East African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (2020) Volume 5 (1) 19-36

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Gendered Representations in Afaan Oromoo Textbook

Adugna Barkessa*

Addis Ababa University, Afaan Oromoo Department

Article History: Received: February 11, 2020; Revised: June 15, 2020; Accepted: June 20, 2020

Abstract: The objectives of this paper are to describe texts and illustrations used to
represent female and male genders in grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbook, to examine
messages of the representations and to explain the nexus between ideology and power in the
representations of female and male actors in the textbook. The textbook was selected from
the textbook series introduced for grades 9-12 in 2012 using a simple random sampling
technique. Female and male genders-related texts and illustrations were collected from the
textbook through document analysis. The data were analyzed using qualitative content
analysis in conjunction with critical discourse analysis following Fairclough‟s (1992) model
of analytical framework. The findings show that the textbook was dominated in most and
monopolized in some parts by texts and illustrations that favor male actors. Binary
oppositions - weak vs. strong, illiterate vs. literate, skilled vs. less skilled, rich vs. poor,
small vs. big, misleading vs. truthful, etc. were used to represent female and male actors,
respectively. These descriptors convey negative messages about female and positive
messages about male actors. The messages show asymmetrical power relations between the
two sexes. This can promote stereotypical thinking, may lower girls‟ participation in
classroom activities and can deter their efforts from competing with boys in education. The
textbook needs to be revised balancing verbal and non-verbal representations and roles of
female and male genders. As an immediate intervention, Oromia Educational Bureau needs
to give short term on job training for teachers, writers/ editors on gender parity in education.

Keywords: Critical discourse analysis; Discursive representation; Gendered representation

Licensed under a Creative Commons. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: barkiikoo2011@gmail.com

ISSN 2521-2192 (Print) Haramaya University, 2020
Adugna East African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Volume 5 (1) 19-36

1. Introduction
Gender ideology is the belief a society commonly holds about female and male individuals who
constitute society. It shapes characters, determines roles, and decides achievements society expects
from the individuals. These roles of ideology are veiled in gender-bias representations (Yonata and
Mujiyanto, 2017). Gender-bias representations are potent to maintain inequality between female and
male individuals (Taki and Shahbazi, 2012). Gender inequality does not remain in a realm of a given
society‟s culture, but spillover to education of the society. For instance, the textual and visual
representations of gender in teaching materials transmit stereotypical roles and social values to
students (Majid and Fateme, 2015). The gender ideology embedded in both texts and illustrations
used in textbook to represent female and male actors can be unveiled using Critical Discourse
Analysis (henceforth CDA) approach. This approach uncovers obscured gender-bias ideology through
systematic analysis of a given textual and visual representations (Machin and Mayr, 2012; Baldry and
Thibault, 2006). These researchers believe that CDA discloses ideology and power relations
embedded in both textual and visual representations realities in a given society. This article examines
gendered texts and illustrations found in grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbook from the perspective of
CDA. Research works that attempt to examine gendered representations in language textbooks in
general and in Afaan Oromoo textbooks in particular are scanty in Ethiopia. The impetus for this
study arose from such personal observations. The specific objectives of the study are to:
 describe the texts and illustrations used to represent female and male actors in grade 11 Afaan
Oromoo textbook;
 identify messages of the texts and illustrations employed in the textbook to represent female
and male actors; and
 explain the nexus between ideology and power in the representation of female and male
actors in the textbook.
Discourse and CDA: Discourse is mostly defined based on its form and function. Formally,
discourse is defined as a unit of language above a sentence or clause (Stubbs, 1983; Leech, 1983).
Stubbs and Leech‟s view of discourse disregards the functions of verbal discourse, and the non-verbal
discourse as a whole. Functionally, discourse is seen as utterances which are inherently contextualized
(Schiffrin, 1994). This view, in turn, excludes the non-verbal discourse which is decisive in meaning-
making processes in visual communication. However, the form and function - oriented definitions of
discourse, if taken separately, are not comprehensive enough to make the meaning of discourse clear.
Gee (2008: 3) defines discourse as “…the way of behaving, interacting, valuing, believing, speaking,
reading and writing that are accepted as instantiations of particular identities by individuals or
groups.” Gee argues that discourse is both the forms and the functions of our textual and non-textual
practices. This definition accommodates both verbal and non-verbal modes of discourse. The verbal
mode of discourse includes both written and oral texts, whereas, the non-verbal mode of discourse
includes graphs, pictures, photographs, etc. that people use to communicate their sociological and
cosmological needs (Van Leeuwen, 2008).
This study takes discourse as the verbal and non-verbal ways of constructing, comprehending and
reflecting realities in a given context. With this operational definition, it makes the use of textual and
visual representations of female and male sexes employed in grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbook.
According to O'Halloran (2004), the use of data from textual and visual resources is more trustworthy
than the use of data from single semiotic resource. Machin and Mayr (2012) argue that the use of data
from more than one semiotic resource make our findings more reliable than the use of data from
single semiotic resource, i.e., language or image.
In its plain sense, Discourse Analysis (henceforth DA) is the analysis of language in-use. The
analysis of language in use focuses on what language does for its users and what language users do
with their language. It analyzes non-verbal activities of language users which inspire the use of
language in a certain way, and their language use which stimulates certain types of activities to be

