ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on different dimensions of the textbook which potentially warrant analysis in terms of gender representation. While the early studies of gender representation in second and foreign language textbooks are pioneering and has an important awareness-raising function, they tends to be largely content analyses of an individual textbook or a series, rather than incorporating systematic linguistic and visual analysis. When reviewing literature relevant to studies of foreign-language textbooks and seeking interesting research questions, it makes sense to look at work on other texts in the language education field. It is surprising how often studies of gender representation in gender and language textbooks, while being openly critical, often from an explicit feminist perspective, do not posit an alternative or indicate what the ideal foreign-language textbook looks like. However, there is an alternative: that textbook represents an improvement on a given current social reality, to the point of a complete egalitarianism.
