The Role of English Compulsory Textbooks in Constructing Gender Stereotypes

Promotion of Gender Stereotypes Through the English Curriculum 1
The Role of English Compulsory Textbooks
In Constructing Gender Stereotypes
Farhana Shahzad
Teaching Fellow
Department of Humanities & Social Sciences
Lahore University of Management Sciences
Pakistan
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5Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction .. 4
Chapter 2 Literature Review .. 7
Chapter 3 Role of stereotypes in constructing Gendered identities
in Textbooks 12
Chapter 4 Scenario of textbook analysis on gender bias in Pakistan 22
Chapter 5 Need of the study.. 25
Chapter 6 Methodology 27
Chapter 7 Data Analysis Book I 30
Chapter 7.1 Data Analysis Book II 76
Chapter 7.2.1 Data Analysis of Book III (Plays) .. 113
Chapter 7.2.2 Data Analysis of Book III (Poems) . 156
Chapter 7.3 Data Analysis of Book IV 181
Chapter 8 Conclusion. .. 221
Chapter 9 Recommendations . 228
References . 232
Appendix .................................................................................. 235

Abstract
The present study was conducted to detect the gender stereotype construction in
Intermediate English Compulsory Textbooks since gender-biased material indelibly
scars the thinking of the young impressionable learners and they are demotivated by
such stereotyping presented in the textbooks (Treichler and Frank, 1989). Computer
aided programs were used for detecting and counting the indicators while manual
analysis was employed for scrutinizing content and linguistic analysis. The results
indicate that there are numerous occurrences of the indicators depicting stereotypes
as females are portrayed in stereotypical occupational roles and are confined to the
walls of the home as compared to males who are engaged in more productive,
higher status jobs. There is prevalence of blatant sexism dominated with male
hegemony and patriarchy over the almost invisible females (Knudsen, 2005).
Keywords: Construction; Gender stereotypes; Intermediate English
Compulsory Books; Content analysis; Stereotyped roles; Male hegemony.
3
Introduction
Textbooks are often a major part of learning English as a foreign or second language and
they are supposed to motivate and support the learners learning. It is interesting and useful to
investigate gender representation in textbooks because they tend to influence the learners way of
thinking about society and gender through the means of language learning. Academicians and
linguists believe that textbooks and language teaching in general tend to construct gender roles in
the mind of young learners (Mustedanagic , 2010).
Gender inequality is a major concern of the present day world; this pertinent issue has
been thriving in our part of the world. Pakistan is a country plagued by the social and gender
inequalities. Although efforts have been made in this regard with the Pakistan Education Sectors
Reforms 2001-2005, and National Plan of Action concerning Education for All [EFA] 2001-2015, but
these reforms seem inadequate as their implementation in the educational sector has not been
successful. Moreover, whatever endeavors have been commenced have been futile.
The present study has been undertaken to highlight these biases, which are contributing to
the construction of gender stereotypes in the Intermediate English Compulsory Textbooks.
Textbooks are instrumental in shaping the learners stance and are the primary means of
imparting education in Pakistan. English Compulsory Textbooks play a vital role in presenting
and constructing gender stereotypes and the Intermediate level selected has young
impressionable learners placed at the threshold of stepping into their respective professional
arenas carrying forth their biases and gender stereotypes leading to serious repercussions and
prejudices against the opposite gender. It is proponed by (Zografou, 1990, cited in Sunderland, 1994a)
who reiterates English language textbooks are of additional importance since learners are
required to use their content frequently, which can affect their conscious as well as their
subconscious.
Therefore, this study has been conducted to detect and analyze indicators quantitatively
to mark the construction of stereotypes researched and established through the literature review
enumerated by (Mukundan & Nimehchisalem, 2008) and they cite Sunderland (1994) who has
expounded them. This paper has analyzed in detail the six indicators of gender stereotyping put
forth by Sunderland (1994) elaborated in the methodology chapter.
This corpus analysis is a step forward and perhaps the first in Pakistan in employing
computer counting programs; word frequency counter and phrase frequency counter in order
to eradicate human error in the detection of indicators and triangulation of the data researched in
the corpus of the Intermediate English Compulsory Textbook. These programs have been
engaged to curb personal biases and present a more accurate picture of the scenario.
The results indicate that there is an absolute construction of gender stereotypes through
the four Intermediate English Compulsory Textbooks detected through the indicators of
stereotyping.
The language employed in the all the four Books has been instrumental in propagating
the stereotypes by marginalizing the females and uplifting the male counterparts. Females are
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mostly invisible in the text and the limited number of appearances has been stereotyped in
typical roles of house wives doing the unproductive household chores and engaged mostly in
childrearing or getting approval of their male family members or counterparts through
relationship stereotyping, or by being disempowered in discourse roles. Females have been
portrayed in sub-ordinate roles in all the four books and have been deprived of the right to decide
for themselves depicting blatant sexism and hegemonic masculinity (Knudsen, 2005).
If we are to present a gender free picture in the textbooks to our future young learners and
avoid serious consequences the study recommends deconstructing these gendered stereotypes
and breaking free of the masculinities and feminities and to admonish the patriarchal culture
prevailing in Pakistan and the world in general.

Literature Review
It has been observed through researches that besides the role of education and
transformation, textbooks play a part in creating a world that learners can relate to and identify,
textbook writers are responsible in constructing realities and reproducing the existing world
which is inhabited by both the genders either young or old. Textbooks are guilty of presenting a
gendered picture of the world and society and encourage boys and girls to step in the positions
constructed or predetermined for them respectively (Dean, 2007). There is a belief in the
educational establishment and academia that language teaching both creates and reproduces
constructions of gender roles and stereotypes (Mustedanagic, 2010). In order to comprehend the
constructions of gender roles and stereotypes, we will have to understand the difference between
sex, gender and the linguistic use of gender. These terms have been explained and
elaborated through the literature reviewed and elucidated as such:
1. Gender Theory
The expression gender has more than one valid definition, where the meaning of the word can
be related to the context. However, all definitions have one common thread, gender refers to a
wide set of characteristics that are seen to distinguish between male and female entities,
extending from ones biological sex to, ones social role (Britannica).
Bowie formulates a distinction between sex and gender. Gender refers to socially
constructed roles, behaviors and attributes considered appropriate for men and women in a given
society. The reference to sex is the biological category (Bowie, 2006).
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Judith Butler a famous feminist discusses in her essay on An Essay in Phenomenology
and Feminist Theory (1988) that gender discreetness is perceived with historical rigidity by our
society, culture and anyone straying this social phenomenon is in fact deserving of corporeal
punishment
Judith Butler in her book Gender Troubles begins by describing the categorization of
men and women. She propounds that their class, ethnicity and sexuality influence it. She
names the construction of gender as political gender, which refers to an idea of a universal
basis for feminism (cited in Mustedanagic, 2010).
2. Languages and Gender
As far as language and gender is concerned Gender can be identified from a linguistic
perspective as well. In this context gender refers primarily to the classification of nouns into a
gender class which, in most languages, consist of three gender categories; masculine, feminine
and neuter (Mustedanagic, 2010). It is typical for articles and adjectives to take different forms
in order to agree with the gender of the noun (Britannica). For example, the agreement
between boy and his is based on the relationship involving the male entities. It can be said that
languages such as English, Spanish, German, French etc. have grammatical gender. In these
languages, gender is essential for constructing sentences and communication (Yule, 1996).
Nowadays, gender in language tends to be rather obvious and, therefore, many people do not
even notice it. Linguistic stereotypes can be found in different ways. Renner points out two
common ways, in morphology and semantics (Renner, 1997 cited in Mustedanagic, 2010).
Semantics in linguistics is the study of interpretation of signs or symbols as used by
agents within particular circumstances and contexts (Yule, 1996). If one looks closely at
adjectives, one becomes aware of the fact that different adjectives are more commonly used to
describe different sexes. The sentence He is a pretty man, would be considered semantically
abhorrent because the adjective pretty is not a usual choice when describing a male adult.
According to our perceptions, a man is supposed to be described as handsome and not pretty,
therefore, the sentence above would strike the readers as being odd, although it may be
grammatically correct. The word pretty is used to portray women, children or animals, but not
male adults (Renner, 1997).
Mills in her book explains the relationship between language and gender by highlighting
different customs where examples of gender stereotypes in linguistics can be found (Mills 1995
cited by ibid) It can be seen in:
Generic Pronouns: If we study the use of the generic pronoun he in the sentence
When an author has completed his manuscript, he can send it to the publishers. The principle
of this sentence is to refer to a generic person rather than being sex-specific. However, Mills
points out that, in reality, the sentence is not registered as generic; the pronoun he carries a sex
specific meaning, denoting that the person in question is male. As a consequence, a cold clime
setting is created, where females feel excluded (ibid).
Affixes: contribute to distinguishing words between genders. One example is the suffix
ess, as in waitress or hostess, the suffix stresses that the referents it is a female rather than
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a male person. The suffix man functions in the same way, creating masculine words like
policeman, fireman etc. (Mills, 1995). Renner also examines linguistic stereotypes and
mentions that affixes are mostly found in correlation with occupational names, where the trend
has been to differentiate occupations intended for males and females. For instance, a nurse is
considered mostly to be a female person skilled in caring for sick people (Renner, 1997).
As explained by Dean (2007) gender as construction of stereotypes grew out of the
critical intellectual movements of the 1970,s and she further cites the study of Kuzmic (2000) to
explain the difference between feminity and masculinity as a product of the society and its
institution of family, school, etc in comparison to gender which is created by both men and
women.
The concept of hegemonic masculinity has been elaborated by Knudsen (2009) she
explains: I have been inspired by sociologist Robert .W. Connell. His book Masculinities
introduces the position of hegemonic masculinity(Connell 1995, Knudsen 2005. p. 3).
It is reviewed further that hegemonic masculinity is the enforcement of predetermined
strict boundaries set up by the patriarchal father or any male family member that cannot be
questioned or infringed by any females. The degree of the enforcement of hegemonic
masculinity varies in different cultures and contexts and their effects infiltrate the classroom
environment (Frosh, Phoenix & Pattman 2002, Koefoed 2005).
There have been a number of studies conducted on gender roles in textbooks in various
countries in Asia, The Middle East, Europe, North America and Africa for the past 35 years. The
review generally portrays women regardless of the origin, race and ethnicity a weak character in
contrast to the more dominant males who are attributed with more positive and favorable
adjectives (Dean, 2007).
The part of textbook research that categorizes gender roles for stereotypes involves both
qualitative and quantitative analysis and incorporates the following studies as highlighted by
Knudsen (2003), the preconceived roles (occupational and family) which textbooks writers
assign for both girls and boys; the world and society in which these roles are performed
(outside/inside the home); the characteristics allocated to men and women; with either
conforming or contradicting illustrations and how these gendered roles are affected by historical
changes as portrayed in textbooks.
It is crucial that equality of the genders should be observed in portraying both males and
females while designing textbooks as this has great influence on the young learners and is
instrumental in creating an imbalance in the human society.
Zografou, 1990, cited in Sunderland, 1994a stresses upon the influence English language
textbooks have on instilling values and etching beliefs on young learners minds because of their
frequency of use. Consequently , it becomes imperative that a gender neutrality and fairness is
portrayed through textbooks.
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3. Role of stereotypes in constructing gendered identities in textbooks
There has been research on the role of stereotypes in constructing gendered identities by
(Mukundan &Nimehchisalem, 2008) and they cite Sunderland (1994a). She quotes Redding et
al., (1992) who define stereotyping as 'a received "wisdom". It may or may not contain a "grain
of truth," and it is then distorted and exaggerated to fill the whole picture. (Mukundan
&Nimehchisalem, 2008) cite Sunderlands categorization of stereotyping into various forms and
the instances of sexism were highlighted as follows:
3.1 Invisibility: fewer females than males
3.2 Occupational stereotyping: females/males in fewer and more menial
occupational roles
3.3 Relationship stereotyping: women more in relation with men than men with
women
3.4 Personal characteristic stereotyping: e.g. women as emotional and timid
3.5 Disempowering discourse roles: more males talking first
3.6 Degradation: blatant sexism to the point of misogamy
( sp. 69)
These topics will be discussed in detail by reviewing the literature available on them:
3.1 Invisibility:
The literature reviewed highlights the fact that males are given a major share of
appearances as compared to their female counterparts. Porreca (1984) cites numerous studies
(Coles, 1977; Hoomes, 1978; Hellinger, 1980) which found males outnumbering females in
educational materials by a ratio of 3 or more to 1, and her own investigation of 15 popular ESL
textbooks (ibid) yielded a 2 ratio of 1.77 males to every 1 female. Similarly ,Dean (2007) cites a
study conducted by Gisnet (1988) on Israeli English Language Textbooks found that 67 per cent
of all the characters are males and 89 percent of all children in pictures are boys. This kind of
invisibility(Sunderland,1994) both in text and supporting illustrations only depicts that female
accomplishments and females as human beings are not important enough to be included in the
text. (Porreca, 1984)
Sunderland (2000) suggests that the language teacher has observed the gender disparity in
the classrooms, according to her there is male dominance in the classroom.
3.2 Occupational stereotyping:
In terms of the occupational roles researchers found that both the male and females are
assigned stereotypical range of occupations So, the males are stereotypically being attributed
with high ranking jobs whereas in contrast females are given lower status employments if shown
working (Porecca and Schmitz, 1984) or simply portrayed as homemakers engaged in doing the
domestic duties of cooking, washing cleaning, baking and looking after the children whereas a
male is only involved in the outdoor activities of the children and learning (Dean, 2007) .
Stereotyping can have a negative deleterious effect on both males and females alike, if
females are frequently portrayed as passive and emotional, with occupations such as housewife,
waitress or princess. Males are seen as being active, daring and brave. They are also frequently
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portrayed as insensitive or lacking caring and loving feelings. Their choices in careers are more
active and exciting than those of females. They frequently occupy professions such as fireman,
police officers, or princes who need to save the helpless princesses or damsels in distress, these
images they carry forth throughout their lives ( Helleis ,2004)
The occupational roles assigned to each gender are quite instrumental in shaping the
viewpoints of learners. In their analysis of the occupations held by males or females in ESL
textbooks, Porecca (1984) and Schmitz (1984) both concluded that women held lower positions
as compared to men.
The content analysis of Excel in English written by Alexander (1985, 1986, and 1987)
indicated that key social roles were given for men and that female characters appeared often
when household chores and child care were the topic under discussion (Kowitz & Carroll, 1990).
Carroll and Kowitz (1994) show how it is possible for some words to look neutral, yet
how their implicit connotations can be unearthed after some scrutiny in their shades of meaning.
They provide two examples, the first of which is related to the words busy and work. They assert
while busy "has no denotation of reward or payment, and can therefore refer to paid or unpaid
activity - including the use of excessive energy or (possibly wasted) effort," the word work
conveys the meaning of productivity and payment (p80).
Ansar and Babaii in their study on Subliminal Sexism in Current ESL/EFL
Textbooks(2002) cite Coles (1977) who examined five sets of popular adult basic education
materials and found that in the total of 150 stories, men outnumbered women by a ratio of 3:1.
He also found that 39 of the total of 61 females were engaged in only 11 occupations, and 19 of
those 39 females worked as housewives. By contrast, he found that 106 out of 192 males had 73
different occupations, ranging from truck driving to medicine. In general, "women managed little
and owned nothing; on the other hand , men, while holding a large number of unskilled jobs,
were the predominant occupants of skilled, managerial, and ownership positions presented in the
stories"(p.42).
Similarly in our context, women have been projected as inferior to men. Males are
presented as superior and have leading roles and characters. By portraying such roles, the idea of
inferiority of women is being inculcated in the childrens minds. In this regard, Zeenat-un-Nisa
(1989) says, Female images found in school textbooks as portrayal of women, their attributes
and their functions are as received by male dominated society
Also seconded by another researcher It means that since the role and attributes assigned to
women and reflected into textbooks are determined by generally men or by a male dominated
society, the presentation becomes discriminatory (Khurshid,2008).
3.3 Relationship stereotyping: women more in relation with men than men
with women
In a content analysis of stereotyping in textbooks and teaching materials conducted by
The Centre for English Language Education and Communication Research, City University of
Hong Kong the main areas scrutinized were gender, age, disability, single parenthood, and
ethnicity in printed educational materials, including textbooks and examination papers. However,
selected materials were subjected to extensive linguistic analysis to reveal patterns of
15
stereotyping not seen through content analysis such as the relationship stereotyping, in which
women were more in relation with men than men with women in every domain whether
workplace or at home (City University of Hong Kong, December 2001). These were the
findings, which were revealed , that the way dialogues are constructed , their utterance, and even
the distribution of topics was unequal amongst the males and female learners where the male
were given most of the share.
These findings evidently depict that in gendered relationship females have a more
philanthropic kind of attitudes as compared to their more pro-active male partners or colleagues.
These are not very obvious in the content analysis of textbooks, but there are hidden inferences
in the English textbook corpus.
3.4 Personal characteristic stereotyping: e.g. women as emotional, timid and
helpless:
There are certain words, which are attributed to different genders, and these words in
textbooks contribute greatly in constructing personal characteristics stereotypes of gendered
identities. Words which stereotypically portray women as emotional, timid and helpless whereas
their male counterparts are depicted as brave, strong and saviors which leads to the creation of
stereotypical identities in the young learners minds.
A study conducted by Nilsen (1977) analyzed words for females and males found in a
standard dictionary. Her analysis revealed a number of interesting facts about the attitudes
towards women and men, which are reflected in the vocabulary. She found that there were more
than five times as many words for things named after men as there were for things named after
women and that, of the words named after women, the only two in common use were both
related to female anatomy. Nilsen also found that words for women very often reflected a passive
role. For example, women were referred to very often as various types of food and flowers
(e.g. peach, sugar, wallflower, etc.). Men were called by such words as wolf, while words for
women were restricted to names for helpless creatures such as chick and kitten (cited in Ansar &
Babaii,2002).
Mustedanagic (2010) cites Renner on his effort on trying to raise awareness of how
language is used to convey stereotypes and contributes to the perception of gender. Different
kinds of words are used in a sentence, depending on the persons gender. In his study, he shows
that, statistically the most used adjectives to describe men in textbooks were the words rich,
poor, brave, short handsome, lazy, famous, afraid. The words strong, tall, young, old, fat,
beautiful, pretty were frequently used in cohesion with women. There is nothing that is true
about the statement, because not all women share the same qualities. What is to say a woman
cannot be described as strong and handsome? He continues, and comments on the danger of
exposing pupils to images like these. In doing so, the impression is conveyed that this is the
natural order and the generic view of how women and men should look. Sexism is something
that affects peoples everyday life from domestic affairs to choice of career and should therefore
be taken into consideration once presenting textbooks to the pupils (Renner, 1997).
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3.5 Disempowering discourse roles (more males talking and initiating the
conversation):
Researchers have also investigated stereotyping depicted through discourse imbalance
and various studies have been conducted in different countries especially on ELT materials. In
Greece, in an exploration of negative effects of gender-bias in discourse roles on "the
pedagogical value and goals of textbook dialogues," Poulou (1997) examines two language
textbooks in terms of male/ female amount of speech, initiation/ completion of dialogues, as well
as language functions, and consequently detects "manifestations of sexism against women".
On all these issues, remarkable amount of research is available some of which are
mentioned in this section of the present paper. Pasco (1989, quoted in Sunderland, 1994a) in her
analysis of Streamline Departures (1978) found the textbook heavily loaded with gender-specific
pronoun he, which occurred three times more than she; however, such a high frequency dropped
drastically in a more recent English series, Headway, (1986) where almost more than half of the
third person singular pronouns comprised she.
Where the matter of speaking first is concerned, by having more male characters talk
first, the textbook author deprives the female learners from practicing communication initiation
as much as male students (Sunderland, 1994a cited by Mukundan &Nimehchisalem, 2008). In
addition, some researchers took a step further, and through the discourse analysis of the
conversations in the textbooks they showed how women uttered fewer words and talked first less
often than men did (Hartman & Judd, 1978; Talansky, 1986).
The frequency of appearances of female characters in textbooks is of equal significance
in creating discourse imbalance, if it is lesser to their male counterparts, the girls will have fewer
opportunities to practice in any form of role-play or dialogue activity especially in co-
educational settings which would result in the alienation of female students. The available
literature provides evidence of such cases; for example, Swann and Graddol(1988) in a video
analysis of interaction between male/ female learners identified boys were provided with more
opportunities to practice and learn the language and that lack of justice of this kind could be due
to the learning materials they used (Mukundan &Nimehchisalem,2008).
Mustedanagic (2010) cite Jones, Kitetu & Sunderland (1997) who examined two types of
ESL textbooks and concluded that in mixed-sex dialogues women were described as the ones
asking for information and men where the ones providing it.
Stereotyping is highly detrimental because it is not only the frequency of negative
representation of a gender in a textbook in fact, even if stereotyping is appearing once it is
equally damaging as the teacher repeats it on several occasions during the class (Mukundan
&Nimehchisalem, 2008). Therefore, in such cases, more important than its frequency is the
location of the word, which may require the class to repeat it chorally and individually for
several times which "can become a kind of brainwashing" (Zografou, 1990, cited in Sunderland,
1994). Thus, such cases of sexist language, even if sparse, should not be overlooked.
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In order to comprehend this form of stereotyping of degradation of women, which sprouts
from blatant sexism , a clear insight is mandatory of this term through the review of the
concerned literature
Although inquiring about sexism seems a fairly simple question of our contemporary times
but in reality it is quite the opposite since it leads to series of other questions regarding the status
and role of women in the present day society. Questions like; where are the women in any
situation in society? If they are absent, why? If they are present, what exactly are they doing?
How do they experience the situation? What do they contribute to it? What roles are they
playing? What does the situation mean to them? The consequences of trying to find answers to
such fundamental questions about the place of women in society have been dramatic (Ansari &
Babbaii, 2002).
The theory of sexism is also expressed by Renner, he states that; many textbooks articulate
stereotypical thinking in questions of gender. He defines sexism as stereotyping males and
females on the basis of their gender. Further, he calls attention to research by David Carroll and
Johanna Kowitz (1994), aimed at showing how sexism is present in ESL textbooks However,
Renner does not only stop at this point, he goes a step further and considers the possible effects
this may have on the pupils. He concludes that women are generically represented in textbooks
as tall and beautiful and men as strong and tall. According to his opinion, this can be regarded as
blatant sexism (Renner, 1997).