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Adugna A Critical Discourse Analysis of Gendered Representations

accomplished (Halliday, 1994; Fairclough, 1992). According to Gee (2011), DA interprets the roles of
activities and the language used in relation to the activities. In its broad sense, DA is the analysis of
both discursive and non-discursive practices. Analysis of the discursive practices sees language as a
social practice to identify who and what a particular group is in relation to the other groups. Analysis
of the non-discursive practices focuses on the social, cultural, political and religious activities through
which meanings are constructed and conveyed. Integrating the discursive and non-discursive practices
in DA contributes to explaining engrained ideology and power relations in both practices. Thus,
description, interpretation and explanation of both discursive and the non-discursive practices are the
tri-dimensional level of analysis in CDA (Bloomaert, 2005).
From the perspective of language as a social practice, CDA is seen as a problem-oriented approach
which enables analysts use information from verbal and non-verbal resources to systematically
explore power abuse, dominance and inequalities. It uncovers the opaque as well as transparent
relationships of dominance, discrimination and power produced and used through discourses (Rahimi
and Riasati, 2011; Fairclough, 1995). Kress and Van Leeuween (2008) discussed that CDA examines
texts (oral and written) in conjunction with non-text visual semiotic resources to better show actual
meaning-making processes in communication than analyzing them separately. Machin and Mayr
(2012) also stated that combining textual and visual semiotic resources in our analysis reveals the
unsaid assumptions and power relations hidden in the resources. The perspective of CDA, therefore,
informs the present paper to examine the texts and illustrations employed in Afaan Oromoo textbook
to represent female and male genders and unveil the ideology embedded in the representations. Also,
Halliday‟s (1994) Systemic Functional Linguistics is adapted to frame the meaning arising from the
integrated use of texts and illustrations obtained from the textbook.
Gendered Representations: In the existing literature, gender is viewed as a social construction of
female and male based on perceptions every society holds about women and men in its respective
culture. In most societies, it is perceived that women are created to support men. Men are perceived as
competent creature in all aspects of lives (Jirata, 2019; Ogunsina, 1996). The perceptions towards
women and men are based on gendered ideology which produces and is produced by representations
which can be both mental and discursive. Mental representation refers to a system of ideas and beliefs
that presuppose objects and events in the physical world (Hall, 1997). Discursive representation can
be seen as semiotic and textual resources. According to Hall (1997), semiotic representation focuses
on the production and exchange of meaning through pictures, photos, monuments, etc. whereas,
textual representation refers to the construction of meaning through language in different social,
cultural, educational, etc. contexts. Both semiotic and textual representations realize the overall
system of meaning in a society (Van Leeuwen, 2008; Coupland, 2010).
The representations of female and male genders in a textbook are presupposed by the gendered
beliefs and the corresponding practices of a society. Beliefs about women and men and the activities
allotted to them are ideological. Ideology nourishes and is nourished by representations of the
genders. Burton (2005) discussed that representations give substance to ideology, and ideology
predisposes both semiotic and textual representations of any kind. The interlocking effects of ideology
and representation unconsciously impact how textbook writers notify and assign activities to both
female and male individuals (Majid and Fateme, 2015).
Language textbook is a pedagogic tool that transmits sociocultural beliefs through both semiotic and
textual activities students are instructed to perform. Most of the studies on gender in language
teaching show that the discursive representations of female and male genders used in textbooks are
unfair due to ignorance about gender parity (Or and Shohamy, 2015). Javani and Tahriri (2018) for
instance, revealed that the English Language course books series of Junior High School in Iran are
dominated by a sexist attitude that favors male gender. Yonata and Mujiyanto (2017) also depicted
that the discursive representations of female and male genders used in Senior High School English
Textbooks in Indonesia attributed outdoor activities to male and indoor activities to female. In a
similar token, Sogut (2018) disclosed that high school ELT workbooks used in Turkish High Schools

