
Similarly, Mukundan and Nimehchisalem also found male pictures dominance in four
English textbooks for Malaysian secondary students.
2
The slightly higher ratio of male pictures occurrence in the textbook may be caused by the common view of
male visibility in the society. The existence of males can be found more in public. Thus, this assumption becomes considerable factors to explain the
phenomenon. Second, the stereotypes against women are also found in the textbook.
Some pictures portray women who do domestic works. Women are attributed
1
Achmad Muthali’in, loc.cit.
2
Jayakaran Mukundan and Vahid Nimehchisalem, loc. cit.
with houseworks such as cooking, preparing meal, laundry, etc. It reflects gender norms which emphasize the assumption that women’s works refer to the
household works and child rearing.
3
Additionally, stereotypes of femalemale appearance are found in pictures. A female are described with slim body and a male with muscular body. It shows
cultural views about females’ and males’ attractiveness. The cultural standard of attractiveness influences both females and males.
4
They have greater concern about their physical appearance such as weight for females and muscularity for
males. Likewise, Kirk and Okazawa-Rey also states that cultures construct the beauty standard, and it can be vary across cultures.
5
Such stereotypes may easily influence students’ cognitive development. Then, it can trigger gender bias.
That is because pictures are concrete. They are also acceptable and easy to remember. Therefore, teachers need to be aware of visual illustrations in the
textbook. They have to emphasize that physical appearances are not a big problem. They need to give more instances of female and male pictures with
different appearances. The stereotypes are not only found in pictures, but also in some sentences
such as ‘Mum always buys sevenseventh loaves of bread.’ unit 4, page 43, Sarah lik
es helping her mother in the kitchen. She helps her cut the vegetables.’ unit 9, page 128, and
‘...any food prepared by his mother.’ unit 12, page 169. Those instances show that nowadays the view of women doing houseworks are
still considered as a social rule. Women, not men, commonly shop for food and preparing meals. Furthermore, although a female works outside, their profession
is still referred to the domestic works such as ‘My mother is a cook.’ in unit 5 page
3
Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee, op.cit., p. 429
4
J
ulia T. Wood, op.cit., p.151
5
Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey, Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives, New York:
McGraw Hill, 2007, 4
th
edition, p. 127
61. Hence, the teachers have to use father in such sentences in order to avoid general assumption about women associated with domesticity.
Contrast to the presentation of pictures, females are mentioned more than males. Females are more visible in words, sentences, and texts. Similar to Ruby
Yang’s study, females are presented more than males within texts in Hong Kong English Language textbook series.
6
This is probably because the author tries to minimize gender bias. As explained before that male dominance was found in
pictures, the author is likely to balance the representation of females and males. In gender roles, the number of female and male roles is presented
unequally. It is similar to Gupta and Lee’s study in which female roles are fewer, and only related to nurturance teaching, food preparation, and serving.
7
It seems that females are less competent than males. Here, gender bias is obviously
implied. Nevertheless, different with Ruby Yang’s study in which male teachers are not found, in this study females and males are portrayed as same as teachers.
Interestingly, females were also found as mechanics as same as males. Further, males are also portrayed as a care taker and a janitor who are related to domestic
works. The other result is male dominance in games. There are only three female
games found in the textbook, while the number of male games is 10. Although male dominance is found, female games are similar to the characteristics of male
games. Male games are usually in groups, competitive, organized, and they have clear goals and roles. While, female games found in the textbook horse riding,
basketball, and tennis are different with common gender views that females tend to play games like home and school in pair or a small group.
8
6
Chi Cheung Ruby Yang, loc. cit.
7
A. F. Gupta and A. S. Y. Lee, loc. cit.
8
Julia T. Wood, op. cit., pp. 122 - 123
The next, in role models, only one female role model was found. Whereas, the author can present more role models who can inspire students. The
visibility of role models can also motivate students. The teachers have to find other examples of female and male role models. Consequently, the students
know that women and men have the same opportunities and abilities to be successful.
Finally, in the pattern of mentioning femalemale names, it was found that only female names are mentioned first. It is contrast with Ruby Yang’s study that
males tend to be mentioned first within a single phrase.
9
It implies that the author avoids the general form which often put males first. However, she only presented
female firstness in the textbook. It indicates bias against males. Therefore, the teachers need to use different patterns of mentioning femalemale names in the
class in order to avoid gender bias. According to the results of the study, gender bias really exists in the
textbook. It influence students’ subconscious in their development of ideology about women and men. Then, it triggers gender stereotypes, and it affects their
thought and behavior. Therefore, the English teachers need to discuss the gender stereotypes and bias in the textbook to make students think critically. Also, the
teachers need to provide the students with other materials which are not gender-biased.
9
Chi Cheung Ruby Yang, loc. cit.