Some of the works done on this subject have been in the early 70's to the late 80's, the most
relevant studies of sexism and its appearances in ESL/EFL textbooks that can be tracked down
are Hartman and Judd's (1978) "Sexism and TESOL Materials", Hellinger's (1980) "For Men
Must Work, Women Must Weep: Sexism in English Language Textbooks Used in German
Schools", and Porreca's (1984) "Sexism in Current ESL Textbooks" are researches which has
investigated this issue.
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4. Scenario of textbook analysis on gender in Pakistan
A number of studies have been conducted on investigating gender bias in textbooks since
the past two decades, and the results have shown that it is a portrayal of our patriarchal, male
dominated socio-cultural setup depicted through the invisibility of females in the textbooks. The
visibility in text of schoolbooks is almost one-fourth as compared to their male counterparts and
in illustrations it is even lesser almost 17-20% which decreases in textbooks of higher grades
(Mirza, 2004). Dean (2007) also cites (Shah, 1985) who elaborates that female characters are
rendered invisible in language textbooks and they are mostly confined to the four walls of the
home(p. 180).
In gender studies as categories of their roles females have been generally depicted as
fulfilling the domestic duties and seldom shown as professionals, even if they are employed, they
are employed mostly in the capacity of teachers (Dean, 2007). Whereas men and boys are never
shown doing any household chores or looking after children (ibid, Saigol 2004,Shah, 1985).
According to Saigol et al (1994,1995,2003) cited in Dean (2007) textbook researchers
have investigated that construction of gender has been employed to form gendered identities
leading to gendered citizens which has contributed to the formation of a gendered nationalist
ideology. Saigol (1995) emphasises that our Islamic nationalist ideology thrives on the
construction of binaries such as masculine /feminine, powerful/powerless and assigning
femininity, weakness and powerlessness to the enemies.
A study on 122 Pakistani secondary school level textbooks concluded that the educational
content aimed only at males by maximizing their potentials and skills to take advantage of the
opportunities around them. However, content did not represent the changing social status of
Pakistani women from doing unpaid housework to production, service, and wage work
(Zeenatunnisa, 1989).
Gender deconstruction is breaking away the stereotyped identity and interchanging the
roles of masculinity and feminity as in every female there could be some masculine elements
either through their actions, roles or clothing viewed as female masculinity and vice-versa
(Dean2007&Knudsen2009). But, our patriarchal concepts of masculinity and femininity are so
deep rooted that it is simply ignored. For a girl it is pre-determined that she has to take the role of
a mother and Mattu & Hussain (2004) explain this in a report conducted by Sustainable
Development Policy Institute as:
Motherhood continues to be understood as the central and all-encompassing role of a
womans life. Mothers are granted the esteemed status of nation builders with the ability
to mould their children into loyal and productive citizens. Glorified and exalted,
motherhood is presented as the only, ultimate and legitimate goal that a woman can aspire
to. (p. 101)
As opposed to women who do not conform to the social standards are ostracized or
relegated to dwell on the lowest rungs of the hierarchy of social status ((Mattu & Hussain , 2004,
p. 93).
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In predominantly male dominated society like Pakistan there have been gender studies
through textbook evaluation to move towards a more equal representation and participation of
both the genders. According to Mirza (2004):Pakistan has been a participant to almost all
international covenants and conventions on education including the most recent i.e. the Dakar
Framework for Action 2000. Pakistan is amongst the 25 countries at high risk of not attaining
EFA (Education for All) goals. However, the National Education Policy 1998 followed by the
Education Sector Reforms 2001-2005 and subsequent National Plan of Action (NPA) on EFA
2001-2015 (2003) have committed to attaining the goals of EFA. One of the three strategies of
NPA to achieve the EFA goals is to make the curriculum relevant to the needs of the learners, to
encourage enquiry, creativity and progressive thinking. It also aims at eliminating gender bias in
the curriculum and textbooks.
Keeping in mind the goals set by EFA and the policy adopted by the National Plan of Action
in eradicating the gender bias in our textbooks the studies discussed in chapter 3 have been
conducted in this respect.

5. Need of the study
It has been observed by the literature reviewed that there is a dire need to deconstruct the
gender roles of males and females if we are to achieve equality amongst the genders and remove
disparity. An effectual medium could be through textbooks - a medium responsible for creating
bias and as revealed by researchers:
Among the most evident responses that come to mind after reading of the Punjab Textbook
Board texts are:
that those engaged in the production of textbooks feel that public statements regarding
womens rights etc. are only rhetorical and need not be taken seriously
that patriarchal precepts of femininity and masculinity are so deeply rooted in our ways
of seeing and experiencing the world that it is difficult even if there is a political will to
do so for academics and policy makers engaged in this exercise, to view their own
attitudes critically or to envisage, a social order that recognises the humanity of women
and men alike. (Mattu & Hussain,2004)
Hence, there is a vital requirement for deconstructing the defined genders through textbook
analysis and this study will build on the previous study of Mukundan & Nimehchisalem (2008) .
Their study was on English textbooks of classes 5-9 that is; Form 1-4 in Malaysian context
researching for Gender representation in Malaysian secondary school English language
textbooks. This study will explore the role of English compulsory textbooks of Intermediate
level in constructing gender stereotypes in the Pakistani context. Although there has been a study
25
conducted by Hussain and Afsar (2010) on the textbook analysis of Intermediate English
textbooks using Kabira and Masinjilas framework, but it has investigated only the linguistic
aspect qualitatively which too has not been probed in depth. Therefore, in order to bridge this
gap of this influential research as the approach and outlook of our future generations depends
on it , the present research was undertaken This research will undergo a detailed quantitatively
analysis to evaluate the occurrence and usage of the stereotypical indicators in constructing
gendered stereotypes that have already been discussed in the literature reviewed. These
indicators have been researched by (Mukundan & Nimehchisalem, 2008), but originally
categorized by Sunderland in 1994.

6. Methodology
The present study was undertaken to detect the indicators of gender stereotypes in the
Intermediate English Compulsory Books of Pakistan established through the literature reviewed
and the corpus was quantitatively analyzed. The same indicators were used in this study which
were employed by Mukundan &Nimehchisalem(2008) as they comprehensively cover all the
aspects of gender stereotyping detection. They were:
3.1 Invisibility: fewer females than males
3.2 Occupational stereotyping: females/ males in fewer and more menial occupational roles
3.3 Relationship stereotyping: women more in relation with men than men with women
3.4 Personal characteristic stereotyping: e.g. women as emotional and timid
3.5 Disempowering discourse roles: more males talking first
3.6 Degradation: blatant sexism to the point of misogamy (Sunderland, 1994)
These indicators have been further classified into sub-types to ensure that all aspects of
detection of these stereotypes are covered and thereby reduce the possibility of being ignored. In
order to achieve these goals acronyms of each indicator were developed to mark the indicator
occurrences, the corpus of four of the Intermediate books was scrutinized and content was
marked for stereotype detectors with their respective acronyms given in the appendices.
27
It has been observed through researches that English textbooks mostly contain from
10,000 to 30,000 words ( Mukundan &Nimehchisalem,2008) which makes them a cumbersome
feat to be counted manually . Therefore, in order to curtail the degree of error and accomplish
this uphill task certain computer programs proved to be quite useful. Programs like the word
frequency counter and phrase frequency counter were employed to detect the frequency of
occurrence of a certain word in a textbook and its pattern of distribution throughout the book.
Phrase frequency counter can also benefit in collocation analysis; the software can
show instances in which it can illustrate the male family members preceding the female ones.
Moreover, it can also be engaged to detect the male and female descriptive words depicting
gender stereotypes and discourse imbalances such as; male and female appearances cum
participation (invisibility), occupational stereotyping and personal characteristics stereotyping.
Although there are other computer programs such as the Concordance software which are
considered appropriate for content analysis ,but it has been observed that frequency per count
per se can lead to serious misinterpretations proved by Lancaster-Oslo-Bergen (LOB) who used
the program to detect the frequency counts of the word husband and wife in the corpus
(Mukundan& Nimehchisalem(2008).
Therefore, to safeguard authenticity and restrict human error the corpus after being
marked was run through a computer software program of word frequency counter. This
program guaranteed that omissions through non-detection were controlled and accuracy was
maintained. Furthermore, the use of the software phrase frequency counter enabled
triangulation of the data and curbed the element of human bias by detecting the precise indicator.
This data was henceforth utilized to plot graphs and pie charts of both the genders to provide a
clear comparison, which painted a vivid picture of the prevailing scenario.
29
7. Data Analysis
As already discussed the findings of the indicators will be elaborated in detail in the following
books of Intermediate syllabus:
There are four books of the Intermediate English Compulsory Syllabus these are:
Book 1: INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH BOOK I (Short Stories)
Book 2: INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH BOOK II (Modern Prose and Heroes)
Book 3: INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH BOOK III (Plays &Poems)
Book 4: INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH BOOK IV (Novel: Good-Bye Mr. Chips)
7.1 Data Analysis of: INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH BOOK I (Short
Stories)
The sub-types of the invisibility indicator have been elucidated once again for easy referral.
3.1 Invisibility: fewer females than males:
3.1.1 Male appearances (MA)
3.1.2 Female appearances (FA)
3.1.3 Male participation in text (MP)

3.1.4 Female participation in text (FP)
3.1.5 Male authors of textbook passages (male point of view)
3.1.6 Female authors of textbook passages (female point of view)
Detection of the Indicator of Invisibility in Book I:
As a first step the issue regarding invisibility was detected and its six indicators were discovered
the results are as follows:
3.1.1/3.1.2 Male and Female Appearances
It has been observed that the percentage of males appearing in Book 1 is considerably larger that
is 74% as compared to females which is only 26% shown in Figure 1
Male and Female appearances

Female
appearances
26%
Male
appearances
74%
Figure 1
31
This obviously indicates that in most of the stories there is a major part played by the males
rather than the females. Particularly in quite a number of stories there are no females appearing
such as in; Clearing in the Sky, The Piece of String, The Reward, Gulistan-i-Sadi, I have a
Dream and The Angel and the Author. Moreover, even those stories which have females
appearances their numbers are significantly less than their male counterparts which are clearly
evident from Figure 2 . The difference between the number of males and females is apparently
large in stories like; Dark-They were, and Golden Eyed, no: of males is six whereas females are
two in number only, in The Foolish Quack, , A Mild Attack of Locusts, and Overcoat the
differences are of ,three persons each .
As already researched that this kind of invisibility(Sunderland,1994) both in text and
supporting illustrations only depicts that female accomplishments and females as human beings
are not important enough to be included in the text. (Porreca, 1984) This result depicts that there
is unequal distribution of appearances and female endeavours are not worthy enough to become a
part of the text thereby creating a gender bias scenario.

Male and Female appearances

6
5
no:ofpersons
4
3
2
1
0
Textbook passages
Male appearances Female appearances
Figure 2
3.1.3/3.1.4 Male and Female participation in text (MP,FP) :
It has been observed that there is a major share given to males in contrast to females as expected
from the appearances since there are one fourth number of female appearances so accordingly is
their amount of participation in the text which is depicted by their percentage 73% as opposed to
the male participation of 27% seen from Figure 3.
33
Male and Female participation

Female
participation in
text FP
27%
Male
participation in
text MP
73%
Figure 3
This result can be further verified by the bar graph shown in figure 4 presenting clearly the
unequal participation of both the genders. Similarly the stories which have no female
appearances have no female participation consequently. There are others which have minimal
shares like the Dark-They were, and Golden Eyed is 15 as opposed to 65 , in The Foolish Quack
is 1 as opposed to 10 ,and The Overcoat 2 as opposed to 10. Moreover, it has been detected that
even in those stories such as Button & Button where a woman Norma is the main character her
participation in text is less i.e. 45 in numbers which is fewer than the male numbers 65
participating in the story.

Male and Female participation

70
60
50
No:ofpersons
40
30
20
10
0
Textbook Passages
Male participation in text MP Female participation in text FP
Figure 4
As already researched by a German linguist Hellinger (1980) who conducted a thorough
study of 131 passages from three ELT textbooks used in German schools. She found that men
participated in over 93% of the passages, while not even 30% of the texts included women. In
addition, it was mentioned that 80% of the speakers were male and that women were rarely
engaged in any "demanding, interesting, or successful" activities, while male roles represented a
broad range of occupational options (Ansar&Babaii,2003).
35
Therefore, it is observed that males are outnumbering female participation which also
results in discourse imbalances and since is required to do role-plays and dialogue activities in
class. If such outnumbering of female learners prevails they will have less opportunities to
participate in such class activities thereby making the females feel less significant which creates
indelible gender stereotypes in the minds of both the genders for the future. The available
literature provides evidence of such cases; for example, Swann and Graddol (1988) in a video
analysis of interaction between male/ female learners identified boys were provided with more
opportunities to practice and learn the language and that lack of justice of this kind could be due
to the learning materials they used (Mukundan &Nimehchisalem,2008).
Moreover, it has been seen through the literature reviewed that from a pedagogical point
of view, dialogues are valuable opportunities to provide language practice as well as proficiency.
There can be listed a number of advantages of using dialogue in teaching; even the quietest
pupils tend to participate, instead of only the most successful speakers in class. However,
dialogues that lack gender balance can be turned into an obstacle that hinders girls language
learning (Jones, Kitetu & Sunderland, 1997).
3.1.5/3.1.6 Male and Female Authors of textbook passages (male and female
point of views)
It is observed through the data collected that an enormous percentage of 93% of the
textbook passages have been written by male authors while only a measly 7% has been written
by females evident from the figures 5&6. If we analyse the bar graph it is easily evident in the
whole textbook only one passage have been written by female authors which further confirms the
fact that female accomplishments and efforts are considered less important as compared to their
male counterparts hence, resulting in creating gender stereotypes .
Male authors of textbook passages(male point of view)

Female authors of textbook passages(female point of view)
7%
93%
Figure 5
37
Male and Female point of view

1
no:of passages
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Textbook Passages

Figure 6
3.2 Detection of Occupational stereotyping: females/ males in fewer and more
menial occupational roles in Bk 1:
These have been sub-divided in the following sub-types after reviewing the literature:
3.2.1 Males in high ranking occupation (MHO)
3.2.2 Females in high ranking occupation (FHO)
3.2.3 Males in low ranking occupations (MLO)
3.2.2 Females in low ranking occupations (FLO)
3.2.3 Males portrayed as strong in character (MSC)

3.2.4 Females portrayed as weak in character (FSC)
3.2.5 Males shown in protagonist roles
3.2.6 Females shown in protagonist roles
3.2.7 Male gender-specific pronouns (MGW)
3.2.8 Female genderspecific pronouns (FGW)
3.2.1 Males and Females in High Ranking Occupations ( MHO&FHO)
It has been observed from the data collected and seen from figure 7 that there is a
gigantic amount of 99% where males have been portrayed as having high ranking occupations
where as a negligent percentage of 1% of females have been portrayed in high occupation. This
injustice is further confirmed through the bar chart shown in figure 8.
39
1%
Females in high ranking

occupations FHO
Males in high ranking
99% occupation MHO
Figure 7
Male and Female in High Ranking Occupation

16
14
No:of persons
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Textbook passages
Females in high ranking occupations FHO Males in high ranking occupation MHO
Figure 8
It can be easily deduced from this result that females are trivialized by not portraying
them in high ranking occupations similarly proving them insignificant in comparison to the
males and creating occupational gender stereotypes.
If a female is represented in family situations she is portrayed as the weaker person
always in the role of an appendage, a passive receiver, or a wifely status which are the three of
the stereotyped roles discussed previously (Mukundan &Nimehchisalem, 2008).
3.2.3/3.2.4.Males and Females in Low Ranking jobs(MLO&FLO)
It has been gathered from the results that females portrayed in low ranking occupations
are much more in number as compared to the male gender. It can be seen from Figure 9 that
females occurring in low occupations are 60% in contrast to males who occur in the text as such
are only 40%.
41
Males and Females in Low ranking

occupations
40%
Males in low ranking
occupation MLO
60%
Females in low ranking
occupations FLO
Figure 9
This can be further confirmed from the bar chart given in Figure 10 in which it is observed that
in most of the stories females are portrayed in low occupations whereas males are portrayed in
very little instances in low occupations. In stories like, Button &Button and Dark Eyed and
Golden they were, there are only females who are portrayed in low occupations in the role of a
wife performing the household duties of washing cleaning,cooking, serving even if she is a
working lady she is shown to perform household chores whereas the husband conveniently sits
and relaxes reading a newspaper or does some work which is productive . In some stories where
males are shown to perform some lowly status work, it is never in the house helping which is
considered the sole responsibility of the wife only.

