ABSTRACT
This study was designed to investigate some of the factors that contribute to the prevalence of gender bias in early childhood education settings in Ethiopia. The research mainly uses quantitative method. Besides, focus group discussion with primary female and male students is affianced. The data is focused on grades 1 and 2 Amharic (local language) and ‘English for Ethiopia’ (a foreign language) textbooks prepared by the Ethiopian Ministry of Education. To that end, the appearance of gender bias in both grades’ language textbooks is examined.
The books were investigated for gender bias, via raw count of the representation of females and males, focusing on nouns, pronouns, illustrations, and occupational roles, assigned for females and males. In addition, 14 randomly selected female and male primary students were taken as samples to assess students’ gender views, perceptions, attitudes, feelings, and practices through discussion.
The results demonstrate that there are significant differences in the treatment of females and males both at home and at school environments: females were less mentioned and treated as inferior, and the occupational roles given to them in the textbooks were minimum and less respected. The textbooks reinforce the stereotypical image that men dominate the public sphere and women the private sphere. This, then, confirms that the patriarchal society cliques the variant attitude between female and male children.
