Abstract

This contribution investigates the changes in the descriptions of gender stereotypes in Swiss schoolbooks over time. Based on a quantitative content analysis of 203 texts in three Swiss schoolbooks of three different time spans in the 20th century, one can observe that stereotype descriptions of gender roles are very frequent and that gender appropriate descriptions were very tentatively established over time. This can be shown (1) with respect to the smaller number of female heroines, (2) with respect to gender-stereotypical activities, as well as (3) with respect to ascribed traits of character and attitudes. In all three areas one can observe an obvious decline of the descriptions of gender stereotypes over time.
However, the schoolbook of 1990 is far from – or just as far as the schoolbooks of 1929 and 1970 – attaining the objective of an equal portrayal of men and women written in the newest educational guidelines.