In stories such as ; Thank you ,Maam, A Mild Attack of Locusts ,Overcoat the males portrayed
in lower jobs are shown to perform some menial jobs earning a living either as a farmer , street
seller, workers , labourers or even a thief who is trying in a negative way to earn . This is in
concurrence with the occupational roles researchers have found , both the male and females are
assigned stereotypical range of occupations. As already discussed, the males are stereotypically
being attributed with high ranking jobs whereas in contrast females are given lower status
employments if shown working (Porecca and Schmitz, 1984) or simply portrayed as
homemakers engaged in doing the domestic duties of cooking, washing cleaning, baking and
looking after the children whereas a male is only involved in the outdoor activities of the
children and learning. (Dean, 2007)
43
Males and Females in Low ranking occupations

10
9
no:of persons
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Textbook passages
Males in low ranking occupation MLO Females in low ranking occupations FLO
Figure 10
This is in line with the literature reviewed; it was found that stereotyping can have a
negative deleterious effect on both males and females alike, if females are frequently portrayed
as passive and emotional, with occupations such as housewife, waitress or princess. ( Helleis
,2004) elaborates that, males are seen as being active, daring and brave. They are also frequently
police officers, or princes who need to save the helpless princesses hence, these images they
carry forth throughout their lives.

3.2.5/3.2.6.Males & Females portrayed as strong in character (MSC,FSC)
As to the portrayal of males and females as strong in character , another heavy indicator
of stereotyping it was observed that males were predominantly portrayed as strong in character
which is up to 86% (Figure 11) whereas, females only showed a measly 14% of evidence of
possessing strength of character.
Males and females portrayed as

strong in character
14%
Males portrayed as strong
in character MSC
Females portrayed as
86%
strong in character FSC
Figure11
It is evident from Figure 12 that in a number of stories like; Button & Button , The
Piece of String, Reward, Gulistan of Sadi , The Foolish Quack and Overcoat , there
is no detection of females showing any strength of character. Even in the stories
which have such a portrayal it is still lesser than their male counterparts such as in;
45
Dark Eyed and Golden they were,
The Use Of Force , A Mild Attack of Locusts and The Gift of the Magi indicate such
instances. However, there is only one story which does show a woman having a
strong character with the male character a boy who appears to be weak but has the
courage to attempt robbery because he wanted to buy new shoes. This kind of
occupational stereotyping is in conjunction with the
Males and Females portrayed as strong in

character
12
10
No:of persons
8
6
4
2
0
Textbook Passages
Males portrayed as strong in character MSC Females portrayed as strong in character FSC
Figure 12
findings that males are portrayed as having more strength of character in contrast to
females which are mostly shown to be dependent on the males for strength and livelihood.
3.2.5 Males and Females shown as weak in character (MCW,FCW)
It has been detected in Figure 13 that males portrayed as weak is only 33% in relation to
the females which have been shown as weak 67% of the times. This clearly depicts that major
gender occupational stereotyping has been displayed in most of the text passages which is also
confirmed by the bar graph of Figure 14.
Males and Females portrayed as

weak in character
33%
weak in character FCW
67% Males portrayed as weak
in character MCW
Figure 13
47
In figure 14 it can be observed that stories like ; Button & Button has the highest
occurrences of females shown as weak in character there are other stories which have males
shown in weak characters but that is only due to the fact that there are no female appearances in
those stories or they are not in the main characters of the stories such as; Clearing in the Sky,
Dark Eyed and Golden they were, The Piece of String, The use of Force, and The Gulitan i-
Sadi .It is only in Thank you Maam that male weaknesses are shown to overtake females.
Male and Females portrayed as weak in

character
30
25
No:of persons
20
15
10
5
0
Textbook passages
Females portrayed as weak in character FCW Males portrayed as weak in character MCW
Figure 14
3.2.5/3.2.6 Males and females shown in protagonist roles
It appears that males are predominantly shown in protagonist roles79% in comparison to
females which take 21% of the main characterization of a story evident from the figure 15.
Males and Females in a protagonists

role
21%
Males shown in
protagonist roles
Females shown in
79%
protagonist roles
Figure 15
In order to further have a detailed look at the scenario the bar graph of fig16 shows a
clear picture where it can be seen that apart from the stories ; Button Button , Thank You Maam
49
and The Gift Magi the rest have been dominated by males in a protagonist or a heroes role
thereby discerning another gender stereotype that males always are more significant than females
which are of lesser consequence.
Male and Female in Protagonist roles

3
2.5
2
1.5
No:of persons
1
0.5
0
Textbook passages
Males shown in protagonist roles Females shown in protagonist roles
Figure 16
3.2.7/3.2.8.Male and Female Gender Specific Words

It is seen from figure 17 that there are more male gender specific words 79% in relation
to female gender specific words which are about 21% only. This denotes that gender bias is
heavy evidence as males monopolize the scenes three times more than their female colleagues.as
the words referring to them are outnumbering in ratio of 3:1.
Male and Female gender -specific words
21%
Male gender-specific
words
79% Female gender
specific words
Figure 17
This can be further scrutinized by looking at the bar graph shown in figure 18 where it is
apparent that there is heavy referral to males through gender specific pronouns as compared to
female gender pronouns clearly pointing out that they are appearing less , participating less and
having lesser number of protagonist roles thereby proving that there is a an evident gender bias .
51
Male and Female gender specific words

80
70
60
No:of persons
50
40
30
20
10
0
Textbook passages
Male gender-specific words Female genderspecific words
Figure 19
3.3 Relationship stereotyping:
This indicator deals with stereotyping in terms of relationship how women are
stereotyped in conversations in relation to the opposite gender these are researched as follows:
3.3.1 Women as service providers and in subordinate roles in conversations .(WSP)
3.3.2 Men as service providers and sub role in conversation (MSP)
3.3.3 Social roles in the dialogues (Women shown in transactions more than men WST)
3.3.4 Men shown in transaction more than women (MST)
3.3.5 Main function of the utterance (Men seeking information and women the
providers of it) (MSI)
3.3.6 Women seeking information men the providers of it(WSI)
3.3.7 Adjacency pairs in the workplace. Men more in invitation type of conversation
MIV
3.3.8 Women more in invitation type of conversation WIV
53
3.3.9 Men taking a more proactive (practical.positive) role in a conversation than
women. MPRO
3.3.10 Women taking a more proactive(practical.positive) role in a conversation than
women.WPRO
3.3.1 Men and women as service providers and in subordinate roles in
conversations .(WSP)
It is evident from the pie chart shown in the Figure 19 that there is a majority of women
who are portrayed in subordinate roles and they act as service providers as compared to the
males. About 74% of the females act as service providers and 26% only 26% males have been
shown to be in subordinate roles and that to they act under males as servants and never once in
relation to a female.
Male and Female in a subordinate

role
(Women as service
26% providers and customers
and subordinate roles in
conversations). FSP
74% Men as service providers
and sub role in
conversation MSP
Figure 20
This can be further confirmed through the bar chart given in Figure 20 that wherever a
woman is portrayed as a wife or even in other relations she is doing all the household chores and
looking after the children while the husband or male very conveniently sits and relaxes is
stereotyped to perform only the office work or productive job. In stories like the Button &
Button, Gift of the Magi , God Be Praised there are 10 instances when the women are portrayed
in subordinate roles in conversation whereas men appear only 2 or three times as such but that
too as salesman or doing some other productive job and but never in a domain of a household to
be providing any service or asking for approval
55
Male and Female in subordinate roles

12
No :of appearances
10
8
6
4
2
0
Textbook passages
(Women as service providers and customers and subordinate roles
in conversations). FSP
Men as service providers and sub role in conversation MSP
Figure 21
3.3.3 Social roles in the dialogues (Women shown in transactions more than
men WST):
It is noticeable from the results of the data that women are appearing to be more in
transaction with males rather than males being in transaction while considering the social
stereotyping roles of both the genders. It has been observed that women are indulging mostly in
social transactions than their male counterparts and they seem to be seeking for support even
socially 89%(figure22) of the times in relation to 19% of males who appear to depend less on the
former for backing up.
This is further verified through the following graph in shown in figure23 this is evident
espescially in stories like Button & Button& Thank You Maam
Males and Females shown in

transaction more than the other
11% Social roles in the

dialogues.(Women shown in
transactions more than men
WST
Men shown in transaction
89% more than women MST
Figure 22
57
Male and Female shown in transaction

more than other
25
no of appearnaces
20
15
10
5
0
Dark they
Thank
The
Button,
The Angel
God be
The
Clearing in
The Piece
The Use
A Mild
The Gift of
I have a
The Reward
Overcoat
Text book passages
Social roles in the dialogues.(Women shown in transactions more than men WST
Men shown in transaction more than women MST
Figure 23
Where a woman as a wife is more in transaction and in the later passage she is a woman being
robbed by a boy is conversing more in order to transact with a total stranger.
3.3.5/3.3.6 Main function of the utterance (Men seeking information and
women the providers of it) (MSI/WSI) :
It is seen that in this kind of relationship stereotyping men are more prone to seek information
than women which has been portrayed in the stories of Book 1.this has also been proved by the
result shown in the figure 24 where males have seeked information about 55% in relation to
females of 45% similarly reviewed through the graph shown in figure 25.
Male and Female seeking

information
Main function of the

utterance.(Men seeking
45%
information and women
55% the providers of it) MSI
Women seeking
information men the
providers of it) WSI
Figure 24
Males and Females seeking information

25
20
no of times
15
10
5
0
Textbook Passages
Main function of the utterance.(Men seeking information and women the providers
of it) MSI
Women seeking information men the providers of it) WSI
59
Figure25
3.3.7/3.3.8 Adjacency pairs in the workplace. Men and women in more
invitation type of conversation (MIV, WIV):
It is proved through data analysis that males have been stereotyped to be more daring and willing
enough to take risks to invite the female as compared to vice versa and shown as such in the pie
chart with percentages like 73% of males in relation to 27% of females seen in the figure 26 and
substantiated further by the bar graph shown in fig 27.
Males and Females in invitation type

of conversations
Adjacency pairs in the

27% workplace. Men more in
invitation type of
conversation MIV
73% Women more in
invitation type of
conversation WIV
Figure 26
Males Females in invitation type of

conversation
20
No:of persons
15
10 3.3.7 Adjacency pairs in
5 the workplace. Men more
in invitation type of
0
conversation MIV
3.3.8 Women more in
invitation type of
conversation WIV
Textbook passages
Figure27
3.3.9/3.310 Men & Women taking a more proactive (practical. Positive) role
in a conversation than women. MPRO/WPRO:
It seen from the results males tend to take a more proactive role than woman and their
occurrences of stereotyped as such is 69% as compared to the females which have instances of
such a practicality of only 31% this has been further supported by the results of the bar graph
shown in fig 28 & fig 29 . These results clearly portray that women and females in general are
61
considered or stereotyped as the more emotional gender and mostly governed by weakness in
handling stress situations.
Male and Females in a proactive role
Men taking a more

31% proactive(practical.positive
) role in a conversation
than women.MPRO
69% Women taking a more
proactive(practical.positive
) role in a conversation
than women.WPRO
Figure 28
Male and Female in a proactive role

6
no of persons
5
4
3
2
1
0
Textbook passages
Men taking a more proactive(practical.positive) role in a conversation
than women.MPRO
Women taking a more proactive(practical.positive) role in a
conversation than women.WPRO
Figure 29
3.4 Personal characteristic stereotyping:

3.4.1 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for women as timid, helpless, beautiful,)
3.4.2 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as strong and powerful

(brave,strong,wise,poor,wisest)
3.4.1/3.4.2 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as strong and powerful

(brave,strong,wise,poor,wisest)/ women as timid, helpless, beautiful,)
In the detection for personal characteristics stereotyping it was observed that there were
certain words describing only males such as; brave strong, daring wise, wisest whereas the
females were generally associated with words like timid, helpless, pretty, and beautiful. They
63
were linked with words having only superficial or weak connotations in contrast with males who
are described as superior in every aspect. This was also substantiated with the results which
plainly indicate through the following percentages of 73% (fig30) for men as the resilient gender
as compared to 27% for the more discreet and helpless one. This is also evident from the bar
graph
Figure 30
Male and Female Gender

descriptive words
Gender
descriptiveVocabulary
27% for women as timid ,
helpless ,beautiful,)
73% Gender Descriptive

Vocabulary for men as
strong and powerful( ,
brave
,strong,wise,poor,wisest)
This is also evident from the bar graph fig 31

Male and Female Gender descriptive

words
20
No:of words
15
10
5
0
Thank
Dark they
Button,
The Angel
Gulistan
Clearing
Foolish
The Piece
A Mild
The Gift
God be
The Use
I have a
Overcoat
Reward
Textbookpassages
Gender descriptiveVocabulary for women as timid , helpless
,beautiful,)
Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as strong and powerful( , brave
Figure 31
3.5 Disempowering discourse roles:

This indicator has been further sub-divided into the following sub-types:
3.5.1 Males talking first (initiation) MI
3.5.2 Females talking first FI
3.5.3 Gender-specific pronoun (Use of he, him ,his ,himself)
3.5.4Gender-specific pronoun (Use of she ,her herself,)
65
3.5.1/3.5.2 Males talking first (initiation) MI &Females talking first FI
Another very crucial stereotype which portrays gender bias is through discourse imbalances
which can be detected through the indication of who is taking the initiative to talk first. This
initiation imbalance in the pie chart given in fig 32 having percentages equal to 56% of males
talking first and 44% percent females are initiating the conversation.
Male and Female Initiation
44%
Males talking
56% first(initiation) MI
Females talking first FI
Figure 32
This is also shown in the bar graph shown in fig 33.

20
No:of occurences
15
10
5
0
Textbook passages
Males talking first(initiation) MI Females talking first FI
Figure 33
It has been researched earlier that on average, men initiated the conversations and uttered more
words than women. In comparison female characters spoke 2142 words and male 2482. As a
result, Jones, Kitetu & Sunderland (1999) point out that female learners learning will be limited
and inhibited, for the reason that dialogues are often offered to be played by the same sex,
leading up to a situation where females are restricted linguistically as well as occupationally.
Due to those circumstances, the authors issue the importance of teachers asking themselves the
questions; how does this affect my classroom? What pedagogical implications are there for
female and male learners? The conclusion made by the authors is that a possible gender
discourse imbalance may affect behavior in the classroom (Jones, Kitetu & Sunderland, 1999).
67
3.5.3/3.5.4 Male & Female Gender-specific pronoun :
There is another significant indicator which determines that stereotypes are being created is
through the gender specific pronouns. In case of males it is; he, him his himself and in relation to
females they are; she, her, hers herself. As it is the case male gender stereotypes 68% have been
shown to occur many more a times (fig34) in contrast to females 32%.
Male and Female Gender specific

Pronouns
32% Male Gender-specific

pronoun(use of him ,his
himself,he) MGW
68%
Female Gender-specific
pronoun( Use of her, she,
herself) FGW
Figure 34
It has also been observed through graphing that most of the stories have a larger number of male
genderspecific pronouns as compared to females seen in figure 35.

Male and Female Gender Specific Pronouns

200
150
100
No:of words
50
0
Textbook passages
Male Gender-specific pronoun(use of him ,his himself,he) MGW

Female Gender-specific pronoun( Use of her, she, herself) FGW
Figure35
3.6 Degradation: blatant sexism to the point of misogamy:

This indicator is perhaps the most deciding one in determining a gender bias stereotype as this
deals with a gender being nullified to the point of sexism which has already been discussed
earlier in the reviewed literature. Furthermore, sexism is something that affects peoples
everyday life from domestic affairs to choice of career and should therefore be taken into
consideration once presenting textbooks to the pupils (Renner, 1997).
They have been sub-divided after consulting the available literature as follows:
3.6.1 Males portrayed in positive roles
3.6.2 Females portrayed in positive roles
69
3.6.3 Females represented in negative roles
3.6.4 Males portrayed in negative roles
3.6.5 Males taking decisions for females (hegemonic masculinity) MTF
3.6.6 Females shown as weak unable to take decisions FDW
3.6.1/3.6.2 Males & Females portrayed in positive roles:

It is seen from the results that there are more instances of 69% of males in positive roles than
females 31% of females who are portrayed as such (fig36) . This is further confirmed by the
detailed plotting of the data in the bar graph (fig37).
Male and Females portrayed in

Positive roles
31%
Males portrayed in
positive roles MPR
69% Females portrayed in
positive roles FPR
Figure 36
Males and Females portrayed in positive

roles
4
No:of persons
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Textbook passages
Males portrayed in positive roles MPR Females portrayed in positive roles FPR
Figure 37
3.6.3/3.6.4 Females & males represented in negative roles

It has been observed that females are portrayed less in negative roles in contrast to males which
are considered to be daring enough to indulge in undesirable acts or break away from the social
norms set up by these stereotypes. So, a woman, girl or a wife is considered to be a character
devoid of negative thoughts stylized and raised to the pedestal of a mother should not have any
desires to think on her own for her own self and she is either a daughter, a wife or a mother
always in relation with a male and never considered on her own as an individual.
71
Therefore, it is observed in fig 38 that 73% of the characters portrayed in negative
roles are all males and only 27% of females are somewhat negative but never in roles
of a thief or a vamp or any of the exciting roles usually associated with males like a
rebel breaking the rules of the society at large, this can also be seen in a detailed
preview of the bar graph given in fig 39. Whatever number of females are shown as
negative characters they are shown in gender biased fashion confirmed by the
research of Ansari & Babbaii,2002):
"representation of work, theory, and behavior of males significantly exceeds the representation
of females; and females are frequently portrayed in negative and gender-biased ways." Males
are portrayed in exciting non-committal ways said by Hellies (2002) they are also frequently
portrayed as insensitive or lacking caring and loving feelings.

