June 20, 2003	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, June 19: Lessons based on popular women personalities should be included in the textbooks of Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) to help remove gender biases.

According to a report, ‘The State of Curricula and Textbooks in Pakistan’ while dealing with the subject ‘gender biases and stereotypes in school texts’ said women, who had played important parts in history, were always ignored in these textbooks.

The fact that there have been women like Razia Sultana, who was not only the first women ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, but also the first to get the mandate of the people for her rule.

Similarly, Gulbadan Begum and Zebunnissa — the former a biographer and the latter a poet and philosopher — were seldom acknowledged in the textbooks. Women who have excelled in sports or in professions which we conventionally associate only with men such as law, science etc, could also be used in these books, the report said.

It said after reading the PTB texts, the question which came in mind, was that those engaged in the production of textbooks felt that public statements regarding women rights were purely rhetorical and need not be taken seriously.

Similarly, the patriarchal percepts of femininity and masculinity were so deeply rooted in our ways of seeing and experiencing the world that it was difficult for academics and policy-makers to view their own attitudes critically or to envisage a social order that recognizes the humanity of women and men alike.

It said those engaged in the production of these texts failed to realize the connection between negative or stereotypical representation of a class or group and the impact of these representations on the perceptions and attitudes of students, whether man or woman, rich or poor.

The report has also suggested some changes in the routine language-use like substituting the universal “he” for the more specific “he” or “she” depending on the context. It also asked to replace “mankind” with the word “humankind” as the earlier tends to subsume the feminine category and render it invisible.

Similarly, ‘chairperson’ for ‘chairman’ and Ms for Mrs as the former signifies an adult women regardless of whether she was married or not.

The ways in which women were represented also need to be changed. Instead of constantly seeing them referentially or with reference to nurturing and caring activities, they could be seen in their other roles like doctors, engineers, lawyers etc. This would not only redress the gender bias found in textbooks, but also present a more realistic view of the society.

The report said these steps would do much to redress the gender imbalance which existed in books and which gave a very incorrect view of the society and culture.