Abstract:
Based on an analysis of example sentences in English writing textbooks for Japanese senior high school students, this presentation shows how traditional gender roles, represented by the mother staying home and the father working outside the home, still persist there in spite of an increasing number of working women in society. Although a certain degree of awareness of gender issues is shown in the sections dealing with gender equality or gender-neutral expressions, gender imbalances still exist in the current textbooks and need to be corrected. The presenter urges that more efforts should be made to raise awareness about sexism in textbooks and take action against it.
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Biographical note:
Fumie Togano received an MA in TESL from Saint Michael's College and has been teaching English at Hosei Daini High School in Kanagawa for more than 10 years.