Male and Females portrayed in a negative role

2
1.8
1.6
No:of persons
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Textbook passages
Females represented in negative roles Males portrayed in negative roles
Figure 38
3.6.5/3.6.6 Males taking decisions for females (hegemonic masculinity)

MTF/Females shown as weak unable to take decisions FDW
It is the most conclusive indicator of the research. This stereotype is perhaps the basic dilemma
faced by our male patriarchal society at large. Most of the decisions concerning the lives of
females are taken by the male relations if it is a daughter a, father would decide ,in case of a wife
a husband is the privileged one and if she is a mother a son takes up the responsibility
considering the stereotype that she is helpless and nave to decide on her own leading to the fact
that a female never has the control of the reigns of her life.
73
This indicator was detected in the book 1 and it was observed 55% of the females were unable to
take decisions and 45% (fig 39) of males took the controls in their hands in any situation where
decision was mandatory. This can be clarified from the bar chart given in fig 40.
Males take decisions for

Females
Males taking decisions

45% for females(hegemonic
55% masculinity) MTF
Females shown as weak
unable to take decisions
FDW
Figure 39
Male and Females taking decisions for each other
6
5
No:ofpersons
4
3
2
1
0
Textbook passages
Males taking decisions for females(hegemonic masculinity) MTF

Females shown as weak unable to take decisions FDW
Figure 40
In stories like Button & Button , Dark Eyed & Golden they were ,and God Be
Praised it is observed that women are shown to be reliant on their husbands for the
major decisions and in other stories there is no detection of such an indicator because
there are no female appearances.
75
7.1 DATA ANALYSIS OF BOOK 2: INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH BOOK II
(Modern Prose and Heroes)
As already mentioned the same six main indicators with their respective sub-types were detected
and the results are as follows:
Detection of the Indicator of Invisibility in Book II:
As a first step the issue regarding invisibility was detected and its six indicators were discovered
the results are as follows:

3.1.1/3.1.2 Male and Female Appearances:
The results of the Male and Female Appearances indicate that there is a total domination
of male characters in this book of Heroes & Prose about 88% of male characters have appeared
in the passages as opposed to 12% of Female appearances who are observed to have only 12% of
attendance in the corpus(fig41). This result is indicative of the fact that female accomplishments
are not important enough to be included as part of the syllabus as the prose is dealing with all
male Heroes seen in figure 42.
Male and Female Appearances
12%
Male appearances MA
Female appearances FA
88%
Figure 41
It can be observed from the following figure that in most of the stories the female
appearances are negligible in relation to the appearances of the opposite sex. Moreover, in some
77
passages like; On destroying Books , The Man who was a Hospital, Hitch Hiking Across Africa.
& First Year at Harrow are all devoid of any female characters. Hence this unequal distribution
of gender appearance does create a gender bias which ingrains in the minds of young
impressionable learners that females are always supposed to be considered secondary in
comparison to the superior males in every walk of life.
16
16 15
14
12
10
8 7 7
6 5
4 4
4 3
2 2 2 2
2 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Male appearances MA Female appearances FA
Figure 42
This is in coherence with the results found out by other studies conducted on school
textbooks in Pakistan mentioned in the literature reviewed that : the visibility in text of school
books is almost one-fourth as compared to their male counterparts and in illustrations it is even
lesser almost 17-20% which decreases in textbooks of higher grades (Mirza,2004). Mirza
explains the percentage according to the subjects as generally the English ,Mathematics and
Science books presented more women characters. Fourth in order were Urdu books. Women
characters were only 1/10th of the total characters in the books of Islamiat. Females were also
neglected very badly in the textbooks on social studies. Dean (2007) also cites (Shah,1985) who
elaborates that female characters are rendered invisible in language textbooks and they are
mostly confined to the four walls of the home.
Similarly as expected since there are minimal female appearances so are there negligible
participations by them of 8% only (fig 43) whereas males are participating with an
overwhelming percentage of 92%.
Male and Female Participation
8%
Male participation in text

MP
Female participation in
92% text FP
Figure 43
79
It is also evident from a close scrutiny of the detailed distribution seen from the bar chart (fig44)
that only three prose passages, namely; End of Term, Chinas way to Progress &Mustafa Kamal
have limited female participation whereas the rest have been left undisturbed by any such
involvement. Even the prose passages showing the female participation are of no significant
value as their role is quite secondary.
20
20
18
16
14
12 10
10
8
6 4 4
3
4 2 2 2
1 1 1
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Figure 44
The results prove the point raised in the researched work by Swann and Graddol (1988)
in a video analysis of interaction between male/ female learners identified boys were provided
with more opportunities to practice and learn the language and that lack of justice of this kind
could be due to the learning materials they used (Mukundan &Nimehchisalem,2008).

Moreover, it has been seen through the literature reviewed that from a pedagogical point
of view, dialogues are valuable opportunities to provide language practice as well as proficiency.
There can be listed a number of advantages of using dialogue in teaching; even the quietest
pupils tend to participate, instead of only the most successful speakers in class. Thereby further
confirming the argument that by choosing dialogues that lack gender balance create hurdles that
hinders girls language learning (Jones, Kitetu & Sunderland, 1997).
point of views)
It is similarly observed as was the case with Book 1 most of the prose passages included
have been written by male authors 87% and women have been given only 13% chance to express
their point of view(fig44). A more detailed preview of the prose passages revealed that only two
of them selected have been female contributions whereas the rest thirteen were written by males
(fig45).
81
Male and Female Authors of

Passages
Male authors of
13% textbook passages(male
point of view)
87% Female authors of

textbook
passages(female point of
view)
Figure 44
This further strengthens the hypothesis that gender stereotypes are created through our
Intermediate English compulsory books for the young ESL learners that female point of views
are just not significant enough to become a part of our syllabus.
2
2
1.5
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
0.5
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0

Figure 45
3.2Detection of Occupational stereotyping: females/ males in fewer and more
menial occupational roles in Bk II:
As already researched by Ansar and Babaii in their study on Subliminal Sexism in
Current ESL/EFL Textbooks(2002) cite Coles (1977) who examined five sets of popular adult
basic education materials and found that in the total of 150 stories, men outnumbered women by
a ratio of 3:1. He also found that 39 of the total of 61 females were engaged in only 11
occupations, and 19 of those 39 females worked as housewives. By contrast, he found that 106
out of 192 males had 73 different occupations, ranging from truck driving to medicine. In
general, "women managed little and owned nothing; on the other hand , men, while holding a
large number of unskilled jobs, were the predominant occupants of skilled, managerial, and
ownership positions presented in the stories"(p.42).
The sub-divisions are repeated for easy reference into the following sub-types after reviewing the
literature:

83
3.2.1 Males and Females in High Ranking Occupations ( MHO&FHO)
A very influential indicator is the occupational stereotyping and the one, which really
depicts in a straightforward manner that gender stereotyping, is occurring, males having higher
occupational roles in comparison to their female counterparts.
Ansar and Babaii in their study on Subliminal Sexism in Current ESL/EFL
Textbooks(2002) cite Coles (1977) who examined five sets of popular adult basic education
materials and found that in the total of 150 stories, men outnumbered women by a ratio of 3:1.
He also found that 39 of the total of 61 females were engaged in only 11 occupations, and 19 of
those 39 females worked as housewives. By contrast, he found that 106 out of 192 males had 73
different occupations, ranging from truck driving to medicine. In general, "women managed little
and owned nothing; on the other hand , men, while holding a large number of unskilled jobs,
were the predominant occupants of skilled, managerial, and ownership positions presented in the
stories"(p.42).
It is evident from the data analysis that males occupy almost 100% i.e. 98% of higher
occupations and only 2% of females are shown in significant occupations (fig46) but in most of
the prose passages they are ordained to be shown in lower occupations.
Moreover, it is seen through a detailed analysis of the bar graph (fig47) that apart from the story
The Jewel of the World there are no prose passages where females have been portrayed in high
ranking occupations.
Male and Female in High Ranking

Occupation
2%

occupation MHO
98% occupations FHO
Figure 46
85
30
28
30
25
20 16
13
15 11
10 7
4 3 4 3
5 00 00 0 10 0 0 0 1 00 1 0 0 0 0
0
Males in high ranking occupation MHO

Females in high ranking occupations FHO
Figure 47
3.2.3/3.2.4. Males and Females in Low Ranking Jobs (MLO&FLO)
In this indicator detection it has been observed that there is even a lesser percentage of
females portrayed in low ranking jobs 26% as compared to the males which are stereotypically
portrayed in low ranking occupation in larger number of instances 76% (fig48), this result may
seem misleading but it is only due to the imbalance in the share of female and male characters as
the females are only 1/10th of the males therefore, it is natural that they will be portrayed much
lesser in lower occupations as overwhelming dominance is of males which can also be viewed
from the bar graph given in figure 48.

Male and Female in Low Ranking

Occupation
24%
Males in low ranking
occupation MLO
76% Females in low ranking
occupations FLO
Figure 48
A more closer examination revealed that even in those few appearances, females have
always been portrayed in low occupations such as in End of Term , Chinas Road to Progress
Alexander Fleming & Louis Pasteur an act which has become a habit of textbook compilers
internationally and in our Pakistani context as well.
5
5
4 3 3
3 2 2 2 2
2 1 11 1 1 1
1 00 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 00 0 0
0
H.HIK.AC.S
CH.RD.PROG
HU.PO.EXP
M.FIN.CAR
1st.YR.HAR
W.BoysF.C
M.KAMAL
JEW.O.WOR
O.DES.BKS
ALEX.FLEM
T.DY.SUN
U.S.T.METS
END TERM
T.M.HOSP
L.PASTEUR
Males in low ranking occupation MLO

Females in low ranking occupations FLO
Figure 49
87
This is in conjunction with the content analysis of Excel in English written by Alexander
(1985, 1986, and 1987) indicated that key social roles were given for men and that female
characters appeared often when household chores and child care were the topic under discussion
(Kowitz & Carroll, 1990).
3.2.5/3.2.6.Males& Females portrayed as strong in character (MSC,FSC)
It is evident from the pie chart given in figure 50 that a massive percentage of 99% of
males have been portrayed in the Book 2 and only a non-descript 1% have been taken up by the
female characters show of strength.

strong in character
Males portrayed as strong in character MSC
Females portrayed as strong in character FSC
1%
99%
Figure 50
culture ruled by the dominant males. This result is further detailed by the bar graph plotted to
show in figure 51 that in passages like Jewel of the world, Hitch Hiking Across Africa,
,Alexander Fleming, Louis Pasteur, and Mustafa Kamal males are portrayed with such strengths
of character that they do not stray from their goals no matter how many hurdles ,hardships and
obstacles they may face and they are successful eventually in any walk of life and in any era .
Whether it is the young man Abd-al Rehman or Robert Christopher or a scientist Louis
Pasteur or a reformist Leader Mustafa Kamal all of these male characters have been shown to
accomplish great feats. This kind of character stereotyping only gives the notion that males have
unmatched strengths of characters which no females can even imagine to equal.
38
40 33
35
30 27
23 24
25
20
15
10 5 4
5 00 00 0 11 20 10 10 00 00 0 0 0 0 0 0
0

Figure 51
89
3.2.5 Males and Females shown as weak in character (MCW, FCW)
This result also seems misleading as only 3% of the females appear to be shown as weak
in character as opposed to 97% of males(fig52) being portrayed of possessing weaknesses;
however, this is highly deceptive as the true picture is entirely different. The reason why such a
result has been derived is only due to the fact that female appearances are measly in relation to
the males hence this outcome is shown, confirmed by the bar graph in figure 53.
Males and Females Portrayed as

weak in character
3%
Males portrayed as weak
97% in character MCW
Figure 52
10
10
8
8
6
6
4
4 3
2
2 1 1
00 00 0 0 0 0 0 00 00 00 0 0 00 00 0
0
Females portrayed as weak in character FCW

Males portrayed as weak in character MCW
Figure 53
Males in relation to females shown in protagonists roles have been shown in all the
prose passages that is a clean sweep of 100% (fig54) have been detected during the analysis.
This cements the hypothesis that Intermediate English Compulsory Book 2 is creating gender
stereotypes by portraying only, males in protagonist thereby projecting a very strong gender bias
that females are just not worthy enough to get an inclusion as part of the corpus of the syllabus .
A detailed preview of the results can be witnessed from the bar graph shown in figure 55.
91
Males and Females shown in a

Protagonists role
0%
Males shown in
protagonist roles
Females shown in
100% protagonist roles
Figure 54
4
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
0.5 00 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 00 0
0
Figure 553.2.7/3.2.8.Male and Female Gender Specific Words:

Evidently the injustice prevails in this indicator detection and it has been perceived that
87% (fig56) of the gender specific words have been attributed to males depicting their relations
as fathers, captain, hitch hikers, kings, princes, leaders, husbands. Whereas females show only
13% since they appear on lesser occasions have fewer genderspecific words being attributed for
them. A detailed preview can be obtained from the bar graph shown in figure 57.
Male and Female Gender-Specific

words
13%
words (husband ,father,
captain ,leut.son,sons,mr)
Female genderspecific
87%
words (mother
,daughter,wife,mrs)
Figure 56
93
42
45
40
35 31
27
30 23
25 21
20 14
15 8
6 5 5 7 7
10 3
5 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0
0
Male gender-specific words (husband ,father, captain ,leut.son,sons,mr)

Female genderspecific words (mother ,daughter,wife,mrs)
Figure 57
This gender specificity also gives a very strong impression that females are only
occurring as side characters and never in protagonists roles as they are always shown a relation
of the main lead male characters who are the center around which the whole plot revolves.
stereotyped in conversations in relation to the opposite gender, the various stereotypes have been
discussed as follows:
3.3.1 Women as service providers and in subordinate roles in conversations. (WSP)

MIV
3.3.9 Men taking a more proactive (practical.positive) role in a conversation than
women. MPRO
3.3.10 Women taking a more proactive(practical.positive) role in a conversation than
women.WPRO
conversations. (WSP)
It is observed in the detection of this indicator that since there is a majority of male
appearance this result may seem to be negating the hypothesis showing that 91% (fig58) of the
men are shown in service roles whereas only 9% appear to be in subordinate roles but it is only a
false relief since there is a negligible part played by females in all the prose passages of about
8% of female participation has been detected in the corpus of Book2 .
95
It has been established through the literature reviewed that; both genders engage fairly
equally in dialogues concerning complaints, formal discussion, and general conversation.
Women seem to make inquiries more, talk on the telephone more, and make more
transactions (as service providers and customers). Men are more likely to interview others and to
be interviewed than women. Both women and men are shown in public domains even though
they engage in different forms of interactions.
Males and Females in a subordinate

role
9% (Women as service
providers and customers
conversations). FSP
Men as service providers
91% and sub role in
conversation MSP
Figure 58
If we take a look at the detailed preview of the bar graph it can be observed that there is
only one evidence of witnessing a women as subordinate roles in the passage End of Term and
the rest two detections are of males appearing as such seen in Figure 59. This is so because all
the prose dealt with stories presenting males in protagonist roles portrayed as icons whereas
females on the other hand have not been given the spotlight.
5 5
5
4
3
2 1
1 00 00 00 0 00 00 0 00 00 00 00 0 00 00 00
0
(Women as service providers and customers and subordinate roles in

conversations). FSP
Figure 59
men WST):
This result is the correct depiction of the scenario created in the English Compulsory Book 2
It is seen from figure 60 that the pie chart has 100% males are transacting as compared to the
female gender who have not been shown to disturb any of the data.
97
Males and Females shown in

transaction
0%
Social roles in the
dialogues.(Women shown
in transactions more than
men WST
100% more than women MST
Figure 60
A more detailed analysis of the bar graph (fig 61) reveals that there is only instance
where in the passage The Man Who was Hospital there is a detection of men transacting whereas
rest of the stories are devoid of any conversation and dialogues.
1
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 00 00 00 00 00 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0
Social roles in the dialogues.(Women shown in transactions more than men

WST
Figure 61

Another indicator sub-type which portrays gender stereotypes regarding the type or function of
utterance, men generally are stereotyped as uttering for a purpose of seeking information they do
not appear to converse meaninglessly a trait which is attributed to females as they are
stereotyped to be talking more freely, less purposely and are thus associated with fewer
occasions of productive occupations.
Males and Females Seeking

Information
Main function of the utterance.(Men seeking information and women the
providers of it) MSI
0%
100%
Figure 60
It is shown in figure 62 that 100% of males are portrayed to converse only when they
require information again a stereotype which makes a male a more productive and useful gender
in comparison to females. This is also evident in detail through the bar chart given in figure 63.
This is detected in stories; My Financial Year, Chinas Road to Progress & Louis Pasteur. In
99
these passages men are observed to have been involved in seeking information through
dialogues.
8
8
7
6
5
4 3
3
2 1
1 00 00 00 00 00 00 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 0 00
0

Figure 62
It has also been established through the literature reviewed that; Gender is moderately
associated with the function of the utterance. Both genders use conversation for initiating and
orienting, and providing emotional support. Interestingly, women are more likely than men
to give information, to fine-tune conversation through elaborating, evaluating, clarifying,
and summarizing, and to make commands.

Analyzing the data collected it is seen that men are totally involved in invitation type of
conversation which depicts a relationship stereotype that males are more daring in relation to
females thus depicting a 100% result can be further verified through bar graph (fig64).
Men and Women in invitation type

of conversation
0%
workplace. Men more in
invitation type of
conversation MIV
Women more in
100% invitation type of
conversation WIV
Figure 63
It is evident in the literature reviewed; gender appears to be mildly related to the use of
adjacency pairs at work. Women and men participate fairly in the range of types of adjacency
pairs although women are more likely to engage in question-answer types of interaction and men
more in invitation types.
101
4
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5 00 00 00 00 00 00 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0
Adjacency pairs in the workplace. Men more in invitation type of

conversation MIV
Women more in invitation type of conversation WIV
Figure 65
3.3.9/3.310 Men & Women taking a more proactive (practical. Positive) role
A hundred percent (fig66) result has been observed in the detection of this indicator
through the analysis of the corpus that men are definitely stereotyped to portray a more proactive
and practical demeanor in comparison to the females who though not portrayed as emotional and
timid in this book as such the very fact that they are not included in the syllabus to set an
example is proof enough of their fragility and weakness giving hidden inferences which is also
seconded by the literature reviewed.

Men and Women in a proactive role

in conversation
0%
Men taking a more
proactive(practical.positi
ve) role in a conversation
than women.MPRO
Women taking a more
100% proactive(practical.positi
ve) role in a conversation
than women.WPRO
Figure 66
The results further cement the findings that evidently depict that in gendered relationship
females have a more philanthropic kind of attitudes as compared to their more pro-active male
partners or colleagues. These are not very obvious in the content analysis of textbooks since it is
physically detected in one story (fig 67) only The Man Who was a Hospital where the Doctor
advises the main character to be more practical, but there are hidden inferences in the English
Book 2 Textbook corpus.
103
1
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
00 00 00 00 00 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0

than women.MPRO
Women taking a more proactive(practical.positive) role in a conversation
than women.WPRO
Figure 67

3.4.2 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as strong and powerful (brave, strong ,wise,
poor, wisest)

(brave, strong ,wise ,poor ,wisest)/ women as timid, helpless, beautiful,)
Similarly as it was detected in Book 1 ,there were certain words which are associated
with males and particular ones portrayed only the female gender. It has been established through
the reviewed literature that words which stereotypically portray women as emotional ,timid and
helpless whereas their male counterparts are depicted as brave ,strong and saviors which leads to
the creation of stereotypical identities in the young learners minds.
The results thus obtained are indicative of the fact that although 91% of the male
characters have been portrayed as timid, weak, helpless, forgetful and only 9% of the women
appear to have been described as such shown in figure 68. This result may seem contradicting
the hypothesis in the creation of gender stereotypes but the reason is mainly due to the minimal
percentage of female appearances present which can be compared from fig 1 with only 12% of
females appearing hence, the some of the male characters dominating the textbook prose are
described as weak which can be scrutinized in detail through the bar graph in fig 69. Only two
show male failures or flaws stories like; First Year at Harrow in which Winston Churchill is
unable to perform well in languages apart from English even this failure becomes his success in
the end as he develops extreme competency in English which becomes a medium of success for
his professional life. The story Hitch Hiking across Africa also displays certain male
shortcomings; it has been detected of portraying male weaknesses where the drivers and the main
lead character resort to drinking a negative and weak characteristic.
105
Gender Descriptive Vocabulary
Gender
9% descriptiveVocabulary for
women as; timid ,
helpless
,beautiful,forgetful,weak
Gender Descriptive
91% Vocabulary for men as
timid , helpless
,forgetful,weak
Figure 68
6
6
5
4
4
2
1
1
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0 0 0 00 00
0
Gender descriptiveVocabulary for women as; timid ,

helpless ,beautiful,forgetful,weak
Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as timid , helpless
,forgetful,weak
Figure 69

It was detected through the analysis of Book 2 that there is no prose passage that has any
dialogue between a male and a female character therefore the question of who taking the
initiative to talk first does not arise thus any detection of this indicator was not observed.
3.5.3/3.5.4 Male & Female Gender-specific pronoun:
It is seen through the results shown by the pie chart given in figure 70 that 99% of the
pronouns used are associated with males ;he ,his , him ,himself in comparison to female related
pronouns such as; she ,her, hers, herself. This kind of result was foreseen, as there are only 12%
107
females in the whole textbook no: 2, hence such a nondescript share. Which is seconded by the
bar graph fig 70 .
Gender -specific Pronoun
1%
Gender-specific pronoun(
use of him,his ,he,
himself)
Gender-specific
99% pronoun(use of she ,her
,herself
Figure 70
160
160
140
120 101
100 83
80 61
60 42
40 23 15
7 14 9
20 0 02 0 00 0 0 0 0 50 06 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Gender-specific pronoun( use of him,his ,he, himself)

Gender-specific pronoun(use of she ,her ,herself
Figure 71

This indicator has already been established in the data analysis of Book 1 being the most
indicative of all the gender stereotypes. It is the ultimate non-acceptance and degradation of
female characters. As already researched by Renner (1997) that sexism is a very influential
factor in determining the path and choices of career they make once presenting a textbook.
It is very aptly put by Hellinger's (1980) "For Men Must Work, Women Must Weep:
Sexism in English Language Textbooks Used in German Schools. Hartman and Judd's review
in 1978 of several then-current TESOL textbooks and they demonstrated that "since sexist usage
is built into our language (English), it is little wonder that textbooks, including ESL texts, model
this usage to the students"(p. 390). For each category, they found evidence that ELT materials
109
reflect sexist attitudes and values. All this, they believe, "reinforces the second-place status of
women and could, with only a little effort, be avoided"(p. 390).
This indicator is elaborated after consulting the available literature as follows:

On examination of the Intermediate Book 2 it was seen that 97% (fig72) of the males
were rendered in positive characters whereas their female counterparts were observed to be
fortunate in only 3% of the portrayals. This injustice clearly depicts a blatant creation of a gender
stereotype .
Males and Females in Positive roles

3%
Males portrayed in
positive roles
Females portrayed in
97% positive roles
Figure 72
This has also been witnessed in the bar chart given in figure 73 where such positive
characterization is occurring in 9 of the stories out of 15.
111
7
7
6 5 5
5 4
4 3
3
2 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 00 00 0 0 0 00 0 00 00 0 0 0 0 0
0
Males portrayed in positive roles Females portrayed in positive roles
Figure 73
3.6.3/3.6.4 Females& males represented in negative roles

It is also established through researches by our linguists that women have been projected
as inferior to men. Males are presented as superior and have leading roles and characters.
Thus the issue of gender stereotyping is evident through the depiction of this indicator
and it has also been researched that for a girl it is pre-determined that she has to take the role of a
mother and Mattu & Hussain (2004) explain this as: motherhood continues to be understood as
the central and all-encompassing role of a womans life. Mothers are granted the esteemed
status of nation builders with the ability to mould their children into loyal and productive
citizens. Glorified and exalted, motherhood is presented as the only, ultimate and legitimate goal
that a woman can aspire to.