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maintained traditional allocation of jobs to female and male genders through discursive
representations.
Otlowski (2003) found out that more males were involved in the illustrations used in an EFL
textbook for senior high school students in Japan. According to Ram (2008), the illustrations
employed in the primary school textbooks used in Pakistan contained low involvement of women
actors than men, and restricted the occupational role of women to nurse, and household chores. With
similar observation, Jacobson and Gee (2005) stated that the illustration employed in the books for
early grade reading in New Zealand portray female and male with indoor and outdoor activities,
respectively. More recently, Bakar, Othman, Hamid and Hashim (2015) pointed out that the visual
images in Malaysian English textbooks allotted stereotypical gender roles of wives, mothers and
nurturers to women, and largely confined them to the private world of the home.
To address the real image of gender ideology in textbooks, analysis of the textual and visual
representations of genders need to be amalgamated. For instance, Cooke-Sawyer (1998) indicated
gender bias and sex role stereotyping as persistent through the texts and illustrations used in grade
seven History textbook in Canada. Taki and Shahbazi (2012) also revealed that the textual and
pictorial representations of female and male genders in the English language series in Iran are largely
stereotypical. Examining the texts and pictures used in the three American High Schools History
textbooks, Chick and Corle (2016) identified that more male than female historical figures were
shown in the representations.
In a patriarchal society like Ethiopia, everyday language use from which textbooks are produced
largely naturalizes gender disparity. For instance, Leyewu (2010) stated that in Amharic masculine
gender is more prominent than feminine and masculinity conveys augmentative and femininity
conveys diminutive messages. Consistent with this idea, Tadese (2009) reported that grammatical
structure of Tigrigna demonstrates unequal relationships between female and male genders. Similarly,
Raga (2015) wrote that semantically asymmetrical terms such as metaphors related to woman and
man, and administration titles exhibit the gender-bias ideology of Amharic, Afaan Oromoo and
Gamoo speakers. Specific to Afaan Oromoo, Raga (2007) concluded that grammatical structure of the
language is an ideological weapon of perpetuating gender inequality. Inevitably, this presupposes the
gendered representations used in Afaan Oromo textbooks. More importantly, the gender-bias ideology
fixed in the language and in the language, textbook is produced and legitimized in the broader
sociocultural practices of the language users, i.e., the Oromo. Hussien (2004) wrote on the differential
treatment of boys and girls and indicated that it begins from the moment of their birth in the culture.
Hussien mentioned that the newly born baby is welcomed by ululating more for baby boy to show joy
than for baby girl at birth. He stated the practice as conscientious indoctrination of boys into manhood
and girls into womanhood. However, Hussien argues that gender disparity in the Oromo culture is the
result of the colonial conquests and religious expansions which have eventually weakened the Gada
System of the group in which women and men were considered relatively in better ways.
Alemu (2007) also indicated that the historical narratives of the Oromo transmit gender-bias
attitudes from generation to generation. According to Shelema (2010), the Oromo proverbs are highly
ideological to constitute and maintain stereotypical assumptions that frame female subordination and
male domination. More recently, Disasa (2014) also unveiled that the traditional jaarsummaa
discourse set to resolve the conflict between wife and husband among the Arsi Oromo overlooked
women‟s voice, and mitigated their power of decision making. However, Jirata (2019) argues that
such gender inequality is changing across generation among the Guji Oromo. Adults use cultural
expressions which perpetuate image of womanhood long established in the culture, whereas, children
interpret the expressions to challenge and change the inequality that constituted gender relations and
roles among the clan. Thus, it is reasonable to think that Afaan Oromo textbook writers may not be
free from the gender-bias ideology deep-rooted in the cultures of the society.
The discussions made so far on gendered representations in language and in language teaching
materials revealed that male actors are more prominent and have more access to resources and

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Adugna A Critical Discourse Analysis of Gendered Representations

information than female actors. Such unequal portrayals of female and male genders in teaching
materials are chained to and presupposed by unfair representations prevailing in the culture of a given
society. As members of a cultural group, textbook producers, consciously or unconsciously reflect
gendered cultural products of the society in which they live in the textbooks.

2. Research Methods
This study employed qualitative method to collect and analyze data. Grade 11 Afaan Oromoo
textbook was selected out of the textbook series introduced for grades 9-12 in 2012 using a simple
random sampling technique. Texts and illustrations representing female and male genders were
collected from the textbook through document analysis. The data collected from the textbook are
thematically categorized, and qualitative content analysis in conjunction with CDA was employed in
the analysis following Sogut‟s (2018) and Fairclough‟s (1992) approaches. The analysis begins with
describing forms and functions of the representations collected from the textbook. The description is
amalgamated with the context in which the representations are produced and regulated for
interpretation. Finally, the nexus between ideology and power in framing the gendered representations
used in the textbook is explained. These levels of CDA were employed to systematically look into
obscured and transparent meanings and power relations imbedded in the representations.

