| Summary: | The aim of this paper is to examine how gender and religion is described and portrayed in relation to one another in Swedish textbooks. The research questions used in order to reach the aim of the study is what interpretation of gender and feminism is represented in the textbooks and is the gender perspective consistent regarding all religions described in the textbooks, or does it vary depending on which religion that is described? This study is based on four Swedish textbooks used when teaching religion in Swedish upper secondary school. The books chosen are published after the most recent curriculum for the upper secondary school, published in 2011. The curriculum gave new directions stating that questions of gender in relation to religion should be a part of the education. The material is subject for qualitative content analysis and the extracts are analysed with Judith Butler’s performativity theory and three feminist theories. The feminist theories used are based on three different perspectives – biological determinism, social construc- tivism and postcolonialism. The result of the study shows a lack of postcolonial feminist perspective, while a biologi- cal approach towards gender is dominating the textbooks. Representation of gender as a social construction occurs, but not as frequently as the biological approach. In addition to this result the study also shows that the gender perspective represented varies depending on which religion being described. The representations regarding Hinduism and Islam are dominated by a biological approach towards gender, while the authors present a broader perspective on Christianity.
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