It was analysed by scrutinizing the Intermediate Book2 that no woman was portrayed in
negative characters and 100% result (fig74) was witnessed as only males were portrayed to defy
the laws of the society and break away the boundaries of the social order. Males were implicated
in the passages given in a detailed plotting of the bar graph in (fig 75).
DATA ANALYSIS OF BOOK 3 Part-1(Plays)
As detected in the aforementioned books it will also be analysed herein as follows:
113
Detection of the Indicator of Invisibility in Book III (Part1-Plays):-
As a first step the issue regarding invisibility was detected and its six indicators were discovered,
the results are:
A percentage of 74% was witnessed indicating the appearance of males, whereas females only
got one fourth of the share of 26% (figure 76) of appearances in the section of plays. Even
though the plays; Visit to a small planet, The Oyster & the Pearl both have two female
appearances each to their credit whereas Heat lightening , has only one female appearing.
Female
appearances FA
26%
Male
appearances
MA
74%
Figure 76
7
7
6
5 4
4 3
3 2 2
2 1
1
0
H LIGHT V.SM.PLANET T.OY &PRL
Figure 77
Scrutinizing the three plays for the participation of both the genders it was detected
that male participation was 83% in conversations and dialogue in relation to females which was
in conjunction to their appearances even lesser than one fourth 13% (fig 78) . This kind of
discourse imbalance only depicts that their contributions and point of views are not considered
significant enough for inclusion thereby strengthening the hypothesis of gender inequality
leading to a gender stereotype.
115
17%
Male participation in text

MP
Female participation in
83%
text FP
Figure 78
This imbalance in dialogues of plays have far reaching deleterious effects as these plays
will be used in roleplay activities and girls will have lesser chance to be a part of the activities
thereby developing female complexes a fact researched by Sunderland (2000) suggests that the
language teacher has observed the gender disparity in the classrooms, according to her there is
male dominance in the classroom; differential teacher treatment by gender; by which males get
more, and arguably better, teacher attention than females; and representation in textbooks in
which female characters are variously stereotyped, trivialized, or rendered relatively invisible.
700 631
600
500
400 306
300
200 126
74 64 77
100
0
Figure 79
point of views)
It is realized that male authors have written all the plays and female point of view has
been totally disregarded in this important genre of writing.
Male and Female Authors

0%
100%
Figure 80
117
It is obvious through the displayed graph in figure 81 that male authors have completely
dominated the scenario all the plays included are thus written by them.
An example of blatant male hegemony these gendered identities presumptions are
predetermined by males over the construction of meaning of the roles stipulated for each gender
(Mustedanagic, 2010). An illustration of deliberate sexism to the point of misogamy that females
are not considered capable enough to be equal of such a feat.
1 1 1
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0 0
0
1 2 3

Figure 81
Occupational stereotyping has been dealt with in detail in the literature review and also
described under the data analysis of Book I & Book II so it is not required to further elaborate it
under this section. However, the sub-divisions are reiterated for easy reference into the following
sub-types:
3.2.1 Males and Females in High Ranking Occupations (MHO&FHO)
It has been observed from the pie chart given that only 12% of females are shown to occur in
high roles whereas males appear to be in higher positions 88% (fig 82). This result is in
119
conjunction with the previous two results of Book I & Book II which is further verified by the
bar graph given in Figure 83.
Males & Females in High Ranking

Occupations
12%

occupation MHO
88% occupations FHO
Figure 82
An example of such a typical male portrayal in high ranking job stereotyping has been observed
in the play: Visit to a Small Planet (pg 30) in which; General Powers, a vigorous product of the
National Guard, and his AIDE enter.
It is seen from the detailed preview of the bar graph that in the second play Visit to a
Small Planet, males appear to occur in high ranking occupations 30 times in comparison to
females who do not given any share in the indicator and The Oyster & The Pearl thus solidifying
the hypothesis construction of gender stereotyping is done through English Textbooks.
Even if females are given any higher status job they are mostly portrayed as teachers seen
in the third play The Oyster & the Pearl where the only female character of the play is the person
who says: I'm looking for a chance to teach. In answer to Harrys question; what are you
looking for besides a husband? This dialogue perhaps seals the whole argument on
construction of gender stereotypes through Intermediate English Compulsory textbooks by
portraying the stereotyped thoughts of males that; young girls are only supposed to marry,
settle down have children and raise a family.
30
30
25
20
14
15
10 6
5 0 0 0
0

Figure 83
It is seen from the data given in the pie chart that there is 58% of males shown in low
ranking occupations whereas 42% of females are shown as such. It may seem that males are also
121
given a fair share of low-ranging occupations but it is a misleading percentage as there are only
26% of females appearances seen in the indicator of appearances and in that 42% are perceived
as possessing low occupations it is a fair share of gender stereotyping. A more detailed scrutiny
in the graph fig 85 reveals that 5 and 9 instances of stereotyping females in low occupations
detected in the plays Visit to a Small Planet & The Oyster & the Pearl as compared to 2 & 8
respectively for males portrayed in low occupations.
Male and Female in Low Occupation

42%
58%
Figure 84
9
10
8
8
5
6
4
2
2
0 0
0

Figure 85
A very characteristic example of females in low occupations would be from the 2nd play
Visit to a Small Planet (Pg 15) where the wife of the main lead character whose maiden name is
not mentioned is described as; His wife, bored and vague, knits passively while he talks at
his desk . The husband is shown to be doing the all-important job of hosting shows with
technicians and staff assisting him while the wife is not doing any such productive work.
Moreover, she is also portrayed to have a bored & vague impression depicting she is not capable
of clear thinking and has an ambiguous character which is in sync with the research that;
females are frequently portrayed as passive and emotional, with occupations such as housewife,
waitress or princess. Males are seen as being active, daring and brave. They are also frequently
123
police officers, or princes who need to save the helpless princesses these images they carry forth
throughout their lives. (Helleis ,2004)
In another instance on pg. 22 the wife, Mrs Spelding is described to be doing jobs like;
Id better go make up the bedroom an archetypal occurrence of females doing the menial,
lower status jobs. While men are portrayed in occupations like; a General, T.V Host or a Chief of
Army Staff or an Alien Commander/ hobbyist all higher and more exciting occupational roles in
the play Visit to a Small Planet.
3.2.5/3.2.6.Males& Females portrayed as strong in character (MSC,FSC)
In detection of this indicator 73% of the males are observed to have been portrayed of
possessing a strong character. The opposite gender has been noticed to own such a trait only one
fourth times of the males that is 27%. This is indicative of the construction of superior strong
male gender stereotype a fact also researched by ( Helleis ,2004) who perceived that, males are
seen as being active, daring ,strong and brave. They are also frequently portrayed as insensitive
or lacking caring and loving feelings. Hence having their choices in careers is more active and
exciting than those of females.

Male and Females portrayed as strong in

character
27%
73%
Figure 86
They frequently occupy professions such as fireman , police officers, or princes who need
to save the helpless princesses, images which they carry forth throughout their lives.
A detailed analysis is possible through the bar chart given in figure 87 below. It is
witnessed that the in all the three plays there is a detection of males being portrayed as strong in
character
125
35 31 30
30
25
20
13 12
15 11
10 5
5
0

Figure 87
However, it is observed that there female strengths have been detected almost 1/3 rd.
number of times as compared to males which is depictive of the fact that females are stereotyped
to appear as fragile, emotional and helpless in comparison to male characters who are
predominantly associated with bravado ,strength ,courage and pro-active.
Hence further seconding the fact researched referred once again that males are seen as
being active, daring and brave. They are also frequently portrayed as insensitive or lacking
caring and loving feelings. Their choices in careers are more active and exciting than those of
females.
It has been detected that females appear to possess a weak character and the percentage
calculated from the data collected was much more around 86% (fig 88) for females presented as
weak in contrast to, males who have been only shown as breaking, undecided and weak 14%. A
detailed analysis scrutiny is seen through the following bar graph in figure 89.
Males and Females Weak in Character

14%
86%
Figure 88
127
34
35
30
25
20 16
15 10
10 4 4
2
5
0

Figure 89
It is perceived that the females are shown as the weakling numerous number of times ; in
the play Heat Lightening it has been observed 34 times , Visit To a Small Planet &the The
Oyster & the Pearl 16 instances of weak behavior portrayed by women have been recorded.
However , men in comparison have not been reported as such as many times but they appear to
be losing control or weakening only 4 times for the first and third play and twice only, for the
second play.
It can be easily inferred from this result that females are generally characterized as the
weak inferior gender and therefore are being stereotyped as such. A trait which ruins the mind
sets of the young learners and the entire society towards the female gender thereby depriving
them of all their basic human rights.

Another indicator detecting the occupational roles is the determination of who is
presented in a protagonists role, in a heroes or heroines role. On examining the data it was
revealed that there was a complete domination by the male gender who were The Protagonists
in all the three plays and females were totally overlooked of such an honour. The males were
considered much more dignified and significant while females were precluded from the
limelight. There were instances in the first play Heat Lightening where it was recorded ;the girl
appearing to have some sort of lead characterization but even that was overshadowed by the
personality of the first man ,the murderer of the play around whom the play revolved as he
persisted in all the scenes ( fig 90& 91) . However, the plot of the 2nd play Visit to a Small Planet
is a blatant example of male protagonist characterization in which Mr Spelding and in the end
The Alien steals the show.
129
Male and Females in Protagonist

0%
100%
Figure 90
2
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2 1
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 0 0 0 0
0
Figure 91
3.2.7/3.2.8.Male and Female Gender Specific Words:

Linguistic stereotypes can be found in different ways. Renner points out two common ways, in
morphology and semantics (Renner, 1997 cited in Mustedanagic, 2010)
Mills in her book explains the relationship between language and gender by highlighting
different customs where examples of gender stereotypes in linguistics can be found (Mills 1995
cited by ibid).
It can be seen in:
Generic Pronouns: If we study the use of the generic pronoun he in the sentence When an
author has completed his manuscript, he can send it to the publishers. The principle of this
sentence is to refer to a generic person rather than being sex-specific. However, Mills points out
that, in reality, the sentence is not registered as generic; the pronoun he carries a sex specific
meaning, denoting that the person in question is male. As a consequence, a cold clime setting
is created, where females feel excluded (ibid).
Affixes: contribute to distinguishing words between genders. One example is the suffix ess, as
in waitress or hostess, the suffix stresses that the referents it is a female rather than a male
person. The suffix man functions in the same way, creating masculine words like policeman,
fireman etc. (Mills, 1995). Renner also examines linguistic stereotypes and mentions that
affixes are mostly found in correlation with occupational names, where the trend has been to
131
differentiate occupations intended for males and females. For instance, a nurse is considered to
be a female person skilled in caring for sick people (Renner, 1997).
Hence our society has established certain specific words for each of the gender and establishing
another kind of occupational stereotyping. ). Nowadays, gender in language tends to be rather
obvious and, therefore, many people do not even notice it. For example, the agreement between
boy and his is based on the relationship involving the male entities. It can be said that languages
such as English, Spanish, German, French etc. have grammatical gender. In these languages,
gender is essential for constructing sentences and communication (Yule, 1996).
Observing these gender descriptive word occurrences it was calculated that there were 59% of
male gender descriptive words being used in comparison to female ones which were 41% (fig
92). These words were seen more to be associated with males than females as they were all in
protagonist roles. A detailed preview is seen in fig 93.


Words
Male gender-specific words (husband ,father, captain
,leut.son,sons,mr)FGW
Female genderspecific words (mother ,daughter,wife,mrs)MGW
41%
59%
Figure 92
129
140
120 102 100
100 77
80 64
60
28
40
20
0

Figure 93
133
stereotyped in conversations in relation to the opposite gender, selected materials were subjected
to extensive linguistic analysis to reveal patterns of stereotyping not seen through content
analysis such as the relationship stereotyping, in which women were more in relation with men
than men with women in every domain whether workplace or at home(City University of Hong
Kong, December 2001). The various stereotypes researched have been reviewed as follows:
MIV

3.3.9 Men taking a more proactive (practical, positive) role in a conversation than
women. MPRO
3.3.10 Women taking a more proactive (practical, positive) role in a conversation than
men. WPRO
conversations.(MSP/WSP)
On scrutiny of the data it was revealed that 66% of the women were seen to be
performing subordinate roles in the plays. Whereas , this degradation was only faced by men
24% (fig94) of the times and that too not in relation with women but in their job capacity as
either Aides to the General or to the alien in the play Visit to a Small Planet, in the play Heat
lightening the girl although not portrayed as in subordinate roles but it is the hidden inferences
in the dialogue where she is seen as having a subservient and dependent role in a conversation.
135
Male and Female in Subordinate Role

conversations). FSP
34%
66%
Figure 92
20 17
15 12
10 7
5
4
5 2
0

conversations). FSP
Figure 93
In instances in the first play where the man is interrogating the girl on pg 3 :
Man But you saw the girl.

Girl No I didnt.
Man But you said her hair was light and you saw her hand.
Girl Yes, I did. In the lightning, I think Yes.
Man But you dont remember seeing him?
Girl No I dont. (She begins sobbing.)
There are other occurrences of this indicator on the same page of the play.
Man Im sorry I shouldnt be going on like this you are much too upset to even think
any more about it. Dont worry about it anymore. Something will come to you later
that youve forgotten about right now. Youll see.
Girl Perhaps.
Man Your flashlight for instance. You could identify that, couldnt you ?MSI,MI
Girl Yes but
Man There, you see! Now look (Points to Womens room.) Go in there, and dry
your eyes and fix yourself up. Youll feel much better.
Girl You wont leave, will you?
Another instance of this kind of hidden inference is in the play Visit to a Small Planet where it is
seen on page 15 that the wife and daughter of Mr Spelding are being forced to show their consent
even though they think otherwise just because Mr Spelding is the Breadwinner of the family and
both of the females are appearing in subordinate roles.
Spelding Did you like the broadcast, Ellen?

Ellen Of course I did, Daddy.
Spelding Then what did I say?
Ellen Oh, thats not fair.
Spelding Its not very flattering when ones own daughter wont listen to
what one says while millions of people
Ellen I always listen, Daddy, you know that.
Mrs. Spelding We love your broadcasts, dear. I dont know what wed do without
them.
137
Spelding Starve.
men WST):
It has been witnessed through analysis of the data that men were shown to transact more
57% than women 43% which were expected because of the majority of percentage are males
appearances than females, even then after the females have been given only one fourth inclusion
in the text but still they are shown to socially transact 2/5th number of times. A detailed preview
is observed in fig 94 & fig 95
Male and Females shown in

Transaction
Social roles in the dialogues.(Women shown in transactions more
than men WST
43%
57%
Figure 94
11
12
10 8
8
5 5
6 4
4 2
2
0

WST
Figure 95
Another indicator sub-type which portrays gender stereotypes regarding the type or
function of utterance, men generally are stereotyped as uttering for a purpose of seeking
information they do not appear to convers meaninglessly a trait which is attributed to females as
they are stereotyped to talk more frequently ,less purposely and are thus associated with fewer
occasions of productive occupations.
139
It is seen from the pie chart that 86% of males converse to ask question or seek
information and on the other hand females have 14% of the females appear as seeking
information figure 96.
Male and Female in Seeking

Information
Main function of the utterance.(Men seeking information and women
the providers of it) MSI
14%
86%
Figure 96
70
70
60 49
50 37
40
30
10 12
20
3
10
0

Figure 97
It is seen in figure 97 that men are predominantly conversing in asking questions whereas
females appear to be doing that in the three plays at negligible number of times. So it can be seen
from this result that male are stereotyped to converse for a purpose unlike the females. Thereby
further strengthening the stereotype .
It has been observed from the data collected that males are portrayed to be more stronger,
brave and daring this is also depicted by the type of conversation they indulge in .It appears from
the figure 98 that men are shown to invite females 95% more as compared to the females who
are reckless only 5% times, an overwhelming dominance of this indicator showing stereotype
relationship. A detailed preview of the fig 99 also reveals ;in the first ,second and third play men
141
are the ones throwing invitations in contrast to females who do not have such an inclination and
only once they appear to invite in the second play.
Male and Female in Invitation Type

conversation MIV
5%
95%
Figure 97
11
12
10
8 6
6
4 2
1
2 0 0
0

conversation MIV
Figure 98
This result is depicting a strong relationship stereotyping making the females appear as timid
,less sure and less daring in relation to males.
3.3.9/3.310 Men & Women taking a more proactive (Practical. Positive) role
Another great indicator of the construction of gender stereotyping it is detected that males
are portrayed more around 89% (fig99) in proactive roles of being practical in stress situations
and they are portrayed stronger and able to handle difficult circumstances in a cool manner as
compared to their counterparts, confirmed through a detailed analysis of the graph in figure 100.
Male and Female in a Proactive Role

Men taking a more proactive(practical.positive) role in a conversation than
women.MPRO
than women.WPRO
11%
89%
Figure 99
143
18
18
16
14
12
10 7
8 6
6
4 2 2
2 0
0
1 2 3
Men taking a more proactive(practical.positive) role in a
conversation than women.MPRO
Women taking a more proactive(practical.positive) role in a
conversation than women.WPRO
Figure 100

This indicator has been further sub-divided for easy referral into the following sub-types:
3.4.2 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as strong and powerful (brave, strong, wise,
poor, wisest)

(brave, strong ,wise ,poor ,wisest)/ women as timid, helpless, beautiful,)
It is seen from the results that 76% of the female have been described as pretty , fragile and
Undecisve in instances in the first play : She sobs and rushes to the Man quickly& Youre
waiting for the bus, arent you? Oh, dont leave me! (She rushes into his arms.) then she is
undecisive when she explains;
Girl : Maybe my flashlight maybe I screamed I dont know I dont think I screamed. I was too
frightened.
In the third play the girl is described as ; A pretty girl comes into the shop, closing a colorful parasol.
She has long blonde hair.
Whereas. men are presented as the epitome of vigour , purpose and ambition with
adjectives such as in the second play as a hard-working ambitious, a man wholl make his mark
in the worldand instances where men are described for their vigour and zest when General
Powers is described General Powers, a vigorous product of the National Guard, and his AIDE
enter.
Males have only been presented as weak , timid or helpless only24%?(fig of the times
which is even less than one fourth to that of women. A detailed preview is seen in the graph
given in figure 102 .
145
Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for

Male and Female
,beautiful,forgetful,pretty
Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as stupid ,helpless,uctous,timid
24%
76%
Figure 101
9
10
8
5 5
6
4 2
2 0 0
0

,beautiful,forgetful,pretty
Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as stupid ,helpless,uctous,timid
Figure 102

This indicator has been further sub-divided into the following sub-types for easy reference:
3.5.4 Gender-specific pronoun (Use of she ,her herself,)
It has been established earlier through the literature reviewed that the right to initiate
the conversation lies in the hands of males and this discourse imbalance is a trait which marks
the superiority of males . This is witnessed in fig 103 in which it is observed 59% of males are
initiating the conversation in the three plays in contrast to the females who happen to do it 41%
of times thereby confirming the indicator that gender stereotype is being constructed through
disempowering the females in discourse also seen in detail in fig 104.
147
Males & Female Initiation
41%
Males talking
first(initiation) MI
59%
Figure 103
16
16
14
12 10
10
8
6
3 3 3
4 2
2
0
Figure 104
It has been seen that through generic pronouns gender stereotype is being constructed
because even if we want to refer to any general person who is not specifically known
linguistically we refer to he or him thereby excluding the females very subtly. The result of this
indicator was calculated and seen in fig 105 and a detailed preview seen in fig 106.
Male and Female Gender -Specific

Pronoun
19%
Gender-specific
pronoun(use of
he,him,his,himself)
81% Gender-specific pronoun(

use of she
her,hers,herself)
Figure 105
149
118
120
100
75 71
80
60 46
40
13
20 2
0
Gender-specific pronoun(use of he,him,his,himself)

Gender-specific pronoun( use of she her,hers,herself)
Figure 106

This indicator is perhaps the most decisive for determining the construction of gender
stereotypes in textbooks. It has been proven through the literature reviewed that males have a
power over shaping the views and negate the existence of females by denying the basic right to
decide for them in every sphere of life.


