Representaciones de género en los textos escolares de Historia del Bachillerato General Unificado del Ecuador

Abstract

School textbooks are one of the main tools of the educational system; they are also the result of a series of guidelines and orientations that set and establish the teaching and learning process. However, they follow a market logic where their contents are not necessarily framed in a critical pedagogy, hence, they reproduce socio-cultural conceptions that normalize gender stereotypes and roles, being the representations a fundamental factor at the time of transmitting them. In view of the above, the present study analyzed the gender representations contained in the BGU History textbooks of Ecuador and their impact on the pedagogical practice of teachers and students in the 2023 - 2024 school year in a public school in Cuenca, Ecuador. For this purpose, the gender representations implicit in the illustrations of the three BGU History books of the LNS publishing house were examined through a hermeneutic analysis. Subsequently, through direct observation, the application of semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire, it was identified how gender representations influence the pedagogical action of the teaching staff and therefore the students. Within this framework, the study revealed the strengthening and transmission of gender roles and stereotypes in the educational field, and the invisibilization of women in history. It also showed that teaching practices, not being conceived from a gender perspective, reinforce textbook imaginaries and have a negative influence on students.