Social/occupational roles.

Gender bias in textbooks is a global problem. Gender development stands as a pivotal concern among junior high school students, underscoring the paramount importance of scrutinizing gender portrayals within textbooks. Chinese language textbooks, utilized by around 200 million students, have garnered scant attention in English literature concerning its embedded gender ideology. This essay delves into a comparative analysis of gender representations in Chinese Language textbooks published by the People’s Education Press in 2001 and 2023, revealing little advancements. The evolution of these textbooks has witnessed a surge in the number of female authors and an expansion of gender-centric themes, fostering a more diverse array of female roles. However, a discernible disparity persists in the frequency of male and female portrayals, with males continuing to dominate the narrative, even amidst a slight decline in the female proportion. Furthermore, the spectrum of gender roles and professions remains limited, perpetuating the age-old gender binary of “men as providers, women as homemakers.” Notably, societal stereotypes of both genders linger, impeding the depiction of nuanced and multifaceted identities. In summary, this study found that both sets of Chinese language textbooks implicitly contain gender bias, with little progress made towards gender equality, and even has stagnated or declined.教材中的性别偏见是一个全球性问题。性别发展是初中生群体的核心关切之一，这凸显了检视教材中性别呈现方式的极端重要性。惠及约2亿学生的语文教材，其内嵌的性别意识形态在英语学界的相关研究中却几乎未受到关注。本研究对人民教育出版社（People’s Education Press）2001年版与2023年版语文教材中的性别表征展开比较分析，结果显示其并未取得多少进步。随着教材的迭代更新，女性作者的数量大幅增加，以性别为核心的主题也有所拓展，塑造出更多元的女性角色形象。然而，男女角色的呈现频次仍存在显著差距，即便女性角色占比略有下降，男性依旧主导叙事。此外，性别角色与职业的范畴仍较为狭窄，延续了“男主外、女主内”这一古老的性别二元刻板认知。值得注意的是，社会对两性的刻板印象依然存在，阻碍了对细致且多元的身份形象的刻画。综上，本研究发现，两个版本的语文教材均暗含性别偏见，在性别平等方面几乎没有进展，甚至陷入停滞或出现倒退。