The Portrayal of Men and Women in Arabic Textbooks: Insight from Indonesian Pesantren
Keywords:
Gender Representation, Man and Women, Arabic Textbook, Pesantren
Abstract
Although gender representation in Arabic textbooks has been extensively documented, little is known about it from the perspective of local textbooks. To fill this void, the present study aims to examine gender representation in Arabic textbooks at one of the most prominent Islamic Boarding Schools in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. This study uses a case study research design and Choiroh and Taufiq's theory (2020) to analyze data. The research findings revealed that the gender representation in that textbook encompasses stereotypes, subordination, marginalization, and double burden in the themes of time, sports professions, and patient clinics. The factors behind the emergence of gender representation were classified into internal and external factors. Internal factor is caused by being written by a female Arabic teacher, while external factor includes patriarchal culture. This research implies that teachers or instructors in Islamic boarding schools need training or workshops to discuss gender equality so that stereotyping, marginalization, and the double burden that disadvantages women can be considered and avoided.
References
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Qazi, M. H., & Shah, S. (2019). Discursive construction of Pakistan's national identity through curriculum textbook discourses in a Pakistani school in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. British Educational Research Journal, 45(2), 275-297.
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Sudarso, S., Keban, P. E., & Mas’udah, S. (2019). Gender, religion, and patriarchy: The educational discrimination of coastal Madurese women, East Java. Journal of International Women's Studies, 20(9), 2-12.
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Reeves, J. B. (1987). Using qualitative data from children to teach about gender role socialization. Teaching Sociology, 15(4), 399-402.
Vu, M. T., & Pham, T. T. T. (2023). Still in the shadow of Confucianism? Gender bias in contemporary English textbooks in Vietnam. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 31(3), 477-497.
Wood, H. J. (2019). Gender inequality: The problem of harmful, patriarchal, traditional, and cultural gender practices in the church. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 75(1).
Atchison, A. L. (2017). Where are the women? An analysis of gender mainstreaming in introductory political science textbooks. Journal of Political Science Education, 13(2), 185-199.
Azisah, S. (2017). Gender representation in English textbooks of 2013 curriculum in an Islamic Junior High School in South Sulawesi Indonesia. In International Conference Natural and Social Sciences (ICONSSS 2017) (pp. 217-224). ICONSS 2017.
Aziz, E., Abdullah, I., & Prasojo, Z. H. (2020). Why are women subordinated? The misrepresentation of the Qur'an in Indonesian discourse and practice. Journal of International Women's Studies, 21(6), 235-248.
Bachore, M., & Semela, T. (2022). Is gender bias in textbooks spilled over from schools to universities? Evidence from Ethiopian University English language course textbooks. Cogent Education, 9(1), 2152616.
Backhouse, R. E., & Cherrier, B. (2019). Paul Samuelson, gender bias and discrimination. The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 26(5), 1053-1080.
Baghdadi, M., & Rezaei, A. (2015). Gender representation in English and Arabic foreign language textbooks in Iran: A comparative approach. Journal of International Women's Studies, 16(3), 16-32.
Bakken, J., & Andersson-Bakken, E. (2021). The textbook task as a genre. Journal of curriculum studies, 53(6), 729-748.
Choiroh, M., & Taufiq, M. A. (2020). Gender dalam buku Pendidikan Bahasa Arab Al-Ashri kelas X: Studi analisis teks pola diskriminasi gender. El-Ibtikar, 9(2), 241-56.
Duriesmith, D., & Meger, S. (2020). Returning to the root: Radical feminist thought and feminist theories of International Relations. Review of International Studies, 46(3), 357-375.
Feng, W. D. (2019). Infusing moral education into English language teaching: an ontogenetic analysis of social values in EFL textbooks in Hong Kong. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 40(4), 458-473.
Foroutan, Y. (2012). Gender representation in school textbooks in Iran: The place of languages. Current Sociology, 60(6), 771-787.
Hill, R. L., & Allen, K. (2021). ‘Smash the patriarchy’: The changing meanings and work of ‘patriarchy online. Feminist Theory, 22(2), 165-189.
Imelwaty, S., Gunawan, F., Kuraedah, S., Mardiana, W., Wardhana, D. E. C., & Boulahnane, S. (2022). Moral values in Indonesian primary school thematic textbooks: the marrying of language appraisal and moral foundation theories. Education 3-13, 1-13.
