Gender bias in former and current Kurdish alphabet textbooks taught in KRI

Abstract EN

This paper aims at investigating linguistic gender bias in the textbooks of Kurdish language alphabet (Sorani dialect), which have been taught in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) since 1951.

The first book, entitled the New Alphabet (henceforth NA), has been replaced by a two-volume Kurdish Study textbook (henceforth KS).

The books were examined quantitatively and qualitatively in terms of seven categories: male/female visibility in text and illustrations, firstness, male/female oriented talk, masculine generic construction, occupational roles, distribution of household chores, and male/female children’s personality traits.

Meanwhile the two books were compared to find out to which extent the designers were aware of gender imbalance and endeavored to minimize it.

A thorough analysis of the samples led to findings that expose stereotypical bias against females with reference to language, text and illustrations.

The results also emphasized that in designing the current Kurdish alphabet textbook the issue of gender bias has not been accounted for by material developers.

This is while the linguistic prejudice against females, who generally constitute half of the total population of any society, can adversely and unconsciously affect children’s perception of the capacities and limitations of either sex.

Therefore, the study draws on some pedagogical implications to help eliminate the negative implied messages in these books.