Gender representation in the course books of Middle School and High School (Case Study Farsi Course book of 2009-10)

Course books do not only educate students but also prepare them to take responsibilities proportional to their gender as planned by the author. This research is trying to examine the way that gender is represented in Farsi books of middle school and the first three grades of high school in non-human science fields in the academic year 2009-10. Research method was through analyzing the quantity content for indicators like images, names, authors of books, course book writers, and characters presented in set texts. Content quality analysis was used to analyze the quality of representations of images and content of set texts. On the basis of Altosser and Bourdieu theories, this research tries to find out the way the gender is represented in books. The results show that more attention has been paid to men in terms of quantity and women- according to the criteria- have no significant presence. In terms of quality women in their few cases of presence are represented as weak, emotional, needy, and obedient to men creatures. On the opposite side in many cases men are represented as sociable, powerful, knowledgeable andwise, administrator, brave and fighter. According to this research gender clichés which are common in the society are reflected in these books.