Hence ,it has been revealed through the analysis of the corpus of the plays of the
Intermediate English Compulsory Books males appear to be portrayed of possessing a positive
character 80% of the times and females consequently 20% fig 107. This imbalance is depictive
of the fact that females are appearing on considerably fewer occasions and they have negligible
part in the proceedings. A detailed analysis can be obtained from the figure 108from where it is
observed that the first and second play has 1,1 female appearing in a positive role as opposed to
1 &2 males respectively whereas in the third play there is no female share in the positive
characterization.
151
Male and Female in Positive Role

Males portrayed in positive roles MPR
Females portrayed in positive roles FPR
20%
80%
Figure 107
5
5
3
2
2
1 1 1
1
0
0

Figure 108

After analyzing the data it was duly substantiated that a percentage of 54% of males have
been presented to defy the laws of the society and take on the negative roles whereas females in
contrast are only caught doing this 46% (fig108) in the corpus seen in detail in figure 109.
Male and Female In Negative

Roles
Females represented in negative roles FNR
Males portrayed in negative roles MNR
46%
54%
Figure 108
6
6 5
5
4
3
2 1 1
1 0 0
0

Figure 109
153

Although this decisive indicator was not detected in the Book 2 of the Intermediate
English compulsory Books but in the plays section it has been evident on quite a number of
occasions as it is witnessed through the figure 110 and 111. It is observed that at a considerable
percentage of 56% (fig females are being over ruled by males and are shown to take decisions on
44% of the time for their female counterpart so the result seems to favour the construction of the
last most crucial gender stereotype.
Male and Females Unable in

Decisions Making
44%
56%
Figure 110
16
15
16
14 11
12 10
10
8 5
6
4
2 0
0

Figure 111
155
7.2.2 DATA ANALYSIS OF BOOK 3 Part-2 (Poems):
As detected in the Books I, II , III (Part 1) it will also be analysed here as follows:
Detection of the Indicator of Invisibility in Book III (Part2-poems):
As a first step the issue regarding invisibility was detected and its six indicators were discovered,
the results are:
The data collected was analysed, 80% of the males appeared in the poems as compared to
the females who had only 20% part to play in the proceedings seen in figure 112. A detailed
preview can be obtaine from the bar graph of figure 113.


20%
80%
Figure 112
2 2 2
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 0 0 0 0 00 00 00 0 0 0 00 00 0 0 0
0
Figure113
157
On scrutinizing the bar graph it is witnessed that female appearance is occurring in only
three poems; A Sindhi Woman , The Feed & Leisure. Although these poems do include females
but only for the symbol of beauty and depicting mother love that too of birds in the poem leisure
and not a single occurrence has been detected in a protagonist role further strengthening the
hypothesis; construction of gender stereotyping of females being not worthy enough of being
included in the corpus.
On a closer look at the data collected it was revealed that an overwhelming percentage of
100% (fig114) was seen to be the male participation of the males and naturally females were
completely rendered speechless in the poetry section of the Intermediate English Compulsory
Books. Similarly a one sided result was also obtained in the bar graph plotting it is evident from
the figure 115 it is an all-male show with the highest male participation 16 in the poem Oh
Where are You Going? This poem is addressing a male rider who is travelling,symbolizing the
journey of life.
Male and Female Participation in

Text
0%
100%
Figure 114
16
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 0 0 00 0 0 00 00 0 00 0 0 0 00 00 00 0
0
Figure 115
159
This blatant injustice in the distribution of participation just depicts that females are not
considered significant enough to be a part of the poetry corpus and their point of view or their
opinion is not worthwhile.
This kind of invisibility has far reaching repercussions as it will not give the females to get a part
in the class activities and discussions and they will be rendered invisible (Sunderland ,2000). It
will affect the teachers pedagogy by the differential treatment and the female students will
develop a sense of elusion from the main stream resulting in complexes due to this unjust
stereotyping.
point of views)
There is a great dilemma faced in the poems section too as female authors have been
completely marginalized and 100% domination is of male authors therefore confirming the
monopoly of the male opinion superiority over the females shown in figure 116 & 117.
Male and Female Authors

0%
100%
Figure 116
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0

Figure 117
Females so far have been deliberately side tracked by these authors since it is an all-male lobby
dominating the scene of textbook designing and curriculum selection who naturally select the
161
male writers and authors as they too are tuned to the gender stereotype that females are in
capable of producing any worthwhile piece of writing.
3.2 Detection of Occupational stereotyping: females/ males in fewer and more
menial occupational roles in Bk III (Part 2):
Since the subdivisions have been repeated for Book I, II, III (Part1), it is not necessary to enlist
them once again and we will move directly to the elaboration of results.
This is once again a one sided affair as 100% (fig 118) of males have been portrayed in
high-ranking occupations of Kings ,Princes in Ozymandias, Great Travellers in Oh Where are
You Going? And as Pious Men in He Came to Know Himself. However, women have only been
included just to revel in the gift of their beauty as an entity and not as a human beings for their
character ,for their strengths and weaknesses only as gift of God to men for their disposal in
poems like A Sindhi Woman in which the writer is comparing his incapabilitys with her
graceful walk & in Leisure a poem about the busy stereotyped disposition of men, the ever so
productive who do not have time for leisures amongst which is the leisure of appreciating the
beauty of women.
A Sindhi Woman: Bare foot, through the bazaar

And with the same undulant grace
As the cloth blown back from her face,
She glides with a stone jar,

High on her head
And not a ripple in her tread.
Leisure: No time to turn at Beautys glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance:
No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile, her eyes began?
Males and Females in high ranking

Occupation MHO
100%
Figure 118
163
5
5
4
3
2
1 1 1 1 1 1
1
00 00 0 0 0 0 00 0 00 00 00 0 0 00 00 00
0
H.CM.K
I.BR.IMGS
LV.ESS.REL
ST FR
LS
N.MA
L.TR.CH
WH R U
FD
HO.M
M.NB
T.D.S
M.WRDS
OZY
T.2.CT
S.WO

Figure 119
Another indicator which is also dominated by males as they appear in low occupations
83% of the times whereas females are although portrayed as such only 17% but this is due to
their negligible appearance in the poems as most of them are about men and their
accomplishments. The number of times they are appearing they are shown in low occupations
doing the menial jobs like in A Sindhi Woman or The Feed in which the mother bird is shown
feeding(a job associated with the female gender) her chicks a symbol of all motherhood in
general, seen from the figure 120 &121.

Males and Females in Low Ranking

Occupation
17%
83%
Figure 120
8
8
7
6
5
4
3
2 1 1 1 1
1 00 00 00 00 0 00 0 0 00 00 00 0 00 0 00 00
0
H.CM.K
I.BR.IMGS
LV.ESS.REL
WH R U
ST FR
LS
M.NB
T.D.S
M.WRDS
N.MA
L.TR.CH
T.2.CT
OZY
FD
HO.M
S.WO

Figure 121
165
3.2.5/3.2.6. Males& Females portrayed as strong in character (MSC,FSC)
It has been observed from the results 73% of males are portrayed of possessing strength
of character in comparison to females which is only 27% solidifying the hypothesis that gender
stereotypes are being instilled through English Compulsory Textbooks.

Strong in Character
27%
73%
Figure 122
A result is obvious from the bar graph where it is witnessed that females are shown to
possess strengths of character in only two poems and rest of the occurrences of this indicator
have all been of the opposite gender. Males in comparison are shown to possess immense power
an asset which enables to accomplish impossible feats such as in: Oh Where are You Going?,
Ozymandias, He Came to Know Himself & especially in the last poem In Broken Images where
men are pushed to be inquisitive and have analytical abilities and do not accept things on its face
value.
7
7
6 5
5 4
4 3
3 2
2 1 1 1 1 1
1 00 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 00 00 00 0 0 0 00 0
0
H.CM.K
I.BR.IMGS
LV.ESS.REL
ST FR
LS
N.MA
L.TR.CH
WH R U
FD
HO.M
M.NB
T.D.S
M.WRDS
T.2.CT
OZY
S.WO

Figure 123
It has been seen that 88% of the males are portrayed as weak in character this result may
seem deceptive but again it is due to the minimal appearance of females that their portrayal in
weak characters has been so negligible only 12% seen in fig 124 & the detail seen in figure 125.
167
Females and Males Portrayed as

Weak in Character
12%
Males portrayed as weak
88% in character MCW
Figure 124
7 7
7
6
5
5
4
3
3
2
1 1 1
1
00 00 0 00 0 0 0 0 00 00 0 00 00 00 00 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Figure125
In the collection and analysis of the data for this indicator it was revealed that a majority
of 87% males who stole the show and appeared in protagonists roles in comparison to females
who were given only 13% (fig 125) of limelight further strengthening the fact of them having
secondary importance. A detail of this analysis seen in figure 126
Males and Females in Protagonist

Roles
13%
Males shown in
protagonist roles
Females shown in
Figure 125
A detail of this analysis seen in figure 126 where it is witnessed those in only two poems females
have been given any share of the protagonist role whereas the rest is an all-male affair.
169
2
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2 1 1 1 11 11 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 0 0 0 0 00 00 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Figure 126
3.2.7/3.2.8. Male and Female Gender Specific Words:

As established in the literature review that linguistic stereotypes can occur through
different genderspecific words which have been ingrained in our minds as we make
associations unconsciously with words like police for males unless otherwise specified or for the
teachers, nurses usually associated with females .
A closer look at the data reveals that 67% are male gender-specific words whereas only
33% are associated with females seen from figure 127& 128

Words
33% words (husband ,father,
captain
67%
Female genderspecific
words (mother
,daughter,wife,mrs)MGW
Figure 127
5
5
4
3
2 2
2
1 1 1
1
0 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0 00 00 0
0
I.BR.IMGS
H.CM.K
LV.ESS.REL
ST FR
LS
N.MA
L.TR.CH
WH R U
FD
M.NB
T.D.S
M.WRDS
HO.M
T.2.CT
OZY
S.WO

Figure 128
171
As already reviewed relationship stereotyping is done in terms of discourse analysis,
women are often stereotyped as being more in relation with males than vice-versa. An indicator
which also depicts the subservient roles of females in a very subtle and hidden manner yet there
is an underlying current which is always suggesting that males are the final verdict in any kind of
decision making and females are constantly seeking approval from them. Since it is a section of
poems, devoid of any dialogues so none of the indicators under relationship stereotyping was
detected .

Another crucial indicator that depicts construction of stereotyping is the right to talk first which
is seldom given to females as they are always supposed to follow the males and answer their
masters if information is demanded.
In the poems section in this genre there is no display of dialogues thus the question of initiation
doesnt arise. Therefore this indicator was not detected in the corpus.
Although there is no depiction of initiation, however male and female gender-specific
pronouns were detected. After analyzing the data it was calculated that 60% of the pronouns
were associated with males while 40% (fig 129) were attributed to the females. It has been seen
from the literature researched that in English language there is a referral stereotype of
mentioning any general person by he linguistically never referred to as a she this automatic
male gender pronoun use or generic usage as specified by Mills(1995) creates a cold clime as it
is a male pronoun and females feel left out.
Gender Specific Pronouns
40% Gender-specific
pronoun(use of
he,him,his,himself)
60%
Gender-specific pronoun(
use of she
her,hers,herself)
Figure 129
173
A detailed preview is seen in the bar graph shown in fig 130 and the poem In Broken
Images is depicting this indicator overtly where the gender-pronoun he has been used profusely.
14 13
12
10 8 8
8
6 5
4
4 3
2 1
0 0 00 00 00 0 00 0 00 0 0 0 00 00 00 0 0
0
Gender-specific pronoun(use of he,him,his,himself)

Gender-specific pronoun( use of she her,hers,herself)
Figure 130

This indicator is perhaps the most decisive for determining the construction of gender
stereotypes in textbooks. It has been proven through the literature reviewed that males have a
power over shaping the views and negate the existence of females by denying the basic right to
decide for them in every sphere of life.


In the poems part II of the Intermediate English Compulsory it has been observed that
81% males have been portrayed in positive roles whereas only 19% (fig 131) of females are
shown having positive traits .This unequal distribution is once again attributed to the
overwhelming majority of males appearing in the poems. A detailed preview is seen through the
figure 132 where it is witnessed in the poems: Ozymandias & A Man of Words and Not of Deeds
highest occurrence of this indicator has been observed .
175
Males and Females in Positive Roles
19%
Males portrayed in
positive roles MPR
81%
positive roles FPR
Figure 131
4
4
3.5
3
2.5 2
2
1.5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
0.5 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 00 0 0 0 00 0 00
0
H.CM.K
LV.ESS.REL
M.WRDS
I.BR.IMGS
LS
N.MA
L.TR.CH
WH R U
ST FR
S.WO
FD
M.NB
T.D.S
HO.M
T.2.CT
OZY

Figure 132
3.6.3/3.6.4 Females & males represented in negative roles

A total monopoly of males has been witnessed of this indicator and a 100% (fig 133)
result showing only males being portrayed in negative characters , another strong construction of
gender stereotype depicting that females are not daring enough to perform any deed which is not
in conjunction with the rules of the society. They can only be seen in positive roles raised to the
pedestal of motherhood shown in the poem The Feed whereas males are audacious enough to
travel the unexplored paths and they are being pushed through the poems like Oh Where are You
Going?, HollowMen & A Man of Words and Not of Deeds.
Males and Females in Negative Roles
0%
Females represented in
negative roles FNR
Males portrayed in
100% negative roles MNR
Figure 133
177
6
6
5 4
4
3
2 1 1
1 00 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 0 00
0
H.CM.K
I.BR.IMGS
LV.ESS.REL
ST FR
LS
N.MA
L.TR.CH
WH R U
FD
HO.M
M.NB
T.D.S
M.WRDS
OZY
T.2.CT
S.WO

Figure 134

This indicator was not detected in the poems section of the Intermediate English
Compulsory Book III because naturally there is no interaction between the two genders and thus
no relationship observed in any poem .

Males and Females in negative roles
0%
negative roles
Males portrayed in
100% negative roles
Figure 74
3
3
2.5
2
1.5
1 1 1 1
1
0.5
00 00 0 00 0 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0
0
Figure 7
179

The deciding and most conclusive indicator of the series of indicators researched
depicting the gender stereotyping in textbooks. Even the basic right of a women or a girl is
ripped off her and she is not given the right to decide for herself in any matter whether it is
regarding her wedlock or it is the right to work or to decide in any household major decisions
even if she is educated and equipped with the repertoire to take crucial decisions.
Though this was not witnessed in the Intermediate Book 2 since females appear not to be worthy
enough to earn a place for themselves in the corpus, hence such detection was not seen.
7.3 Data Analysis of Book 4 (Novel):Good Bye Mr. Chips

The Intermediate English Compulsory Book 4 is a novel with Mr. Chipping the main
character as the schoolteacher of a school named Brookfield in the late nineteenth century and
the story continues till the turn of the twentieth century. There are eighteen chapters and the
detection of the indicators has been done as follows:
Detection of the Indicator of Invisibility in Book I:
As a first step the issue regarding invisibility was detected and its six indicators were
discovered the results are as follows:
181
It has been seen that the males and females appearance ratio in the whole novel is 1: 2.33
that is males appear almost twice the number of times than the females and this novel is
revolving around a male character Mr Chips and female characters are almost less than half the
number 30% in comparison to males 70%.

30%
70%
Figure 135
A detailed preview of the distribution is witnessed in the bar graph in the figure 134
where it is seen that in most of the chapters females are appearing once and in only two chapters
females appear twice whereas in some of the episodes in chapters 8 , 15 &16 they have not been
given any share.

