چكيده عربي :
Although many societies, all over the world and Iraq amongst them, had started to adopt new attitudes towards women and their roles in building the societies, we still can find the same old sexist views exist in the majority of the EFL textbooks. This study is an attempt to explore the status of sexism in the current EFL textbook English for Iraq used in the fifth preparatory classes in the Iraqi preparatory schools. The study uncovers many aspects of sexism in this textbook. It shows that the women in the English language textbook English for Iraq are less visible than men as characters, and are portrayed in stereotypical roles with occupations. 1) Sexism: What does it Mean? Sexism is one such system of beliefs that pervades all aspects of our lives from our social relations and institutions to our home lives, career choices, wages and even the language we use (Sunderland, 1994: 27). That s why it has been given much more attention by scholars and academics. Many definitions have been used to describe this issue. Whilst there are many efinitions of sexism, one which is often cited is ‘the practices whereby someone foregrounds gender whenit is not the most salient feature’ (Vetterling-Braggin, 1981). This definition seems to be based on a liberal-feminist notion that sexism is based on an error made by the speaker or writer which can be rectified when brought to their notice. It assumes a position of objectivity from which statements can be judged as sexist and from which gender can be seen to be not in fact ‘the most salient feature (Mills, 2008:1). Holmes (1996:336) defines sexism as “… the ways in which language conveys negative attitudes to women”. The free online dictionary, thesaurus, gives two definitions, the first of which overtly refers to a sense of discrimination against women discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women. The second definition, however, talks aboutpromoting stereotyping of social roles based on gender attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender. Societal attitudes towards women are mostly unjust where women are stereotypically represented in roles such as the overemotional female, the nagging wife or as homemakers and child carers (Hartman Judd: 1978:387).
كليدواژه :
Gender Analysis , English Language , Textbook , Iraq , Preparatory Classes , Preparatory Schools , Evaluative Study
