The influence of school textbooks on the configuration of gender identity: A study on the unequal representation of women and men in the school discourse during the Spanish democracy

Abstract

This investigation examines the unequal representation of men and women in elementary textbooks used in Spain since the establishment of the country’s democratic regime. We conduct a multiple-perspective Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by combining different analytical models developed by various authors. The results indicate that said textbooks are biased in terms of gender, perpetuating discursive strategies that devalue and exclude women as social actors while maintaining male dominance. The research points to the consequences that this gender discrimination can have for students’ construction of gender identity and urges teachers to adopt an egalitarian perspective in the selection of didactic materials.