3. Results and Discussions

Discussions of the findings were made on three major themes: gendered representations in grade 11
Afaan Oromoo textbook, messages of the representations, and the nexus between ideology and power
in the representation of female and male genders. The discussions made on these themes answer the
first, the second and the third questions of the article, respectively. Before embarking on the
discussions of the themes, a brief descriptive summary of the textbook is presented as follows.

3.1. A Brief Summary of the Textbook

Grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbook was published in India by MK Publisher of Uganda, and distributed
by its shareholder in Ethiopia in 2012 G.C. The textbook has 224 pages in its 17 chapters. The themes
of the chapters are language, patriotism, environment, women participation, globalization, industry
and tourism, sports, the Oromo Gada System, micro enterprise and drought. In every chapter, attempts
have been made to treat language knowledge (morphology, vocabulary, syntax and meaning - text and
context) and language skills (speaking, reading, writing and listening). Most of the chapters of the
textbook (12 of the 17) are accompanied by illustrations.
The textbook has co-authors, editors and evaluators. The co-authors and editors were hand-picked
by the shareholder of MK publisher and the evaluators were expertise from Oromia Educational
Bureau. The table here under shows the composition of female and male individuals who participated
in the preparation of the textbook.
Table 1. Gender composition of the participants
Sex Co-authors Editors Evaluators Total
Female - - 1 1
Male 4 3 4 11
Total 4 3 5 12

All the co-authors and editors of the textbook are male. Only one female participant was involved in
the evaluation of the textbook. Thus, almost the entire process of the textbook preparation was
monopolized by male participants. This monopoly can inevitably perpetuate the stereotypical gender
role assignment prevailing in the society.

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3.2. Gendered Representations in Afaan Oromoo Textbook

This section focuses on the texts and illustrations used to represent both female and male genders in
grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbook. The analysis mainly focuses on the texts and illustrations
pertaining to female and male genders. The analysis begins with describing the forms and meanings
of these textual and visual genres, juxtaposes the description with the socio-cultural contexts in which
they are produced and consumed for interpretation. This is to examine why and how the
representations are used in connection with female and male actors, and the activities and identities
assigned to them. According to Machin and Mayr (2012) and Gee (2008), activities and identities are
the contexts in which texts and illustrations are regulated to maintain socio-culturally constituted
meanings. The next subtopics discuss the gendered words, phrases, expressions and illustrations
referring to female and male genders using the examples taken from the textbook.

3.2.1. Gendered words

Words cue socially constituted and prioritized characteristics attached to female and male actors
(Duszak, 2002). The textbook analyzed in this paper contains proper nouns, pronouns, adjectives and
verbs which are exclusively, commonly and indefinitely referring to characteristics of female and
male sexes. Proper nouns related to female and male are counted and identified from the wide range
of nouns used in the textbook based on the linguistic markers (e.g., -tuu, -ee, -ii, -ttii, etc. for female,
and - aa, - oo, -ii, etc. for male sex) attached to them. The pronouns are also counted based on the
personal names they have substituted. Verbs representing the actions female and male actors perform
or are expected to perform are identified from the textbook focusing on the inflected forms of the
verbs and the linguistic contexts1 in which the verbs are used. Taking the linguistic form and context-
related barriers into consideration, the frequencies of the female and male - related proper nouns,
pronouns and verbs used in the textbook are presented as follows.
Table 2. Frequencies of gendered proper nouns, pronouns and verbs in the textbook

Proper nouns Pronouns Verbs

No. % No. % No. %
Female-related 170 30.74 41 19.33 112 10.7
Male-related 352 63.7 136 64.2 728 69.3
Unidentified 31 5.6 35 16.5 210 20
Total 553 100 212 100 1050 100

The table demonstrates high frequencies of the use of proper nouns, pronouns and verbs-related to
male gender in the textbook. This frequency is by far greater than that of the male gender. There is
also low frequency of the use of these words which cannot identify female or male gender. The
following exercises substantiate the female-related low frequency and the male-related high frequency
of the use of these word classes.

1
Mostly, the verbs referring to female suffix {-t} as in the sentences Isheen deemte „she went‟ and Isheen kutte „she cut‟
which do not work for male. The action performed by male is understood from the linguistic context as in Inni deeme; inni
kute, „He went; he cut‟. Actually, in both cases there should be she and he or the nouns they represent at the subject position
to avoid ambiguity that the verbs create referring to the pronouns you and I.

