According to a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) report, school textbooks across the world are filled with sexist images and messages, both subtly and outwardly.
The problem is especially seen in developing countries, in which the sexism in school books is described as ‘rife.’
As today is International Women’s Day (March 8), the United Nations agency insist that such stereotyping undermines the education of girls, and portrays women in a negative light.
The report finds it’s not uncommon to only see women within domestic roles, and portrayed as “nurturing drudges”. They’re often featured as a secondary role within books used in the classroom, and the lack of options for these female characters may contribute towards limiting career expectations of young impressionable minds, the Global Education Monitoring report says.
Manos Antoninis who worked on the report says that such messages are a “hidden obstacle” to gender equality.
The report comes alongside the figures that as many as ten million children worldwide have no access to schools, and girls are most likely to be affected by the lack of access to education.
Antoninis said:
"Ensuring all boys and girls go to school is only part of the battle … What they are being taught is equally, if not more, important. Persistent gender bias in textbooks is sapping girls' motivation, self-esteem and participation in school."
Firstly, men are more likely to be in the textbooks in general, particularly any that are written within the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) where women much less frequently feature.
With evidence of school book sexism from across the world, the report pulls out examples that show men being shown in professional positions – from business leaders to scientists and politicians – and women within the domestic sphere as cooks and childcare helpers.
Another report looking into the education of girls worldwide, Poverty is Sexist by campaign group One, showed girls in poor countries have even less access to education than boys, with as many as half a billion girls around the world unable to read.
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