Effects of Gender Bias Text Books on Learners
Dr Yahya Hassan Bajwa (Baden, Switzerland)1: The Pakistani School Textbooks Project
I. Foreword Pakistan is a country where religion – here Islam – plays an imminent role. More then 98% of its population belong to one of the Sunnite or Shia sects. 2 Important to know is also that more then 60% of its population is illiterate. Also out of the Mullahs, the religious leaders, many are not able to read or write! They just now a little of the Holy Qur’an by hearth and that is enough to play an important role in the village which can not be challenged by an ordinary man or woman because of lack of knowledge. Once the Islamic prayer “Rabbe sidni ilma” (God give me knowledge) was embedded in the thinking of the society. Today it seems that religion and politics are misused in Pakistan to keep the people shut their mouths. Since the take-over by the military dictator Zia ul Haq in 1977, the rate of illiteracy has risen. Also governments which were voted for after 1988 through the Pakistani voters were not able or willing to improve this situation. Even when Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of Zulifkar Ali Bhutto who was hanged by Zia, was Premier Minister, nothing changed to the positive in this matter – although she promised to do something and many women had put their trust and hope in her! One achievement of culture is its literature. Books play an important part in culture! Not only are they written records of the history of a nation but also give on traditions to the next generation. School textbooks are therefore a very powerful tool to give on information which form the children in their thinking and in their (future) behaviour. “Since 1988, Aurat Foundation [Aurat = Women], with the collaboration of UNICEF, has been working on textbooks from the perspective of portrayal of women.” 3 Ruquia Jafri worked on this topic and published the result of her analysis in “Gender Bias in Pakistani School Textbooks” which was updated in September 1994. She pointed out that
I. Foreword Pakistan is a country where religion – here Islam – plays an imminent role. More then 98% of its population belong to one of the Sunnite or Shia sects. 2 Important to know is also that more then 60% of its population is illiterate. Also out of the Mullahs, the religious leaders, many are not able to read or write! They just now a little of the Holy Qur’an by hearth and that is enough to play an important role in the village which can not be challenged by an ordinary man or woman because of lack of knowledge. Once the Islamic prayer “Rabbe sidni ilma” (God give me knowledge) was embedded in the thinking of the society. Today it seems that religion and politics are misused in Pakistan to keep the people shut their mouths. Since the take-over by the military dictator Zia ul Haq in 1977, the rate of illiteracy has risen. Also governments which were voted for after 1988 through the Pakistani voters were not able or willing to improve this situation. Even when Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of Zulifkar Ali Bhutto who was hanged by Zia, was Premier Minister, nothing changed to the positive in this matter – although she promised to do something and many women had put their trust and hope in her! One achievement of culture is its literature. Books play an important part in culture! Not only are they written records of the history of a nation but also give on traditions to the next generation. School textbooks are therefore a very powerful tool to give on information which form the children in their thinking and in their (future) behaviour. “Since 1988, Aurat Foundation [Aurat = Women], with the collaboration of UNICEF, has been working on textbooks from the perspective of portrayal of women.” 3 Ruquia Jafri worked on this topic and published the result of her analysis in “Gender Bias in Pakistani School Textbooks” which was updated in September 1994. She pointed out that