7
7
6
5
5
4
4
3 3 3 3
3
2 2 2 22 2 2 2 2
2
1 1 11 11 1 1 1 1 1 11 1
1
0 0 00 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Figure 136
Another significant indicator that has been detected is the participation of the genders in
the text. Mostly it has been observed through the literature reviewed that Hellinger (1980) who
is a native German conducted a thorough study of 131 passages from three ELT textbooks used
in German schools. She found that men participated in over 93% of the passages, while not even
30% of the texts included women. In addition, it was mentioned that 80% of the speakers were
males(Ansar&Babaii,2003).
183
This kind of imbalance in participation only instills a sense of deprivation in the female
learners as they do not get a chance to practice during class activities like role plays, skits or
dialogue. From a pedagogical point of view, dialogues are valuable opportunities to provide
language practice as well as proficiency. There can be listed a number of advantages of using
dialogue in teaching; even the quietest pupils tend to participate, instead of only the most
successful speakers in class. However, dialogues that lack gender balance can be turned into an
obstacle that hinders girls language learning (Jones, Kitetu & Sunderland, 1997).
This is also witnessed by the results from the figure 135 in which 89% male participation
is observed in the novel Goodbye Mr Chips and only 11% is female participation. This outcome
is further verified through the bar graph given in figure 136

11%
89%
Figure 137
20
20 18
18
16 14
14
12 10
10 9
8 7 7 7
6 6 6 6
6
4 3 3
2 2
2 1 11 1 1
00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Figure 138
point of views)
This novel has been written in retrospect by James a male author as was the case in
Intermediate Book I, II & III the textbook passages in the prose section and the poem section
were mostly written by male authors and only three stories of female writers have been included
in the intermediate syllabus.
185
Occupational stereotyping has been dealt with in detail in the literature review , so it is
not required to further elaborate it under this section. However, the sub-divisions are recapped
for easy reference into the following sub-types:
A predominantly male dominance has been observed and 97% of males have been
portrayed in high occupations and a negligible 3% (fig 137) of females have been portrayed in
the supposed high occupation roles. Females do not appear to be having a very high status,
although the character Katherine Bridges a governess by profession has been given some sort of
significance as she is not portrayed as a stereotypical female, she is a very radical woman of the
early 20th century who believes in independence and rides a bicycle is on a mountaineering
expedition when she meets Mr Chips who is devastated by her liberal views at the time when it is
unheard of woman performing such daring deeds (Ch4).
Males and Female in High Ranking

Occupation
3%
97%
Figure 139
A detailed preview is observed in figure 138 where only in one instance in the fourth
chapter a female is being portrayed in highranking occupation and all the occurrences are
observed of males in high ranking occupations. This one sided result endorses the hypothesis that
gender stereotypes are being constructed through Intermediate English Compulsory Textbooks.
187
25 22
20
15
15
11
10 10 10
9 9 9
10 8
7 7
6
5
5 3
1 11 1 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Figure 140
As already established through the literature reviewed another very direct indicator of
gender stereotyping it has been witnessed that 56% of the females appearing are portrayed in low
occupations and 44 %( fig 139) males have been represented as having a lowly status in the
novel Goodbye Mr. Chips.

Male and Female in Low Ranking

Occupation
Males in Low ranking occupation MLO
Females in Low ranking occupations FLO
44%
56%
Figure 141
A further scrutiny of the bar graph given fig 140 reveals that females have been portrayed
in low ranking occupations in quite a number of occasions ; Mrs Wickett who is the landlady of
Mr Chips but in fact the Housekeeper who does all the household duties of cooking, cleaning,
and looking after him. As seen in the ch1 ,pg3: Mrs. Wickett came in with his cup of tea she did not know
whether he had been laughing or crying.
189
5
5
4
3 3 3
3
2 2 2 2 2 2
2
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
00 0 0 0 0 00 00 0 0 00 0 0 00
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Males in Low ranking occupation MLO

Females in Low ranking occupations FLO
Figure 142
3.2.5/3.2.6 Males& Females portrayed as strong in character (MSC,FSC)

I t has been seen from the figure 141 that 77% of males have been portrayed as strong in
character and 23% females appear to possess any strength of character in the novel. It is
Katherine Bridges who a modern woman, the liberal, radical female having very radical views
about the gender and class/social disparities. The portrayal of Katherine Bridges has only been
done in two chapters seen in fig 143 where she appears in Mr Chips life who is overwhelmed and
completely taken off-guard by her revolutionary views and they get married .
Moreover, in personal life she tenders advice in all matters of life to her husband and
seem to possess a very strong character. Hence, her role does not present any particular negative
stereotyping against female gender and her character is an exception from those female
characters that demean and marginalize female gender. After marriage, the influence of
Katherine on Chips was so much that he sought her advice approximately in all matters of life
and school, and in 9 out of 10 cases he complied with Katherines instructions as stated in the
line, About once in ten times he was adamant and wouldnt be persuaded(Chap. 4, p. 17).

strong in character
23%
77%
Figure 143
However, Katherine Bridges is the only female portrayed as having a strong character in the
whole corpus of Intermediate English Compulsory Books and that too for a very a short period in the
novel GoodBye Mr Chips from chapter 4 to 7 her stay in the novel is very short lived. Her strength of
character is described as; she rode a bicycle and was unafraid to visit a man alone in a farm-house
sitting room.She was a governess out of job, with a little money saved up; she read and
admired Ibsen; she believed that women ought to be admitted to the universities; she even
thought they ought to have a vote.(Ch 4)
191
The other female appearance is of Mrs Wickett the other female character in this novel
.She is the landlady of Mr. Chips but again a very submissive character who is supportive and
serves him and his guests with tea. She has been in-charge of the linen room of Brookfield before
her retirement. Her character has been associated with an activity of preparing tea to serve the
key male character of the novel i.e. Mr. Chips and his guests.
24
25
20
15
10 8
7 7
6 6
5 5 5
4 4 4 4
5 3
2 2 2 2 2
1 1
0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Figure 144
This novel Goodbye Mr. Chips is one exception where the only two female characters
have not been stereotyped as weak, although there are three occurrences where females have
been shown as such, but even if the stereotyping is done once it is enough to instill the minds of
the young learners and construct gender stereotypes forever. Therefore it is witnessed from the
results that only 5% (fig142) of the females are shown to possess weak characters and a
whopping percentage of 95% of males is seen to have a weak character. Although this result may
seem satisfactory and negating the hypothesis that gender stereotypes are not being constructed
but this result is misleading since there are only two female appearances in the whole novel so it
is a predominantly male centered story.

Weak in Character
5%
95%
Figure 145
193
10
10
8
8 7
6
4
4 3 3 3
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
2 1 11 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Figure 146
It is witnessed from the pie chart given in figure 144 89% of males have been portrayed
in protagonist roles whereas only 11% of females appear in a protagonists character which is in
coherence with the study piloted in Spain, by Cerezal (1991) conducted content analysis on a
number of English textbooks in terms of character. The results illustrated that in most cases
males appeared superior, had superior occupations and played the protagonist's role.
Male and Females in Protagonist

Roles
11%
Males shown in
protagonist roles
Females shown in
Figure 147
A detailed analysis of this result can be done through the bar graph given in figure
145 where it appears that only in two chapters females or Katherine Bridges has the main role
and for once in the whole corpus syllabus of Intermediate English Compulsory a female has been
given some significance and that too in only 2 chapters.
195
1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Figure 148
3.2.7/3.2.8. Male and Female Gender Specific Words:

Another indicator sub-type which indicates occupational gender stereotyping is through
gender-specific words which linguistically are attributed to each gender specifically which has
been researched by, Hellinger (1980) found that textbook writers tended to underestimate the
role of women and girls in their textbooks. Further, in her analysis of twenty-one pedagogical
grammar books published between the years 1972 and 1987 in Britain, Sunderland (1994b)
found only one including all the changes in the use of gender specific words like chairman to
inclusive terms such as chairperson (Mukundan &Nimehchisalem,2008)
This research was confirmed by the results found in the data analysis in figure 145
where it was seen that 79% were male gender specific words and only 21% were female
gender-specific words .
Gender-Specific Words
21%
words (husband ,father,
captain ,leut.son,sons,mr)
79% Female genderspecific

words (mother
,daughter,wife,mrs)
Figure 149
A detailed preview is given in the graph Figure 147 where it is observed that there
are many more occurrences of male gender specific words than the female ones.
197
30
30
24
25
20
20 17 17
14 14
15 12
11 10 10
99 8 9 8
10
54 4 4 5
5 3 3 33 2 33
1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Male gender-specific words (husband ,father, captain ,leut.son,sons,mr)

Female genderspecific words (mother ,daughter,wife,mrs)
Figure 150
As already reviewed relationship stereotyping is done in terms of discourse analysis,
women are often stereotyped as being more in relation with males than vice-versa. An indicator
which also depicts the subservient roles of females in a very subtle and hidden manner yet there
is an underlying current which is always suggesting that males are the final verdict in any kind of
decision making and females are constantly seeking approval from them.
The various sub-types have been reiterated once again for easy referral as follows:
MIV
3.3.9 Men taking a more proactive (practical, positive) role in a conversation than
women. MPRO
3.3.10 Women taking a more proactive (practical, positive) role in a conversation than
women. WPRO
conversations .(WSP/MSP)
After scrutinizing the data it was observed women were mostly portrayed in subordinate
roles and they were shown in the novel 71% (fig 151) of the times whereas only 29% of males
have been shown to provide any service in subordinate roles in the novel Goodbye Mr. Chips. A
more detailed view can be seen from the figure 152 that women have been portrayed as service
199
providers and in subordinate roles on almost 10 occasions as Mrs. Wickett does the service
provision whereas men on almost half the number of times on 4 instances.
Male and Females in Subordinative

Roles
(Women as service
29% providers and customers
conversations). FSP
71% Men as service providers
and sub role in
conversation MSP
Figure 151
6
6
5
4 3
3 2
2 1 1 1
1 00 00 0 00 00 00 0 0 00 00 0 0 00 00 00 00 0 00
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

conversations). FSP
Figure 152
201
3.3.3 Social roles in the dialogues (Women shown in transactions
more than men WST) :
It has also been stereotyped and researched through literature reviewed that
women seem to be more in transaction with men than vice-versa and this was also
confirmed through the results seen in the pie chart given in figure 153 , a percentage
of 61% of women transacting more is observed whereas 39% of males have only been
shown to transact on these occasions, this can also be further verified through the
graph given in figure 154.
Men and Women Shown in

Transaction
Social roles in the

39% dialogues.(Women shown
in transactions more than
men WST
61%
more than women MST
Figure 153
Promotion of gender Stereotypes Through the English Curriculum 203
7
7
6
5
4
3 3 3
3
2
1 1
1
00 00 0 0 0 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

WST
Figure 154
From the graph it is seen that women are transacting more than men and it is
stereotyped that they require getting the support of males more than vice-versa as they
are supposedly portrayed as the weaker, timid, helpless gender. However, in the novel
Katherine has not been portrayed as the weak one but she has defied the gender
stereotype and deconstructed the masculine patriarchy (Dean, 2007), the only female
character in the whole Intermediate English Compulsory Syllabus to do so. But the
other only female character Mrs Wickett who conforms to the typical female
stereotyped standards.
203
3.3.5/3.3.6 Main function of the utterance (Men seeking information
and women the providers of it) (MSI/WSI) :
Another indicator sub-type which portrays gender stereotypes regarding the
type or function of utterance, men generally are stereotyped as uttering for a purpose
of seeking information they do not appear to converse meaninglessly a trait which is
attributed to females as they are stereotyped to be talking more freely, less purposely
and are thus associated with fewer occasions of productive occupations.
The data collected was analysed and the results thus obtained revealed that the
men demanded information for a huge percentage of 87% in contrast to women who
were only found doing so for a minimal 13%. A further verification of the detailed bar
graph elaborated that in almost 8 chapters men were detected of seeking information
whereas females were involved in the indicator in only 4 chapters. This result
confirms and supports the hypothesis that gender stereotypes are being constructed
through these indicators.

Men and Women seeking

Information
13% Main function of the

utterance.(Men seeking
information and women
the providers of it) MSI
Women seeking
87% information men the
providers of it) WSI
Figure 155
12
12
10
8 7
6 5
4 3
2 2 2 2 2
2 1 1 1
0 00 00 0 0 0 00 00 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 0 00
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Figure 156
205
3.3.7/3.3.8 Adjacency pairs in the workplace. Men and women in
more invitation type of conversation (MIV, WIV):
Analyzing the data collected it is seen that men are totally involved in
invitation type of conversation which depicts a relationship stereotype that males are
more daring in relation to females they invite females 75% in relation to 25% (fig
157) females dare inviting the males at a ratio of 3:1 which means males are
stereotyped to be three times more inviting than females which further stereotypes
them further on the back foot. A further detailed preview can be seen where it is
witnessed this indicator has been detected in four times once for Katherine Bridges a
very radical woman involved in invitation type of conversation and the rest of three
males doing the inviting seen in figure 158.
Male and Females in Invitation type

of conversation

25% workplace. Men more in
invitation type of
conversation MIV
75% Women more in invitation
type of conversation WIV
Figure 157
2
2
1.5
1 1
1
0.5
00 00 0 00 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

conversation MIV
Figure 158
3.3.9/3.310 Men & Women taking a more proactive (Practical.
Positive) role in a conversation than women. MPRO/WPRO:
As already established through literature review that men are more
involved in a proactive role or a practical, concrete , more productive type of
conversations whereas females are stereotyped to be engaged in petty talk for the sake
of which is not productive gossiping .
The result depicts that in the novel Good bye Mr. Chips 50% males and
50%(fig159) females are detected of having proactive conversation this outcome is
perhaps the only positive result obtained so far in the corpus which has been an equal
distribution of indicators this is confirmed by the bar graph given in fig 160.
207
Males and Females taking a Proactive

Role
Men taking a more

proactive(practical.positiv
50% e) role in a conversation
50%
than women.MPRO
Women taking a more
proactive(practical.positiv
e) role in a conversation
than women.WPRO
Figure 159
6
6
5
4
4
3
2 2
2
1 11 1 1 1
1
0 00 00 0 0 0 00 00 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 00
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
than women.MPRO
than women.WPRO
Figure 160

This is another indicator which directly affects the construction of
stereotyping as it labels both the genders with certain descriptive words and these
words as already seen in the literature review regarding language and gender
;Semantics in linguistics is the study of interpretation of signs or symbols as used by
agents within particular circumstances and contexts (Yule, 1996). If one looks
closely at adjectives, one becomes aware of the fact that different adjectives are more
commonly used to describe different sexes. The sentence He is a pretty man, would
be considered semantically abhorrent because the adjective pretty is not a usual
choice when describing a male adult. According to our perceptions, a man is supposed
to be described as handsome and not pretty, therefore, the sentence above would
strike the readers as being odd, although it may be grammatically correct. The word
pretty is used to portray women, children or animals, but not male adults (Renner,
1997). Hence after researching, the following indicators have been elaborated once
again for easy referral as follows:
3.4.1 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for women as timid, helpless, beautiful.
3.4.2 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as strong and powerful (brave,
strong, wise, poor, wisest)
3.4.1/3.4.2 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as strong and

powerful (brave, strong ,wise ,poor ,wisest)/ women as timid,
helpless, beautiful,)
In the results it was revealed that the male gender specific words used in the
novel Good bye Mr Chips was considerably larger about the ratio of 2.70:1 and the
209
gender descriptive words attributed to males was 73% as compared to females which
was only 27%. This result depicts a blatant gender stereotyping construction in the
novel an occurrence of which is seen in the chapter 4 where Katherine Bridges is
described as follows:
Her name was Katherine Bridges; she was twenty-fiveyoung enough to be
Chipss daughter. She had blue, flashing eyes and freckled cheeks and smooth straw-
coloured hair.
This is a typical description of the prettiness of the female character of her
physical appearance, although the author does describe of her radical views and
strength of character but males on the other hand have been described such as Mr
Chips the main protagonist character as; traditional old man.
As the author Ralston describes his methods of teaching are slack and old-
fashioned; and his personal habits are slovenly (p. 25). He is a mixture of
slackness and obstinacy with his Latin pronunciation (p. 25).

Gender Descriptive Vocabulary
Gender
27% descriptiveVocabulary for
women as timid , helpless
,beautiful
73% Gender Descriptive
Vocabulary for men as
timid helpless and weak
Figure 161
A detailed view is seen in the bar graph given in figure 162 where the chapter wise
distribution genderdescriptive word is seen.
20
20
15
15 13
12
11
10
9
10 8
7
6
5 5
4 4 4 4 4 4
5
2 2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for women as strong and powerful
Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as strong and powerful(brave

Figure 162
211

This disempowerment through discourse is another way of reifying
patriarchy and male hegemony over the females and this has been researched and
shown through the firstness and use of gender specific-pronouns where the general
person is always referred to as a he and a female is left out deliberately.
3.5.1/3.5.2 Males talking first (initiation) MI & Females talking first
FI
This may seem a needless indicator however, it depicts the right of females to
talk first which is also deprived of them by the all dominating males through
hegemonic masculinity (Knudsen 2009) and it was seen in this novel too that males
were given more opportunities to speak first of about 56% in comparison to 44%
(fig163) and as it was researched that this right determines discourse imbalance
researched in Greece, in an exploration of negative effects of gender-bias in discourse
roles on "the pedagogical value and goals of textbook dialogues," Poulou (1997)
examines two language textbooks in terms of male/ female amount of speech,
initiation/ completion of dialogues, as well as language functions, and consequently
detects "manifestations of sexism against women".

This result just depicts that where matter of firstness is concerned, by having more
male characters talk first, the textbook author deprives the female learners from
practicing communication initiation as much as male students (Sunderland, 1994a
cited by Mukundan & Nimehchisalem, 2008). In addition, some researchers took a
step further, and through the discourse analysis of the conversations in the textbooks
they showed how women uttered fewer words and talked first less often than men did
(Hartman & Judd, 1978; Talansky, 1986).
This discourse disempowerment is seen in detail in the bar graph given in figure 164
in chapters 4, 5,& 7 females Mr Chips wife Katherine talks first whereas in the rest of
the chapters there is no share of females.
44%
Males talking
56% first(initiation) MI
Figure 163
213
10
10
8 7
4 3
2
2 1 1 11 1
00 0 00 0 0 0 00 00 00 0 00 00 00 0 00 00 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Figure 164
It has been researched that this discourse imbalance in male and female
gender specific pronouns also creates a sense of deprivation and disempowerment
researched by Pasco (1989, quoted in Sunderland, 1994a) in her analysis of
Streamline Departures (1978) found the textbook heavily loaded with gender-specific
pronoun he, which occurred three times more than she; however, such a high
frequency dropped drastically in a more recent English series, Headway, (1986)
where almost more than half of the third person singular pronouns comprised she.
In our analysis of the novel Book 4 of Intermediate English Compulsory
Corpus it was observed that 91% of the novel had male gender-specific pronouns, he,
him , himself, and his and only 9% (fig 165) had female gender-specific pronouns she,
her, herself. This heavy imbalance creates a sense of deprivation for the female
learners seen in detail in figure 166
Gender-Descriptive Pronouns
9% Gender-specific
pronoun(Use of him,his
,he, himself)
Gender-specific
91%
pronoun(use of she
,her, herself)
Figure 165
80 71
70 62 65
58
60 54 53 54
46 48 49
50 45 45
39
40
28
30 21 20
19 19
20 10 7 13
10 1 2 3 3 3 4 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Gender-specific pronoun(Use of him,his ,he, himself)

Gender-specific pronoun(use of she ,her, herself)
Figure166
215

An indicator has already been established in the data analysis of Book 1 being the
most indicative of all the gender stereotypes. It is the ultimate non-acceptance and
degradation of female characters. As already researched by Renner (1997) that sexism
is a very influential factor in determining the path and choices of career they make
once presenting a textbook.
This indicator is depicted through the following roles is reiterated for easy referral as
follows:

In the analysis of the data collected through the pie chart given in figure 167 it
is seen that 83% males were portrayed in positive roles and females were shown as
such in 17% in the novel Goodbye Mr. Chips further confirming the construction of
gender-stereotype that males portrayed in superior more positive roles verified in the
bar graph given in figure 168.

