A Study of the Evolution of Gender Culture in Textbooks: A Comparative Study on Persian Language Textbooks of Primary Schools in 1979, 1984, and 2003

During recent decades, many changes have occurred in textbooks.The present study reviews evolutions in gender culture with a focus on three periods of changes in the Persian textbooks of primary schools. To this end, apparent and hidden contents of Persian language textbooks of three academic years of 1979, 1984 and 2003 were studied in an inductive approach and using the method of qualitative contents analysis. Categories related to the questions raised in this study were extracted through three techniques including open, axial, and selectivecoding. Related codes were also counted using a quantitative technique. Results show that the atmosphere, roles, entertainments, and emotions became gender-oriented throughout the three periods. Moreover, social acceptance of gender roles by the parents was observed in the first two periods and gender-orientation of children’s independence was observed only in the last period. The analysis showed that in the three periods under question, a gender-based identity was reflected, but in the last period, this issue was slighter.In other words, in some cases, the difference between the two genders was slightly decreased.