Abstract:
Thesis Title: A Gender-Based Study of English Textbooks Produced by Punjab Textbook
Board and Oxford University Press for Elementary Level
Gender as a social and cultural phenomenon, rather than a biological one, is instituted in children in
early stages and textbooks play an imperative role in shaping up such gender related views and
attitudes. Following these lines, the focus area of this research is gender depiction in the English
textbooks produced by two different publishing companies (namely, Punjab Textbook Board and
Oxford University Press) for elementary level in Pakistan. It aims to make a comprehensive
comparison between the gender images as displayed in the two sets of textbooks as well as the
variety of gender ideas their respective readers have. To meet the objectives, the study is divided in
to two phases: Firstly, the textbooks by both publishing companies are analyzed and in the second
phase their respective readers’ conceptions regarding gender are gathered ad analyzed. The study
reveals the presence of biased attitude towards gender in both sets of textbooks but at the same time,
it is also discovered that Oxford Modern English has improved gender images , in ratio as well as in
presentation, than the textbooks by Punjab textbook board. It is also found that students have
partially fixed ideas about the attributes, occupations and activities as suitable for the members of
both genders. Finally, the study reveals that gender images of the readers of Oxford Modern English
are slightly improved than the readers of the other publishing company. This is an important finding
as it suggests that textbooks can play a crucial role in shaping up gender ideas of the children and
thus can be used as an effective tool to encourage positive gender roles among children. The study
recommends a gender-based test of the textbooks prior to publication, guidelines for the writers while
creating text for children and some tips for the teachers to handle gender partial text.
