Gender Representation in Saudi EFL Textbooks: A Study of the Family and Friends Series

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the gender representation in the English as a Foreign Language textbook, Family and Friends 6 KSA second edition, that is designed internationally and widely used in private Saudi elementary schools. To achieve the study goals, a mixed method was used, content analysis and a compiling quantitative data in which the corpus of the English textbook was analyzed; frequencies and percentages of gender appearances and activities were also calculated. The major findings of the study were as follows: First, women were underrepresented in terms of appearance. Second, males were dominant of the reading passages and dialogues topics. Third, there is an overall higher tendency for females to be referenced in sentences before males. forth, males were presented in a wider range and overall a higher level of employment and enjoyed a wider range of spare time and leisure activities than females. Fifth, however, the distribution of household responsibilities was equal between females and males and female activities were not restricted to passive indoor activities. Recommendations and suggestions for further studies are presented at the end of the results section of this paper.

Empowerment of Saudi Women in Secondary School English Language Books: An Analytical Study

“…This issue may not reflect reality in much of the actual world, particularly in Saudi Arabia, where major demographic changes are occurring at a rapid pace, particularly among women. They are now looking for more equality and hope for a more gender-equal society, and textbooks should reflect this as much as feasible (Almghams, 2020). The results of the study showed the low rates of women empowerment in social, economic, and political empowerment dimensions and highlighted some women's issues in the books of the three grades of the secondary stage.…”

“…Saudi Arabia is currently undergoing considerable long-term changes, particularly in terms of female roles and opportunities. Starting with the support of women's education, which allows women to work in various sectors, the process of empowering Saudi women has achieved important milestones on social, economic, and political levels (Almghams, 2020). Furthermore, Saudi society has paid attention to the issue of women's empowerment in successive eras (Bin Arab World English Journal www.awej.org ISSN: 2229-9327 5 Husain, 2019).…”

Women in Saudi secondary school EFL textbooks: a critical study of women’s empowerment as enshrined in the Saudi Vision 2030

“…In the specific context of Saudi Arabia, only four studies have focused on the (mis) representation of women in EFL textbooks ( Al-Jumiah, 2016 ; Sulaimani, 2017 ; Aljuaythin, 2018 ; Almghams, 2020 ). In the first study, Al-Jumiah (2016) explored how social power and gender ideology were represented in two high school EFL textbooks in use in Saudi Arabia.…”

“…More recently, Almghams (2020) studied the gender representation in the second edition of Family and Friends KSA , which was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. This textbook is used predominantly in private schools in Saudi Arabia.…”

“…Her findings show that women are under-represented in terms of their presence in the textbooks and that men were more prevalent in long passages and conversations. Moreover, she states that “there is an overall higher tendency for females to be referenced in sentences before males” ( Almghams, 2020 , p. 1). Further, although the textbooks did at times show women’s empowerment by, for example, demonstrating the equal distribution of household responsibilities between men and women and by indicating that women’s activities were not restricted to being passive or staying indoors, men were still represented in a wider range of jobs and, compared to women, they were shown to occupy more of the senior positions.…”