Business English textbooks help students learn not only the language used in the world of business but also about the organizational structure of different companies as well as interaction in the workplace. This research examines the evolution of the professional role of women in Business English textbooks in the last fifty years. For this purpose, we analyzed thirty-five Business English textbooks published between the 1970s and the 2010s. Firstly, we recorded the different jobs done by women included in these books and classified them in four different occupational groups: managers, professionals, technicians, and clerks. As expected, the number of jobs held by women in these textbooks gradually increased over time although there has been likewise a remarkable decrease in clerical jobs as managerial and professional jobs experienced a simultaneous increase; the incidence of female technicians was consistently low. Regarding female representation in textbook pictures, whereas in the 1970s women were depicted in traditional female roles, we can observe how they are progressively portrayed in managerial positions. Furthermore, their visibility in general increased noticeably over the years. On the other hand, the representation of actual businesswomen in textbooks as case studies or part of reading comprehension exercises is quite limited.

The current status of English as an international language is mainly the result of the emergence of the United States as the leading economic power of the last century (Crystal, 2002). According to Neeley (2012: 1), "[m]ore and more multinational companies are mandating English as the common corporate language [...] in an attempt to facilitate communication and performance across geographically diverse functions and business endeavors". As a consequence, business professionals around the world need to learn English in order to develop their intercultural skills in business-related environments. Business English plays a relevant role within the field of English for Specific Purposes and covers a wide range of learning contexts: from courses to adults working or preparing to work in business settings, general Business English courses, courses designed for employees in a specific company and courses on specific skills (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1996). Despite the fact that a large number of Business English materials, resources, dictionaries and textbooks have been designed, research shows that "their contents bore little relevance to authentic workplace written and spoken English" (Bargiela & Zhang, 2013: 197). This is precisely one of the main objectives of this book: to explore how business communication research can be incorporated into the Business English