Sex-Role Assignments in Elementary School Mathematics TextbooksAuthor(s): William H. Nibbelink, Susan R. Stockdale and Matadial MangruSource: The Arithmetic Teacher, Vol. 34, No. 2 (October 1986), pp. 19-21Published by: National Council of Teachers of MathematicsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41192972 .

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Sex-Role Assignments in Elementary School Mathematics Textbooks

By William H. Nibbelink, Susan R. Stockdale, and Matadial Mangru

Most assignments of sex to roles in elementary school mathematics text-

William Nibbelink is a professor and chairper- son of early childhood and elementary educa- tion and teaches courses in mathematics edu- cation at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52232. Susan Stockdale is an assistant profes- sor of elementary education at the University of Minnesota - Morris, Morris, MN 56267, where she teaches mathematics, science, and kinder- garten teaching methods to undergraduates as well as supervises student teachers. Matadial Mangru is a professor and chairperson of the Division of Natural Science and Mathematics at the West Indies College, Mandeville, Ja- maica, W. I., where he teaches courses in mathematics and computer science.

books are made using story problems. Since such problems are usually ficti- tious, producing a nonsexist mathe- matics textbook is a relatively easy task. (A textbook on the United States presidency is not afforded such luxury.)

But publishers are caught in a somewhat delicate position. On the one hand, most textbook selection committees call for nonsexist books. On the other hand, we live in a per- sistently sex-segregated and sexist so- ciety: nurse, second-grade teacher, and secretary remain predominantly female roles; auto mechanic, com- pany president, and plumber remain

predominantly male roles. Further- more, assuming that TV producers and advertising agencies are skilled at offering what the general public finds comfortable or desirable, a case can be made that we choose sexism and that we have grown weary of pretend- ing otherwise. If that is so, then a publishing house may put itself at fi- nancial risk if it shows a male nurse or a female plumber. (Both exist, of course, but society as a whole may take neither seriously and may not approve.)

A variety of ways of avoiding sex- ism in mathematics textbooks are available to publishers, some safer

October 1986 19

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Table 1 Distribution of Story Problems in Mathematics Textbooks for Seven Periods for Grades 3-6 Combined

renocr M-30S M-50S M-60S E-70s L-70s E-80s L-80s

Total number of problems 2440 2225 1632 1641 1357 2072 2657

About people 1571 1230 1007 893 521 816 1199

About males only 915 677 563 480 273 274 440 About females only 504 421 340 381 215 259 384 About both or either 152 132 104 32 33 283 375

Male in neutral role 551 396 337 227 119 194 346 Male in male role 332 271 223 253 145 56 62 Male in female role 32 10 3 0 9 24 32

Female in neutral role 251 231 202 241 137 223 345 Female in female role 249 186 133 138 57 19 34 Female in male role 4 4 5 2 21 17 5

* E = early; M = mid; L = late.

than others. One safe way is to avoid references to people by writing about "a petunia patch" instead of about "Mister Van Dyk's petunia patch" or picturing a charming bunny instead of picturing a first-grade girl. Another safe way of avoiding sexism is the use of gender-free labels, so one writes about a "rancher" instead of "Miss Wrangler." Still another safe way is to avoid roles that are clearly male or female by not using problems about ariline pilots and kindergarten teach- ers in favor of problems about buying shoes and reading books or neutral- role problems that involve activities that society comfortably associates with either sex.

Such safe ways of avoiding sexism are, in effect, ways of avoiding an issue. The use of gender-free labels simply perpetuates existing stereo- types: a person who holds farmer to be a male role will see "the farmer" in a story problem as a male if not clearly told otherwise (Nibbelink & Mangru 1978). The safe ways are safe precisely because they offer little or no challenge to anyone's stereotypes.

A bolder way of writing a nonsexist mathematics textbook is to first choose a wide variety of problem set- tings that are appropriate to mathe- matics. (If mathematics is a "male endeavor," as some say, then male role settings will be considerably

more likely than female role settings.) Second, to each role (male, female, neutral) randomly assign equal num- bers of males and females. Last, if avoiding absurdity is necessary, do some final editing. (A female defen- sive end for the Chicago Bears and a male soprano for the Metropolitan Opera should be avoided.) A book written with this bolder method would directly and openly challenge sex ste- reotypes. But would it sell? Does so- ciety really want stereotypes chal- lenged? What have publishers done over the years?

Table I shows problem distribu- tions for grades 3-6 (combined) for seven different periods. For each pe-

Table 2 Percentages* of Story Problems in Mathematics Textbooks for Seven Periods for Grades 3-6 Combined

Period** M-30s M-50s M-60s E-70s L-70s E-80s L-80s

Total number of problems 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

About people 64 55 62 54 38 39 45

About males only 37 30 35 29 20 13 17 About females only 21 19 21 23 16 12 14 About both or either 6 6 6 2 2 14 14

Male in neutral role 22 18 21 14 9 9 13 Male in male role 14 12 14 15 10 3 3 Male in female role 10 0 0 111

Female in neutral role 11 11 13 15 10 10 13 Female in female role 10 8 8 8 4 1 1 Female in male role 0 0 0 0 2 1 0

* The traditional rules for rounding have been violated to insure that sums of percents remain intact. ** E = early; M = mid; L = late.