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 Adugna A Critical Discourse Analysis of Gendered Representations

(1)
Exercises Pages Personal names
8 51 Caalaan tulluurra bahe
Caalaan biyyaa bahe
Guutaan mana bahe
Inni Najjootti narra adda bahe
Inni nyaataa dhume dhufa
Abdiin abbaa isaatti bahe
5 94-6 Guutamaan konkolaataa qaba
Inni sangaa guddaa gurgure
Inni barumsaan tokkoffaa bahe
Abdiisaan mana barumsaa ijaare
Inni mana kitaabaa ijaare
Inni hamma manaatti ishii geggeesse
Caaltuun ashaboo na gaafatte
Gammachuun diina …qolate
11 113 Tolaan sangaa bite
Gammadaan mana barumsaa ijaare
Biqiltuun na bira jirti
Lammiin obboleessa kooti
Inni nagaa nu gaafate
Dabalaan farda bite.
Badhaasaan garuu harree bite.
1
Tolaan mana yaalaa deeme
Gloss
„Chala climbed a mountain‟
„Chala crossed a country‟
„Guta had his own house‟
„He departed from me at Nejo‟
„He comes after food is served‟
„Abdi resembles his father‟
„Gutema has a car‟
„He sold a big ox‟
„He stood first from his class‟
„Abdisa built school‟
„He built a library‟
„He saw her off to home‟
„Chaltu asked me for a grain of salt
„Gamachu defended a nation…
„Tola bought an ox‟
„Gamada built school‟
„Bikiltu is with me‟
„Lami is my brother‟
„He greeted us‟
„Dabala bought a horse‟
„But, Badasa bought a donkey‟
„Tolasa went to a clinic‟

The italicized words in the excerpt are personal names, pronouns and verbs. The personal names and
pronouns are subjects of the sentences presented in the exercises. Except Caaltuu and Biqiltuu, all the
subjects of the sentences are men. That is, the subject positions of the sentences are dominated by
personal names and pronouns referring to men. The subject together with the verbs of the sentences,
informs us about the male gender or the actions it performs. Some of the actions allotted to male
through the verbs are climbing on a mountain, crossing a country, buying and selling domestic
animals, building houses, taking first rank in education, seeing somebody off, defending a nation, etc.
These actions are purely out-door, and seemingly triggered by the male-related personal names and
pronouns used at the subject positions of the sentences given in the exercises. The personal names and
pronouns portray men as possessors of wealth (vehicle, cattle, pack animals, etc.) and the power to
use and exchange them. However, the two personal names referring to female used as the subjects,
and the verbs of the sentences in the exercises show existence of and request for something rather than
performing actions.
Thus, dominating subject positions of the sentences by personal names and pronouns referring to
male gender, and presenting the gender as the only doer of outdoor activities through the verbal
paradigm of sentences in the textbook are connected to existing traditional role divisions in the
society. This agrees with Jirata‟s (2019) observation in which cultural expressions of adults perpetuate
the image of manhood and womanhood long established in the indigenous culture of Oromo. It also
agrees with Shah‟s (2016) observation in which textbooks sustain a view of the world in which males
and their activities are prominent, while females and their activities are invisible through the use of
lexical items.
Similarly, a wide range of school vocabulary related to learner, teacher, administration title, and
teaching material are frequently represented by male gender in the textbook. Consider the next data.

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(2)
Vocabularies Gloss
learner-related barataa (x12) „student(male)‟
teacher-related barsiisaa (x8) „male teacher‟
administration title-related hoogganaa (x6) „male principal‟
teaching material-related kitaaba barataa (x9) „male student‟s book‟
qajeelcha barsiisaa (4) „male teacher‟s guide‟

The word barataa, and barsiisaa were frequently used in the textbook to refer to both female and
male students and teachers, respectively. Teaching materials were also named after the words as
kitaaba barataa and qajeelcha barsiisaa. The word hoogganaa was employed in the textbook to
represent both female and male principal. In Afaan Oromoo, however, these words and phrases refer
only to mal actor. This is done by the suffix {-aa} attached to the words in contrast with the suffix {-
tuu} which has been made invisible in these vocabularies to mark female gender. Though Afaan
Oromoo has vocabularies such as barattuu „female student‟ barsiistuu „female teacher‟ and
hooggantuu‟ female principal‟ to exclusively refer to female actor (Barkessa, 2011), both women and
men who learn, teach and direct school community have been addressed in male names in the
textbook. It is reasonable to think that omitting women‟s references and obfuscating their roles
emanated from the fact that these activities have been long established as a domain of men. Because
of the deep-rooted beliefs in female and male role assignment, the textbook writers would not be
conscious of the vocabularies to refer to female gender or vocabularies that balance both genders.
The other class of gendered words used in the textbook is an adjective. Adjectives describe noun
and pronouns. The description has both denotative and connotative meanings. We understand what
nouns and pronouns are and what they are not based on the meanings of the descriptors. The
denotative and connotative meanings adjectives attribute to nouns and pronouns can be both positive
and negative. As shown below, most of the adjectives attribute negative meanings to female than to
male gender.

