Portraying women: Government education documents and history textbooks of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s

The school, as a socializing agency, socializes students in many ways. The hierarchy of power in a school setting and the gender distribution of staff, educators and administrators provide important role models for students (Pratt, 1975). The school curriculum is also very significant in developing students' attitudes, values and beliefs. The textbook has always played a role in delivering curriculum; this role fluctuates within time periods, within government, school board and school documents and policies. Nevertheless the textbook's content and means of use in the classroom is telling of various and several issues. Investigating gender issues in history textbooks can offer insight into the impact that the content of texts have on students reading and using textbooks.

Feminist theory and textual analysis are the theoretical frameworks I use in this study. Data is collected by utilizing the strategy of content analysis. This study identifies the means by which women are portrayed in three intermediate (specifically grade 7) history textbooks over three decades, the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s. This study also analyzes the portrayals of females in three specific textbooks in relation to provincial and federal government documents and school board (York Catholic District School Board) policies.

The findings of this study demonstrate that within three decades textbooks have made some gains in that the textbooks progressively show that women did exist in Canadian history. However, females that have contributed to Canada's development as a nation are continuously portrayed in traditional roles: heroic, domestic, maternal, moral pillars of Canadian communities. Further work needs to be carried out in actually demonstrating new and different representations of women in textbooks of the twenty-first century.