Sexism in Tanzanian Secondary School English Language Textbooks: Investigation of Adjective Attributions

Abstract

This research paper investigates sexism in Tanzania’s secondary school English language textbooks with a focus on the adjectives used to describe women and men in textbooks published between 2005 and 2014. The paper aims to reveal how women and men are described, uncover gender ideologies conveyed by adjective descriptions and characterise the gender ideologies as hegemonic or deviant. Data were collected through a critical textual review of eight (8) textbooks. This paper is anchored on the Feminist CDA theory; and Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework was used as the analytic tool whereby data were described, interpreted and explained. The findings indicate that women and men are perceived differently in terms of number and types of adjectives attributed to them despite some similar attributions. In particular, there are more adjectives describing men than women. It is also found out that women are described mostly by physical property adjectives than other personalities. The study also revealed that some ideologies conveyed by adjectives are hegemonic, while others are deviant. Generally, the adjectives used to represent women and men in Tanzania’s secondary English language textbooks portray a sexist attitude about women and men since many adjectives still indicate gender stereotypes despite some positive changes.