Application of EOC checklists to a KS3/4 Textbok     The book being assessed is  “The Urban Environment” – editors Jenny and Malcolm Massey. (1991 edition)  Two Equal Opportunites Checklists were applied to the text, to ascertain if there was any noticeable gender bias.   This is a textbook, aimed at KS3 students. It contains assignments at the end of each chapter. The majority of the illustrations are in cartoon format, although some colour photographs are used as well.   The  cover contains four photographs showing in clockwise order, a busy motorway, a heavily-bombed town in the middle east, a skyscraper cityscape at night, and a Mediterranean resort. The only  human in any of the photographs is a woman wearing the burka, in the middle eastern photograph.   This perhaps suggests that the urban environment is one which privileges the landscape over the people who inhabit it.  The woman looks very isolated and alone in what is essentially an unfriendly habitat of concrete, glass, cement, asphalt and bombed buildings.   The first illustration inside the book presents a more hospitable image of the urban environment. It is a painting which shows a high angle shot of a cartoon townscape, crowded with people of both sexes. However, a close analysis of imagery shows very  traditional representation at work. The women are almost all shown to be pushing prams or holding children’s hands, while the men are engaged in a range of occupations. There’s a policeman, a man mowing his garden, a lorry driver and a range of businessmen with briefcases.   The only woman who is obviously doing paid employment is a traffic warden, who is standing near the policeman. This is clearly an example of sexism by subordination, in that the woman is shown to be in a subservient position to the man. Later in the text here is an illustration of a doctor and a nurse. Naturally, the doctor is shown to be male and the nurse female.   Traditional gender stereotypes abound throughout the rest of the book. For instance, when women are shown, whether in photographs or cartoons, they are invariably seen either shopping, cleaning  or looking after children. One scene about the need to keep the urban environment tidy, shows a smiling cartoon woman in a pinny ‘hoovering’ the leaves off the pavement. In the background we can see that she has put a nappy on a dog, and arranged a net under a tree to catch the falling leaves. This is an example of sexism by distortion, in that it suggests that women are obsessive about cleaning and not much else.   In contrast, an opposing image shows the professions that will be needed in any New Town. A range of people are shown parachuting out of a plane. They include a man in a bowler hat and briefcase, a man dressed as a Milkman, and a male plumber. The only woman parachuting to the town is carrying a handbag.   The message here is that men are primarily in paid professions. They make the money, while woman stay at home looking after the children, or spending the money their husbands earn.   Even a cursory glance at the text shows an unacceptable level of gender bias. For instance, in one assignment, students are asked to do a role play showing the planning permission process. They are told to take the part of ‘businessMEN’  who hope to be given permission to build a new Disco.   Interestingly, on one page there is an 1870 etching of industrial Bradford. It shows a woman nursing a child, as she watches two labourers excavating a trench, while factories belch smoke in the background. Despite the different clothing codes, this representation of the sexes is remarkably similar to the modern ones in the text book. The women may now be wearing jeans, but they are still shown as essentially interested only in shopping or their families. If they are undertaking work, it is in the traditional fields of nursing or teaching, while men are represented as taking part in a wide range of paid activities, or wielding power as either soldiers or monarchs.   The contributions made by women are given virtually no space in the text at all. Indeed, on one page, there is a cartoon illustration of comedian Stan Laurel, and a caption explaining that the building where he was born is now listed. There is no corresponding mention of a woman of note whose birthplace has been protected, although many of these abound. (Jane Austen’s home at Chawton, and the Bronte family Parsonage might have been included, for instance.)   All in all, this text fails the EOC checklist on almost every point. One might have hoped more from a book which is comparatively modern, and one which has been edited by a husband and wife team. Despite the frequent claim that we live in a post-feminist society, it seems that we still have a long way to go – at least as far as equality of representation in school textbooks goes, anyway.