Males and Females in Positive Roles
17%
Males portrayed in
positive roles
83%
positive roles
Figure 167
In three chapters it is witnessed that males are portrayed 7 times in each in
positive roles whereas females are portrayed only once 6 times a heavily one-sided
result.
7 7 7 7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2 2 2 2
2
1 1 11 11 11 1 1 1 1
1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Males portrayed in positive roles Females portrayed in positive roles
Figure 168
217

It is also established through researches by our linguists that women have been
projected as inferior to men. Males are presented as superior and have leading roles
and characters By portraying such roles, the idea of inferiority of women is being
inculcated in the childrens minds.
In the analysis of the novel it has been seen that only 82% (fig males portrayed
in negative roles whereas only 18% of females are seen in negative roles stereotyped
because it is unheard of females breaking away the social norms of society.
Males and Females Portrayed in

Negative Roles
18%
negative roles
82% Males portrayed in
negative roles
Figure 169
6
6
2
1 1 11 1
1
0 00 00 0 00 00 00 00 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Figure 170
3.6.5/3.6.6 Males taking decisions for females (hegemonic

masculinity) MTF/Females shown as weak unable to take decisions
FDW
The deciding and most conclusive indicator of the series of
indicators researched depicting the gender stereotyping in textbooks. Even the basic
right of a women or a girl is ripped off her and she is not given the right to decide for
herself in any matter whether it is regarding her wedlock or it is the right to work or to
decide in any household major decisions even if she is educated and equipped with
the repertoire to take crucial decisions.
Although it is observed that males appear more number of times unable to take
decisions about 75% in comparison to females of 25% shown weak unable to take
219
decisions but that is only due to the minimal number of female appearances and
Katherine Bridges is shown a head strong female a result which is breaking away
from the stereotype seen also from figure 172
Males and Females Shown as Weak

Unable to take decisions
25% Females shown as weak

unable to take decisions
FDW
75% Males shown as weak
MDW
Figure 170
5
5
3
2
2
1
1
00 00 00 00 00 0 0 00 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Males shown as weak MDW
Figure 171
8. Conclusion
The detailed corpus analysis of the Punjab Intermediate English textbooks for
the occurrence of indicators researched depicting the construction of stereotypes,
revealed that each Book of the Intermediate English syllabus contained material
indicative of gender stereotypes. Hence, these textbooks are instrumental in the
promotion and construction of gender biases, which demote and demean the females
and are propagating the male superiority over the female counterparts.
In the Punjab Intermediate English Compulsory Corpus numerous occurrences
of the main six indicators have been detected and their sub-types researched thereby
indicating that gender misrepresentation is being done through the Intermediate
English Books I, II, III & IV.
Males are outnumbering the females in each book and their portrayal is done
in prominent occupational roles attributed to higher status jobs. Females seem invisible
in most of the stories, prose, plays and poems sections of the books as they are given a lesser
share in participatory dialogues and do not initiate the conversation in majority of genre of the
corpus. An exception is witnessed in the novel Goodbye Mr. Chips that the female character
Katherine Bridges , wife of the main character is given any semblance of strength of character
where she is described as a modern radical women of the early 19th century, but her duration
in the novel is extremely short lived. Another exception is detected in the lesson No:4 of
Book I, Thank You Maam, the female character Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones has
been portrayed as a strong woman, who helps out a youth trying to steal her bag.
In the Punjab Intermediate English Compulsory Textbooks , it is witnessed
that females are only stereotyped in low-status jobs and shown in relationship
stereotyping in the subordinate supportive roles as wives, daughters, confined to their

221
homes as mothers, housewives and home keepers of the main predominantly male
independent protagonist characters. Females are mostly described of having weak,
helpless characters that constantly need the support of the strong daring males,
overwhelming the corpus with stories, passages and plays mostly dominated by the
bravado and valor of these male protagonists.
The passages on male heroes Martin Luther King and Mustafa Kamal the
poem on Ozymandias, the scientist Louis Pasteur and Alexander Fleming even an
explorer in Hitch Hiking Across Africa are all male heroes that have been included in
the syllabus while females have not been given any consideration.
Males always have the upper hand, shown as firm and decisive having the
power to take decision for the supposedly less competent female depicting hegemony
of males in a very subtle manner yet evident through placing the right of final verdict
in the hands of the male characters. The portrayal of female characters inability to
decide on simple matters regarding household issues, constantly seeking for approval
from their male relations confirms the patriarchal construction of gender stereotyping.
Throughout the corpus, females have not been assigned any significant
professional roles and in matters concerning family issues they are not consulted,
even if they are, the final decision lies in the hands of the males either husbands,
fathers or any male counterpart even in issues concerning their own appearance such
as a haircut (play no:3, p. 37), females are stereotyped of having long, beautiful hair
and to cut them would be nothing short of defying the social, cultural norms.
Moreover, it is the prerogative of the males only to be portrayed in negative
characters as all the negative character portrayals in the corpus are attributed to the
males and females are raised to the pedestal of motherhood or the humane (Thank
You Maam ,pp 42-46) . Females cannot break free of the stereotypes constructed by
the society.
The corpus of the Intermediate English Compulsory Books is biased and
gender discernment is even observed in the point of views, through the unequal
distribution of authors. In all the four books only two female authors were included
and the rest of the works were an all-male affair.
This kind of discrimination confirms the theory of construction of gender
stereotypes perceived through the eyes of males and these gendered identities
presumptions are predetermined by the male hegemony over the construction of
meaning of the roles stipulated for each gender norms (Mills, 1995 cited by
Mustedanagic, 2010).
Therefore, it is observed through the content analysis of the corpus of the
Punjab Intermediate English Books I, II, III & IV that all the construction of
gender stereotypes are detected and it is further verified through this research that
besides the role of education and transformation, textbooks play a part in creating a
world that learners can relate to and identify, textbook writers are responsible in
constructing realities and reproducing the existing world which is inhabited by both
the genders either young or old. Textbooks are guilty of presenting a gendered picture
of the world and society and encourage boys and girls to step in the positions
constructed or predetermined for them respectively (Dean, 2007).
The occurrence of personal characteristics stereotyping in terms of the gender
descriptive words used in the corpus has been witnessed , and there are numerous
instances of stereotypical description of both the genders and they are detected in all
the four Punjab Intermediate English Compulsory Books in Book I, II, III & IV.
223
In Book I the words like; a big startled woman, screaming, apologetic,
attractive, yelled and hysterically, fearfully, half crying beautiful hair, short bulky all
suggest the construction of female gender stereotype whereas adjectives attributed to
the males such as; furious, assault, attack, grasped, overpowered, tall portray the
dominance of males over the females and constructs the stereotype that females are
weak and frail in comparison to the strong and aggressive males.
However, one exception to the stereotype description of male dominance and
the female subordination has been detected in lesson No:4 of Book I Thank you
Maam the female character Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones has been labeled as
large, powerful, and portrayed as a firm and forgiving woman; whereas, the labels
like frail and , willow-wild have been attached with the boy Roger (pp. 42-46).
In Book II in the Lesson 4, End of term the maidservant is associated with
grave and serious nature with words like ominous tread, funeral tones are words
considered negative as they are associated with masculine gender stereotypes.
Similarly, in lesson No: 8 Chinas Way to Progress the feminine gender stereotype is
inculcated in the minds of the learners through the negative criticism of Chinese
women as they were not in coherence with the female description and they were
described as from a Western angle there is a lack of feminity in the Chinese women
(p. 48) thus considered inferior to the western women in terms of beauty. However,
this lesson does portray the Chinese women having confidence, dignity and
undoubted awareness in them (p.48), an exception from the construction of typical
gender stereotype as females with strength of character is rare.

In Book III which is divided into two parts; Part I: Plays & PartII: Poems. In
the play section of the book, in the first play Heat Lightening it has been observed the
words associated with the only female character are falling, sobbing, getting terrified,
shuddering, crying, nervous, about to faint, stunned all these descriptive words
suggest the weakness of the female and the construction of gender stereotype. In
comparison, the males in the play have been attributed words like; helping, chasing,
killing, rattling doors, viscously and staying calm in stress situations. This male
superiority was further stamped in the play through the description of them being tall,
pleasant looking, & nice looking.
Similarly in the second play ; Visit to a small Planet the two female characters
have been assigned adjectives such as; bored ,vague ,and lively whereas males have
been attributed words like; unctuous ,resonant ,and Vigorous clearly depicting the
construction of gender stereotypes. Moreover, the third play has detection of words
describing females as blond hair, too pretty, too intelligent used for Miss
McCutcheon on the other hand, adjectives like well-dressed, swift, neatly dressed for
male characters further propagating the gender stereotypes.
The poem section of the book is predominantly male oriented as almost all the
poems praise the males and their daring deeds with only one exception A Sindhi
Woman: descriptive words like undulant grace, glide with a stone jar, ripple in her
tread seem to redeem the woman, but the description also creates the image of a
backward deprived poor woman a stereotype mostly associated with females.
In the novel Goodbye Mr. Chip only two characters appeared and Katherine
Bridges, the woman who Mr Chips marries is the only portrayal of breaking the
gender stereotype described through her description ;
225
Her name was Katherine Bridges; she was twenty-fiveyoung enough to be Chipss
daughter. She had blue, flashing eyes and freckled cheeks and smooth straw-coloured
hair.she rode a bicycle and was unafraid to visit a man alone in a farm-house
sitting room.She was a governess out of job, with a little money saved up; she read
and admired Ibsen; she believed that women ought to be admitted to the universities;
she even thought they ought to have a vote. (Chap. 4, p. 9)
This corpus analysis of gender description is in congruence with the study of
Mustedanagic (2010) who cites Renner on his effort on trying to raise awareness of
how language is used to convey stereotypes and contributes to the perception of
gender. Different kinds of words are used in a sentence, depending on the persons
gender. In his study, he shows that, statistically the most used adjectives to describe
men in textbooks were the words rich, poor, brave, short handsome, lazy, famous,
afraid. The words strong, tall, young, old, fat, beautiful, pretty were frequently used
in cohesion with women.
The analysis proves the hypothesis that gender stereotypes are being
constructed through the textbooks and in conclusion it can be inferred after corpus
analysis of the Intermediate English Compulsory Books that not much thought has
been given in the selection of the syllabus and care has not been taken in avoiding the
construction of gender stereotypes. This has a negative deleterious effect on the young
learners mind by influencing their outlook forever, leaving indelible scars of gender
stereotyping which are not always based on the grain of truth (Sunderland, 1994).
Resultantly, both the genders cannot be placed in the stereotyped molds, each
persons has an individuality, and do not conform to the usual standards, because not
all women and men share the same qualities. If such discriminations are propagated
through the texts, it impacts the young learners of both the genders subconsciously.
This exposure to gendered texts can instill prejudices, and in extreme cases misogyny
or misandry.
227
9. Recommendations:
As it has been established that textbooks play an instrumental role in the
construction of gender stereotypes so, it is vital that such textbooks should be
included having material devoid of gender biases. Although it does not seem entirely
possible , but a deliberate effort has to be made to curtail gender stereotypes to the
minimum through the following measures elucidated as follows:
9.1) The appropriate solution to curb the inclusion of genderbias material by sticking to the
international guidelines which ensure to maintain the development of gender-fair material.
Some of which include On Balance (Florent et al., 1994), Guidelines for Nonsexist
Use of Language in NCTE Publications, prepared by The National Council of
Teachers of English (NCTE) in 1985 revised in 2002, and the Guidelines for Gender-
Fair Use of Language published by The Women in Literacy and Life Assembly
(WILLA) in 2002.
9.2) Another remedy to avoid biases and gender stereotype construction could be to
include material which is realistic , but one argument could be that textbooks should
not be reflecting the reality. In fact , they should be portraying the ideal world shared
equally by both the genders (Mukundan and Nimehchisalem,2008). ONeill who
argues that textbook designers should not present a surreal picture of the world devoid
of any negativities and he proposes correctly has contradicted the point:
That does not seem to me a convincing argument for suggesting that we
should pretend in our textbook that women have more equality than they
already have. I do not believe that it will benefit anyone if we create
the illusion in our textbooks that the battle has already been won. I feel
that our textbooks will be better if we try to portray the world as it is and
not as we would like it to be. In doing so we do not perpetuate inequalities
and injustices. (1994, pp. 71-72)
So it becomes a necessity to present such materials in textbooks, which portray
reality and do not beautify it (Mukundan and Nimehchisalem, 2008).
9.3) It was observed that the material included in the Intermediate English
Compulsory Textbooks portray settings and social norms which our present computer
age learners find hard to relate to thus textbook designers should take the relativity of
the material into consideration including pertinent prevailing and realistic issues ,so
that it is easier for the learners to correspond and for the teachers to impart. As the
female characters portrayed in the content represent the women and girls following
the archaic customs and are completely outdated as they are following the old
traditions of not having any professional roles and stereotyped as only housewives,
even if they are they appear as teachers devoid of any ambitions. So, females should
be represented following professional roles in different capacities and according to the
present day standards of the international scenario, if we are to make more than half
of our population productive.
9.4) The external appearance or the jackets of the The Intermediate English
Textbooks are extremely flimsy making it further uninteresting for the pupils to
comprehend and concentrate compounding to the pedagogical problems. Therefore,
229
these books should be revised and their design and illustrations should be in
accordance with the international standards so that the learners feel that the
knowledge being imparted will make them compete globally.
9.5) There is a dire need to break free of the masculinities and feminities
predetermined by the male hegemony. This can be done through deconstruction of
these gender stereotypical images and roles by redefining them (Knudsen,2005) The
corpus analysed painted a picture in which female were under-represented
,marginalized and invisible , whereas male heroes and icons were predominantly
selected whether it is in the form of a social reformist (Martin Luther King or Mustafa
Kamal ) ,scientists (Louis Pasteur or Alexander Fleming) , an explorer or a religious
saint or a mighty ruler all are male iconic figures . This kind of discrimination only
depicts that female icons are not worthy enough to be a part of the corpus; therefore, it
is mandatory that inclusion of our female historical, political and social icons be a part
of the Intermediate English Compulsory syllabus as this will be an inspiration for the
young female learners and be influential in breaking free of the stereotype that female
should only become housewives and fulfill the duties of a mother.
Gender deconstruction can be done through the inclusion of female icons in
the corpus. It will also be instrumental in shaping the outlook of the male counterparts
towards them. Hence, female national icons like Benazir Bhutto, Fatima Jinnah,
Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, and the first female fighter pilot of Pakistan Nida
Tariq or the first Pakistani female to be elected as the British Member of Parliament
could be included in the syllabus. International female figures such as Mother Teresa,
Shiekh Hasina Wajid, Marie Curie, Helen Keller or Grace Hopper the woman who
invented computer coding could become excellent content for reading.
There is an absolute necessity in designing and compiling English textbooks
which are gender-fair as otherwise they are rendered misfit reading material in the
learning-teaching environment because of the misrepresentation of gender
stereotypes. If learners are exposed to content with gender disparity learners may get
demotivated. This will hinder in language acquisition and learning (Mukundan and
Nimehchisalem, 2008). Therefore, it is imperative that effort should be made not to
offend any group or gender and equal share should be allotted to each if serious
repercussions are to be evaded.
231
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Appendix
The sub-types of each indicator and their respective acronyms that have been detected
in the corpus of four of the Intermediate English Compulsory Books have been
elaborated as follows:
3.1 Invisibility:
3.2 Occupational stereotyping:
3.2.1 Males in high ranking occupation ( MHO)
3.2.2 Females in low ranking occupations (FHO)

235
3.3.1 Women as service providers and in subordinate roles in conversations
(WSP)
men WST)
3.3.5 Main function of the utterance (Men seeking information and women
the providers of it) (MSI)
3.3.7 Adjacency pairs in the workplace. Men more in invitation type of
conversation (MIV)
3.3.8 Women more in invitation type of conversation (WIV)
3.3.9 Men taking a more proactive (practical, positive) role in a conversation
than women. (MPRO)
3.3.10 Women taking a more proactive (practical, positive) role in a
conversation than men. (WPRO)

3.4.1 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for women as: timid, helpless, beautiful,
forgetful, pretty.( FGWN)
3.4.2 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as stupid, helpless, unctuous,
timid. (MGWN)
3.4.3 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for men as strong and powerful (brave,
strong ,wise ,poor, wisest). (MGWP)
3.4.4 Gender Descriptive Vocabulary for women as strong and powerful
(brave, strong, wise, poor, wisest). (FGWP)
3.5.1 Males talking first(initiation) (MI)
3.5.2 Females talking first (FI)
3.5.3 Gender-specific pronoun (use of he, him, his, himself) (GPM)
3.5.4 Gender-specific pronoun (use of she her, hers, herself) (GPF)
237
3.6.1 Males portrayed in positive roles (MPR)
3.6.2 Females portrayed in positive roles (FPR)
3.6.3 Females represented in negative roles (FNR)
3.6.4 Males portrayed in negative roles (MNR)
3.6.5 Males taking decisions for females(hegemonic masculinity) (MTF)
3.6.6 Females shown as weak unable to take decisions (FDW

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Promotion of Gender Stereotypes Through the English Curriculum 1

The Role of English Compulsory Textbooks

In Constructing Gender Stereotypes

Department of Humanities & Social Sciences

Lahore University of Management Sciences

Chapter 2 Literature Review .. 7

Chapter 3 Role of stereotypes in constructing Gendered identities

Chapter 4 Scenario of textbook analysis on gender bias in Pakistan 22

Chapter 5 Need of the study.. 25

Chapter 7 Data Analysis Book I 30

Chapter 7.1 Data Analysis Book II 76

Chapter 7.2.1 Data Analysis of Book III (Plays) .. 113

Chapter 7.2.2 Data Analysis of Book III (Poems) . 156

Chapter 7.3 Data Analysis of Book IV 181

Chapter 8 Conclusion. .. 221

Chapter 9 Recommendations . 228

Appendix .................................................................................. 235

Intermediate English Compulsory Textbooks since gender-biased material indelibly

Keywords: Construction; Gender stereotypes; Intermediate English

Compulsory Books; Content analysis; Stereotyped roles; Male hegemony.

the mind of young learners (Mustedanagic , 2010).

the construction of gender stereotypes in the Intermediate English Compulsory Textbooks.

forth by Sunderland (1994) elaborated in the methodology chapter.

childrearing or getting approval of their male family members or counterparts through

relationship stereotyping, or by being disempowered in discourse roles. Females have been

prevailing in Pakistan and the world in general.

elaborated through the literature reviewed and elucidated as such:

society. The reference to sex is the biological category (Bowie, 2006).

Judith Butler a famous feminist discusses in her essay on An Essay in Phenomenology

basis for feminism (cited in Mustedanagic, 2010).

2. Languages and Gender

Semantics in linguistics is the study of interpretation of signs or symbols as used by

male adults (Renner, 1997).

cited by ibid) It can be seen in:

setting is created, where females feel excluded (ibid).

As explained by Dean (2007) gender as construction of stereotypes grew out of the

introduces the position of hegemonic masculinity(Connell 1995, Knudsen 2005. p. 3).

It is reviewed further that hegemonic masculinity is the enforcement of predetermined

questioned or infringed by any females. The degree of the enforcement of hegemonic

environment (Frosh, Phoenix & Pattman 2002, Koefoed 2005).

adjectives (Dean, 2007).

changes as portrayed in textbooks.

instrumental in creating an imbalance in the human society.

portrayed through textbooks.

3. Role of stereotypes in constructing gendered identities in textbooks

the instances of sexism were highlighted as follows:

3.1 Invisibility: fewer females than males

3.2 Occupational stereotyping: females/males in fewer and more menial

3.4 Personal characteristic stereotyping: e.g. women as emotional and timid

3.5 Disempowering discourse roles: more males talking first

3.6 Degradation: blatant sexism to the point of misogamy

text. (Porreca, 1984)

the classrooms, according to her there is male dominance in the classroom.

3.2 Occupational stereotyping:

images they carry forth throughout their lives ( Helleis ,2004)

conveys the meaning of productivity and payment (p80).

Ansar and Babaii in their study on Subliminal Sexism in Current ESL/EFL

and their functions are as received by male dominated society

society, the presentation becomes discriminatory (Khurshid,2008).

In a content analysis of stereotyping in textbooks and teaching materials conducted by

selected materials were subjected to extensive linguistic analysis to reveal patterns of

were given most of the share.

in the English textbook corpus.