TITLE:
Women and Girls in Hebrew High School Textbooks
AUTHORS:
Janan Faraj Falah, Rana Saed
KEYWORDS:
Gender, Textbooks, Equality, Stereotype, Hebrew
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.5 No.6,
June
28,
2017
ABSTRACT: The aim of this current
study is to examine genders
equality and the extent of gender stereotypes in the Hebrew Junior High
school’s textbooks, especially the texts of the seventh grade. This examination
is based on the qualitative model, including an analysis of the 7 grade textbooks’ substances. Through the
process of texts analyzation, I become familiar with the extent and existence
of gender stereotypes, gender roles, etc. The main findings indicate
a positive change in the textbooks towards gender equality, yet it is a quite slow process, and involves
many gender stereotypes which represent the weak, inferior role of women in
society, such as the description of a woman as a housewife. The numbers of
these stereotypes perpetuate the long standing position of man, who poses a
higher, most important and dominant status. The research has found that women
rights and status remain neglected and inferior; sometimes they are not
mentioned in the
textbooks at all. Few
women were mentioned due to their position or role in society, yet the numbers are poor. Thus, there is
an attempt to evoke and exercise gender equality in the Hebrew textbooks, as well as
an attempt to
limit and change stereotypes towards a better, equal education; however, the change is
still too slow and too limited.