(3)
Female-related adjectives
lallaaftuu, cinqamtuu
kan hinboqonne, aartuu,
leeyyoftuu, qalloo
dhimma hinqabne,
iyyeettii, dadhabduu,
bareedduu (x7),
naatuu, sodaattuu,
dogoggorsituu,
sossobduu, gowwoomsituu,
miidhagduu (x8),
mi‟ooftuu, boossuu,
harka-qalleettii xiqqoo
Gloss Male-related adjectives Gloss
„soft, stressful‟ beekaa, olaanaa, „knowledgeable, supper‟
„restless, angry‟ guutaa, gowwaa, „filler, foolish‟
„shameful, thin‟ caalaa, guddaa, „great, big‟
„careless‟ jabaa (x8), beekamaa (5), „hard (x8), famous (x5)‟
„poor, weak‟ miidhagaa, rakkisaa, handsome, problematic‟
„pretty (x7)‟ obsaa, ulfaataa, „patient, respectable‟
„scared, fearful‟ itti gaafatamaa, goota (x6) „responsible, hero (x6)‟
„misleading‟ cimaa, mo‟aa, „strong, winner‟
„soothing‟, deceitful‟ harka-qalleessa, hamaa, „poor, unkind‟
„beautiful (x8)‟ dhimmamaa „concerned‟
„sweat, whimper‟ didaa, yaaddessaafi „resistant, terrifying‟
„poor, small‟ amanamaa, hadhaawa, „loyal, bitter‟

The adjectives in the first column of the excerpt denote and at the same time connote female
characters. The denotations and connotations are in terms of feeling, personality trait, appearance and
physical fitness. In terms of feeling, females are presented as restless, scared, fearful, and shameful. In
terms of personality traits, they are portrayed as careless, deceitful, soothing and misleading. These
representations attribute negative connotations to female gender. Female actors are also portrayed in
terms of physical fitness as soft and thin, and in terms of appearance as pretty and sweat. These are
positive attributions of the female gender. However, the negative representations of the female gender
seem to be more prominent than the positive one. This is because of the negative influence the
representations have on social relationships between female and male genders.
The adjectives in the third column portray male gender in terms of physical fitness, knowledge,
social acceptance, achievement and challenge. In terms of physical fitness, males are portrayed as

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strong, hard, big, hero and winner. Knowledge wise, male actors are represented as „knowledgeable‟.
In terms of social acceptance, they are portrayed as famous, respectable, concerned and responsible.
In terms of achievement males are presented as supper, winner and greater. They are also shown in
the textbook as filler of gap and having patience. All these representations of males are purely
positive. In contrast, the textbook contains adjectives that attribute negative descriptions to male
include resistant, terrifying, problematic, unkind, foolish and bitter. These attributions to males seem
to have been presupposed by their physical fitness. This means that the more the male gender is
presented as physically fit, the more they would be taken as challengers. Pragmatically, some of these
attributions, for instance, resisting the malpractices of social and political actors in a community, may
not be negatively seen by the community members. There are also some equivalent adjectives in the
textbook that attribute negative and positive characteristics to both female and male genders. For
instance, in terms of economy both female and male genders are equally portrayed as poor. In terms
of appearance, both female and male are represented as pretty/handsome. The former is negative
while the latter is positive portrayals of both female and male genders. Most of the adjectives
attributed to female and male genders in the textbook are related to each other in binary oppositions
such as careless vs. careful, fearful vs. hero, soft vs. strong, small vs. big, etc. This agrees with Van
Leeuwen‟s (2008) observations where dominant groups are always represented as precious and big
things, and dominated groups are represented as something cheap and small.

3.2.2. Gendered phrases

Phrases are the other textual depictions of gender differences identified from grade 11 Afaan Oromoo
textbook. They portray the differences in terms of order of appearance and activities attributed to the
female and male genders in the textbook. Order of appearance refers to whether the words in the
phrases referring to female and male genders occupy the first or the second position (Majid and
Fateme, 2015). In every place in the textbook where the words referring to female and male actors are
paired; female‟s references occupied the second and male‟s references occupied the first positions.
The references include the paired forms of collective nouns, personal names and personal pronouns
presented here under.

