Abstract:
A textbook is one of the interlinking components in the teaching learning process. Textbooks are
instrumental in transmitting a body of knowledge, skills and attitudes accumulated over time to the
next generation. They are therefore powerful instruments for socialization. As instruments of
socialization however, these textbooks can be used to perpetuate gender inequalities mirroring
those that exist in the society at large if proper care and consideration is not taken into account
during their development. Anchored on the social learning theory, the study sought to examine how
textbooks in Kenya orient learners into societal gender roles through the gender expressions and
depiction of gender roles for male and female characters as used in the primary mathematics
textbook for standard eight under the 8-4-4 syllabus. The findings of this study revealed that the
mathematics textbook used by standard eight learners in Kenya’s system of education reinforces the
traditional and socially existing male and female stereotypes. It is therefore recommended that to
create more role models for female learners, female authors should be incentivized to author more
school textbooks. Secondly, authors of textbooks should be sensitized on gender biases in textbooks
so as to avoid them when authoring books. Teachers should also be trained to identify and counter
gender biases in the textbooks. Moreover, the government through the ministry of education and
Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) should not approve textbooks for use before
they are vetted against the gender parameter in order to ensure egalitarianism in the wider society.
