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Cited by 42Gender Studies in LanguageGender, Sexuality, and EducationMedia, Gender, and Advertising

Are males and females still portrayed stereotypically? Visual analyses of gender in two Hong Kong primary English Language textbook series†

Yang, Chi Cheung Ruby·2016·Gender and Education
DOI 10.1080/09540253.2015.1103839
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Abstract

The present study examines how gender is represented in the visuals (or illustrations) of two English Language textbook series used in most primary schools in Hong Kong. Instead of conducting frequency counts of the occurrence of male and female characters in illustrations, or the spheres of activities they engaged in as in many previous textbook studies, this study involves qualitative analyses of how visualised male and female characters are represented in the selected illustrations of the analysed textbook series, particularly but not exclusively, in terms of their hair length and clothing. The results show that representations of females were more often portrayed having long hair rather than short hair and wearing dresses rather than trousers in both line drawings and photographs. For the colour of clothing, although blue and pink are generally considered ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ colours, respectively, less than half and only a small percentage of the human males and females were portrayed wearing blue and pink, respectively. For non-human characters, again, colour is not always a reliable cue to their sex. Yet, they can be recognised as males and females by the generally accepted ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ colour and clothing items. Hence, while binary notions of gender often remained intact in their normative forms there were also other forms of representation which challenged them.

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Authors
Yang, C. C. R.
Affiliations
Education University of Hong Kong (HK)
Corresponding author
Yang, Chi Cheung Ruby
ORCID
Yang, Chi Cheung Ruby
Venue
Gender and Education
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2016-04-13
Volume
28
Issue
5
Pages
674-692
ISSN
  • 0954-0253 (ISSN-L)
  • 1360-0516
DOI
10.1080/09540253.2015.1103839
OpenAlex
W2277284257
Cited by
42
References
40
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1
FWCI
5.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Gender and Education (publishedVersion)
  • Hong Kong Education Bibliographic Database (submittedVersion)
Funders
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Studies in Language
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Sexuality, and Education
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Media, Gender, and Advertising
Keywords
gender stereotypes, textbook illustrations, visual representation of gender, Hong Kong primary schools, hair length, clothing, color symbolism, non-human characters, gender binary

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