Gender Representation in Iranian High School Textbook Images

Many studies have investigated how genders were represented in ELT textbooks. A critical part of ELT textbooks are their images, and how they reflect their authors’ ideologies have been the subject many studies. In an attempt to contribute to this line of research, the present study aimed to analyze gender representation in the images of the nation-wide ELT textbooks in Iran called Prospect 1, 2, and 3. Developing a converged framework by utilizing the principles and criteria presented for image analysis in Goffman (1979) and Kress van Leeuwen’s (2006), the roles of both sexes were analyzed in terms of the active role, gaze direction, visual techniques, distance, and space illustrated in the images of the textbooks. The pictures were analyzed through content analysis and social semiological analysis, and Chi-square analysis indicated that the results of the study were statistically significant. The study found that in the images of the analyzed textbooks, males were depicted as playing a more active role and females were mostly portrayed as the reactive and goal participants. Also, the analysis of gaze direction revealed that males were frequently imaged as looking at the viewer while females were mainly illustrated as looking away from the viewer. Likewise, although women were typically shown in long shot frames – which expands the social distance between the participants in the images and the viewers of the images, men were frequently depicted in close-up frames – which implied their prominence. In contrast, on the subject of clothing, both males and females were portrayed as fully clothed in virtually all pictures of the textbooks, and women were never represented scantily or partially clothed. Concerning the places in which both sexes were portrayed in the images of the textbooks, it was shown that the authors illustrated a rather balanced view towards both males and females. Such a representation of genders in the Prospect Series textbook were discussed to be in line with the Islamic beliefs and culture dominant in Iran, but not consistent with the significant social roles both men and women play in the Iranian society.