Izzuddin, Dalimunthe, R. P., & Susilo, S. (2021). The portrayal of women in Arabic textbooks for non-Arabic speakers. SAGE Open, 11(2), 21582440211014184.
Jabeen, S., Chaudhary, A. Q., & Omar, S. (2014). Gender discrimination in curriculum: A reflection from Punjab textbook board. Bulletin of Education and Research, 36(1), 55-77.
Kholiza, A. N., & Fadhilah, N. (2021). Bias gender dalam buku teks pelajaran bahasa Arab karya Faruq Baharudin: Studi analisis pada buku ajar tingkat Madrasah Tsanawiyah kelas VII. Jurnal Sipakalebbi, 5(2), 207-231.
Košir, S., & Lakshminarayanan, R. (2023). Do visual constructs in social science textbooks evince gender stereotypes and bias? A case study from India. Gender and Education, 35(1), 69-88.
Kostas, M. (2021). Discursive construction of hegemonic masculinity and emphasised femininity in the textbooks of primary education: children’s discursive agency and polysemy of the narratives. Gender and Education, 33(1), 50-67.
Kuhbandner, C., & Emmerdinger, K. J. (2019). Do students prefer repeated rereading over testing when studying textbooks? A reexamination. Memory, 27(7), 952-961.
Kuraedah, S., Gunawan, F., Alam, S., Ubaidillah, M. F., Alimin, A., & Fitriyani, F. (2023, January). Gender representation in government-endorsed Arabic language textbooks: Insights from Indonesia. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 7, p. 1022998). Frontiers.
Lee, J. F. (2018). Gender representation in Japanese EFL textbooks–a corpus study. Gender and Education, 30(3), 379-395.
Lee, J. F., & Mahmoudi-Gahrouei, V. (2020). Gender representation in instructional materials: A study of Iranian English language textbooks and teachers’ voices. Sexuality & Culture, 24(4), 1107-1127.
Li, X. (2021). Constructing the ultimate “leftover women”: Chinese media’s representation of female PhDs in the postsocialist era. Feminist Media Studies, 1-16.
Mencarini, L., & Sironi, M. (2012). Happiness, housework and gender inequality in Europe. European Sociological Review, 28(2), 203-219.
Mshweshwe, L. (2020). Understanding domestic violence: masculinity, culture, traditions. Heliyon, 6(10).
Namatende-Sakwa, L. (2019). Networked texts: Discourse, power, and gender neutrality in Ugandan physics textbooks. Gender and Education, 31(3), 362-376.
Priyadharshini, P., Mohan, S., Hariharasudan, A., & Sangeetha, J. (2021). Authenticity of liberal feminism in Namita Gokhale's texts. Linguistics and Culture Review, 5(S1), 46-59.
Puspitasari, D., Widodo, H. P., Widyaningrum, L., Allamnakhrah, A., & Lestariyana, R. P. D. (2021). How do primary school English textbooks teach moral values? A critical discourse analysis. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 70, 101044.
Qazi, M. H., & Shah, S. (2019). Discursive construction of Pakistan's national identity through curriculum textbook discourses in a Pakistani school in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. British Educational Research Journal, 45(2), 275-297.
Subhan, Z. (2015). Al-Qur’an dan perempuan. Prenada Media.
Sudarso, S., Keban, P. E., & Mas’udah, S. (2019). Gender, religion, and patriarchy: The educational discrimination of coastal Madurese women, East Java. Journal of International Women's Studies, 20(9), 2-12.
Soeseno, N. (2013). Representasi Politik: Perkembangan dari Ajektiva ke Teori. PUSKAPOL FISIP UI.
Reeves, J. B. (1987). Using qualitative data from children to teach about gender role socialization. Teaching Sociology, 15(4), 399-402.
Vu, M. T., & Pham, T. T. T. (2023). Still in the shadow of Confucianism? Gender bias in contemporary English textbooks in Vietnam. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 31(3), 477-497.
Wood, H. J. (2019). Gender inequality: The problem of harmful, patriarchal, traditional, and cultural gender practices in the church. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 75(1).
Published
2023-11-01
How to Cite
Batmang, B., Khofifah, K., Gaffar, A., & Gunawan, F. (2023). The Portrayal of Men and Women in Arabic Textbooks: Insight from Indonesian Pesantren. Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, 8(2), 343-354. https://doi.org/10.21462/ijefl.v8i2.679
Section
Articles
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