(4)
Order of appearance Gloss
abbaa fi haadha „father and mother‟
dhiiraa fi dubartii „male and female‟
Dhukii Gulummaa fi Warqee Elemo „Duki Guluma and Warke Elemo‟
abbaa abaluu fi haadha ebelu „Mr X and Mrs Y‟
jaarsaa fi jaartii „elderly man and elderly woman‟
inniifi isheen „he and she‟
abbaa warraa fi haadha warraa „husband and wife‟
Qananiisaa fi Daraartuu „Qananisa and Darartu‟
gurbaa fi intala „son and daughter‟
Galataa Waaqayyoo fi Seenaa Kumalaa „Galata Wakayo and Sena Kumala‟

The collective nouns representing female-second and male-first order of appearance include male and
female, husband and wife, father and mother, son and daughter and elderly man and elderly woman.
The personal names which show such order are Qananisa and Darartu, and Galata Wakayo and Sena
Kumala. The personal pronouns „he‟ and „she‟ are also presented in male-first and female-second
order of appearance. These textual priorities given to males in the textbook are chained to their status
in the society the textbook writers also live. Similar to this observation, Taki and Shahbazi (2012:
110) stated that “When two gender-specific nouns or pronouns appear as a pair in a text, the one
appearing in the first position can be interpreted as having a higher status.” There are also phrases
used in the textbook to refer to activities supposed to be performed by female and male actors. The
following phrases show these.

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(5).
Activities females do Gloss Activities males do Gloss
wayyaa miiccuu, „washing cloth‟ farada gulufuu, „riding horse‟
qoraan bu‟uu, „collecting firewood‟ lafa qotuu,biyya bulchuu „tilling, administering nation‟
aannan raasuu, „chunking milk‟ mana ijaaruu, „building house‟
daa‟ima guddisuu, „rearing child‟ barachuu fi barsiisuu „learning and teaching‟
buddeen tolchuu, „making injera‟ biyya geggeessuu „leading a country‟
barattoota barsiisuu, „teaching students, bishaan daakuu, „swimming‟
walga‟ii geggeessuu chairing meeting‟ diina qolachuu, „defending enemy‟
midhaan tumuu, „threshing crop‟ dhukkubsataa yaaluu, „treating patient‟,
of bareechuu, „self-beautifying‟ konkolaataa oofuu, „driving car‟
fifichoo fiiguu, „running‟ murtee kennuu, „making decision‟
qodaa dhiquu, „washing utensil‟ biyya bilisoomsuu, „liberating nation‟
harma hoosisuu, „feeding breast‟ loon horsiisuu, „rearing cattle‟
mana haruu „cleaning the house‟ bineensa adamsuu „hunting‟ wild animals‟

As shown by the phrases presented in the first column, female actors are expected to perform sanitary,
dietary and reproductive activities. The sanitary activities are assigned to female actors through the
phrases washing cloth, washing utensil, self-beautifying and cleaning house. The dietary activities
assigned to female actors through the phrases chunking milk, baking injera, collecting firewood and
threshing crops. The reproductive activities allocated to them are represented by the phrases feeding
breast and rearing child. In fact, feeding breast is biological and is the sole activity of women. All
these phrases portray domestic or indoor activities which are considered as a domain of women. A
few outdoor activities to be performed by female actors are running, chairing meeting and teaching
students. The phrases mentioned in the third column of the excerpt show activities male actors are
expected to do. The activities include agriculture (tilling land, rearing animal), administration (leading
and administering), skills (riding horse, driving car, swimming and hunting wild animals), education
(learning-teaching), health (treating patient), patriotism (defending opponent, liberating people) and
ability (building house and making decision). These are mostly outdoor activities and are presented as
male domains. Therefore, majority of the activities reported to be performed by female actors in the
textbook are less prestigious. However, most of the activities presented as male domains are
prestigious. The non-prestigious indoor activities related to females and the prestigious outdoor
activities assigned to males depict the prevalence of gender disparity in Afaan Oromoo textbook in
similar way to Majid and Fateme‟s (2015) observation of the activities each sex is engaged in show
sex-bias in education.