20 Arithmetic Teacher

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riod, the three textbook series with widest use in Iowa were analyzed (Mangru 1977; Stockdale 1985). The entries for each period are averages for the series examined. For example, under E-70s (early 1970s), the first two row entries show that the typical series in use at that time had about 1641 story problems in grades 3-6 combined and that 893 of those story problems involved people. The row labeled "about both or either" covers two types of problems, problems that show both male(s) and female(s) en- gaged in a common enterprise and problems that use gender-free labels and therefore may be about either gender.

Copyright dates on the books ana- lyzed are earlier than those given for the corresponding periods on the ta- bles, since a book must first establish considerable sales before it can claim wide use. For example, books ana- lyzed for the E-80s (early 1980s) show initial copyright dates of 1978, 1979, or 1980. Books analyzed for the L-80s (late 1980s) all show 1985 copyright dates and are those that are now be- coming (in 1986) sales leaders. They are likely to have their peak and wid- est use between 1987 and 1991.

Sex roles were defined to be those that prevailed in a typical Iowa com- munity in the mid-sixties. The oldest of the three authors, who grew up in a typical Iowa community and who was well into adulthood before "women's liberation" became a household term, rendered final decisions on roles. By the standards used, playing football and driving a truck are male activities, sewing a blouse and shopping for fresh vegetables are female activities, and washing a car and walking to school are neutral activities. In gen- eral, role classifications in Iowa in the mid-sixties were similar to those of America as a whole in the mid-sixties. (Perhaps an exception is basketball, which has been a neutral activity in Iowa for decades because of a strong state basketball program for girls.)

In a study such as this, which looks for trends, it is critical that the same standard be applied to all periods ex- amined. The reader's standard need not exactly match that used here. If any prechosen standard reveals sex-

ism, then sexism does indeed exist. Table 2 is derived from table 1 to

show percents for each category. The percents give a clearer picture of trends to readers who may be more concerned about ratios than about to- tal numbers.

Publishers became seriously con- cerned about sexism in mathematics textbooks during the early seventies. In the tables, the first period for which this concern could show changes in practice is the L-70s. The periods M-30s, M-50s, M-60s, and E-70s should not show the influence of the feminist movement. The periods L-70s, E-80s, and L-80s should show such an influence.

The following statements are sup- ported by the tables: (1) The M-30s

Does society really want stereotypes challenged?

through the E-70s show a higher per- cent of problems about people than do the L-70s through the L-80s. (2) The M-30s through the E-70s have 20 per- cent or more of all problems showing persons in roles that are clearly male or female, whereas the L-70s through the L-80s show a sharp decrease in such problems, down to 5 percent of all problems for the L-80s. (3) If we restrict our attention to those prob- lems that are "about males only" or "about females only," we see that between 50 and 60 percent of such problems involve the neutral role for each of the periods M-30s through L-70s. The share of problems with neutral roles then increases to 78 per- cent for the E-80s and to 84 percent for the L-80s. (4) The number of fe- males in male roles increases sharply in the L-70s and falls again in the L-80s. (The brief increase is sharp but small. Even in the L-70s and E-80s, an observant child who had worked all problems would have been surprised at finding a female in a male role only about once every two months.)

These findings show that publishers did respond to the call for less sexist

textbooks and that the response was a very safe one, one offering minimal challenge to existing stereotypes. Publishers, in other words, chose a safely nonsexist route but not an openly antisexist route.

We do not intend to criticize pub- lishers. It would be unfair to ask a publisher to gamble in a market in which buyers may very well reject a textbook that frequently shows fe- males with hardhats and males with food processors. If openly antisexist textbooks are desired, then the bur- den lies on the buyers to convince publishers of the market. If safely nonsexist textbooks are preferable, then publishers are fairly close to completing their task.

As defined by this article, "safely nonsexist" and "openly antisexist" are quite different. Now is the time to place orders with publishers for the 1990s. What will they be? Safely non- sexist books that neither confirm nor deny sexual stereotypes? Openly antisexist books that challenge sexual stereotypes? (Of course, a third choice can be made. Maybe we are slowly losing our concern over sex- ism. Maybe our concern was small from the start. Maybe we liked what we had - sexist books are more com- patible with TV programs, lyrics to popular songs, and much of life as we know it in the United States.) The authors of this article endorse the or- dering of openly antisexist textbooks from publishers for the 1990s.

References Mangru, Matadial. "A Comparative Study of

the Nature of Verbal Arithmetic Problems, Grades Three through Six, from Four Peri- ods: The Mid-30's, the Mid-50's, the Mid- 60's, and the Early 70's." Ph.D. diss., Uni- versity of Iowa, 1976. Dissertation Abstracts International 37 (1977):7533A; University Microfilms No. 77-13, 107.

Nibbelink, William, and Matadial Mangru. "Sexism in Mathematics Textbooks." In Perspectives on Women in Mathematics, ed- ited by Judith E. Jacobs, pp. 62-75. Colum- bus, Ohio: ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education, 1978.

Stockdale, Susan. "An Analysis of Elementary Mathematics Textbook Story Problems dur- ing the Eighties, and Comparisons to Earlier Eras." Ph.D. diss., University of Iowa, 1985. Dissertation Abstracts International 46 (1985):1514A; University Microfilms No. 85-18,877. m

October 1986 21

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