The representation of gender and sexuality in teaching materials. An analysis of teaching materials used in religious education for the elementary school years

• Main Authors: Julia, Ekelund Acolatse, Judy, Osman
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för lärande och samhälle (LS) 2020
• Subjects: Humanities and the Arts; Humaniora och konst
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-31571

Abstract We live in the 21th century and one would think that gender equality has thrived and developed tremendously compared to where we once were historically. However, this phenomenon is still relevant and some would even argue more pressing today. One reason being could be since we are aware of how women were treated in the past, but still one can note the undermining position not only for women, but other forms of gender and sexuality still have worldwide. Furthermore, the Swedish curriculum also has a specified section, which entails that students should learn about gender equality and sexuality in order to understand the complexity in the structure of the society.In addition, researchers as, Kåreland (2005), Hirdman (1987), Lykke (2009), Klingorova (2015), and Keinänen (2007) agree that although the research regarding gender, and norms has evolved it still has to continue to press on the importance of the issue for the future. Moreover, this issue is not only appearing in history or social science textbooks, but also in religion textbooks which will be the core for this essay. We will analyze four religion textbooks for this essay, and focus on how the gender and sexuality are represented in the chapters about the five major religions for the years of higher elementary school. Moreover, we will present perspectives on how teachers use the textbooks in their classroom and what kind of impression the textbooks might convey to the students. Finally, we found that the majority of the student literature described gender and sexuality in a stereotypical manner, however, a teacher could find those useful to mark the view of gender and sexuality, and use the textbooks as an example of the view the society has today 2020.Keywords: Gender, sexuality, religious education and teaching material, and higher elementary school