3.2.3. Gendered expressions

Grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbook comprises gendered expressions that favor and disfavor either of
the genders. These include the oral expressions collected from the society and fictional story
composed by storywriters of the textbook to enable students acquire the necessary knowledge and
skills at the grade level. One of the gendered oral expressions obtained from the textbook is
folktale/narrative. Folktale/narrative is an episodic strategy that teaches moral lessons, and at the same
time performs stereotypical actions. It legitimizes gendered roles and positions in a society using both
human and animal characters known through their actions or by their physical attributes. It also
depicts character‟s polarization with logical sequences of events (Ugwukah, 2015). The following
folktale/narrative taken from the textbook portrays both female and male genders in terms of
knowledge.

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Adugna A Critical Discourse Analysis of Gendered Representations

(6)
Yeroo durii namoota beekumsaan beekaman sadiitu
karaa deemu turan. Addunyaa kanarratti namni hanga
isaanii beeku hinturre. Gaaf tokko biyya wallaaltuu
kana keessa hinteenyu jedhanii osoo baduuf deemanii,
leenca tortoree lafeen isaa harca‟etti bahan. Beekaan
inni tokko “Lafee walitti qabsiisuun danda‟a,” jedhe.
Akkuma jedhe funaanee walitti qabsiise. Beekaan inni
lammaffaan, “Foon itti uwwisee gogaa itti gochuun
danda‟a” jedhe. Innis akkuma jedhe raawwate. Inni
sadaffaanis “Lubbuu itti gochuun jiraachisuun
danda‟a” jechuun akkuma jedhe raawwate. Sana booda
dhiironni sadan beekumsa isaaniitiin du‟aa jiraachisan.
„In the past, three knowledgeable men were living in
the world where no one was wise than them. One day,
the men had decided and went away from their country
which had no knowledgeable people. On their way, the
men saw a dead and rotten body of lion. As soon as
they saw it, one of them said that he had the ability to
join all the scattered bones of the lion. The man did
what he said. The next man also said that he had the
ability to make a flesh and skin on the bones of the
lion. This man also did what he said he could do. The
third man also promised to give soul to the body of the
lion, and he did it. The three men used their knowledge
to make the lion alive again‟ (Page 137).

All the characters of the folktale are men. The men are knowledgeable to give life to a dead lion. The
words beekumsa „knowledge‟, beekamaa „known‟ and beekaa „knowledgeable‟ repeatedly used in the
tale portray the versatile knowledge of the men. They applied this knowledge to maintain bones, put
flesh on the bones and give life to the dead lion. The expressions I can join bones, I can cover the
bones with flesh and I can give soul to the flesh demonstrate such ability of the men. However, those
who have no knowledge are represented in the tale by the expression biyya wallaaltuu „the illiterate
country‟. The female gender marker {-tuu} attached to the word wallaaltuu shows how those who do
not possess knowledge are represented as female. The use of the tale containing opposite words like
beekaa „knowledgeable man‟ and wallaaltuu „illiterate woman‟ in textbook, then, perpetuates the
belief in which males are considered as producers and possessors of knowledge.
The other oral expressions identified from the textbook are proverbs and idioms. Proverbial and
idiomatic expressions channel cultural stereotypes that disparage women and applause men in a
society (Sapiro, 1994; Hussien, 2004). According to Shelema (2010), Oromo proverbs gloss over the
actual roles and characteristics of women, and resonate that of men. Hailu stresses that proverb plays
significant roles in prolonging women‟s subordination and men‟s domination. The following
proverbial and idiomatic expressions taken from pages 12 and 69 (of the textbook) convey reduced
and eminent attributions of female and male actor, respectively.

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Pages Idioms and proverbs Gloss
(1) Namichi mataa qaba (beekaadha) „The man is wise (knowledgeable)‟
12 (2) Biyyi mataa qaba (mootii/geggeessaa) „The country has a leader‟
(3) Mataan manaa haadha warraati (utubaa) „Woman is head of a house (pillar)‟
(4) Abbaan manaa mataa manaati (geggeessaa) „Husband is head of a house (leader)‟
69 (5) Dubartiin utubaa manaati. „The woman is pillar of a house‟
(6) Dhiirrii fi uleen ulaa achiin tolu. „The male and walking stick should be kept in the
living room‟
(7) Dhiira cimaa duuba dubartii cimtutu jirti „Behind famous man, there is strong woman‟

The word mataa „head‟ reiterated in (1-4) denotes part of the body that contains the brain. The word
refers to female and male genders in different senses. In (1), mataa refers to knowledgeable man. In
(2), it refers to male leader. The phrases abbaa manaa „husband‟ and mataa manaa „house
head/householder‟ in (4) represents this leading position of male. On the contrary, the word mataa in
lines (3) and (5) signifies the meaning „pillar of a house‟ which refers to female gender. The word
associates pillar with female that supports the ceiling/roof of a house together with the wall. