Gender portrayal and stereotypes in books for fourth graders

Abstract

This dissertation employs a qualitative approach in order to look into what gender stereotypes are still in use within the reading books and textbooks fourth grade children in Malta are exposed to. The study makes use of six books in total, mainly Abacus 3 - Shapes Data and Measures and Abacus 4 - Numbers Textbook 1 for Mathematics, Senduq Kuluri - Orangjo and Stilel for Maltese and Way Ahead 3 - Pupil’s Book and The Dragon’s Bride and Other Dragon Stories for English. The methodology was split in two with the main part being a thorough Semiotic Analysis of the six books and a second part that encompassed in-depth interviews with local fourth grade teachers to support the analysis. The study showed that some of the books still in use include a worrying amount of gender stereotypes that might impact a child’s eventual behaviour in society. Therefore a revaluation of books currently in use within schools, especially the fourth grade, is suggested as a way forward.