Do representations of gender and profession change over time? Insights from a longitudinal corpus study on Dutch language textbooks (1974–2017)

Abstract

Studies on English language textbooks indicate that, with some exceptions, women are underrepresented and appear in low-status professions. To what degree do these findings apply to textbooks for Dutch as a Second Language (DSL) learners? To our knowledge, there are no studies into gender and profession in DSL materials. Dutch, however, constitutes an interesting, culture-specific case as both female, male and gender neutral professional role nouns exist, but their use is not formally regulated. We systematically analysed textual and pictorial representations of fe/male professionals in chapters about work in 15 DSL textbooks published within the last 50 years. Results suggest that women are not underrepresented in dialogues and pictures but are backgrounded through male firstness. Female professional names appear less frequently than male names and women are described in gender typical roles, whereas men are not. This holds for both older (1974–2009) and recent materials (2011–2017). Overall, more gender neutral nouns refer to men, but they have been used more frequently within the last decade to refer to women. Future studies should add psycholinguistic and classroom perspectives and consider additional foci. We discuss pedagogical implications for those with concern for gender equality in learning materials.

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