Gender Representation in Philippine Junior High School English Language Textbooks

The present study analyzed the linguistic aspects of gender representation in the 23 most recently published Philippine English language textbooks for Junior High School. The linguistic aspect was reflected through semantic features such as generically used nouns and pronouns, and particular vocabulary used to define gender. The investigation of nouns showed that males are associated with certain occupations that can be treated as male-specific while females are presented frequently as teachers. Both genders are seen as intelligent, but more negative traits are associated with males. The analysis of verbs
revealed that the most common group of verbs is the material process or process of doing. However, the mental processes are more frequently used with the masculine pronoun. The examination of pronouns showed that he repeatedly appeared in the examples, tasks, or exercises than she. After analyzing the
relative frequency of occurrence of titles together with surnames, it was revealed that the titles used together with surnames had the highest number of cases in the textbooks. Also, professions are used to honor both genders. The most common are lawyer and doctor for males while professor for females. In
terms of firstness, males usually come first. The same pattern is followed using possessive pronouns. Moreover, the usage of the generic man referring to both genders is still evident.

Keywords – English Language Textbooks, Gender Representation, Junior High School