Open AccessThe representation of women in Irish Leaving Certificate Physics textbooks
Author(s) -
Karen Pillion,
Shane D. Bergin
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
physics education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.343
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1361-6552
pISSN - 0031-9120
DOI - 10.1088/1361-6552/ac4145
Subject(s) - certificate , gender balance , irish , representation (politics) , mathematics education , sociology , linguistics , gender studies , psychology , political science , computer science , law , philosophy , algorithm , politics
This paper examines the representation of women in Irish Leaving Certificate Physics textbooks. Findings show that women are significantly underrepresented, both in terms of scientific characters (historic and current) described within the textbooks, and also in terms of more general non-scientific characters within the books. Furthermore, analysis suggests that the language used to describe characters mentioned in the books may compound gender inequalities. Relevant policies (curricular, governmental, etc) are examined and suggestions are made to improve gender balance in future textbooks.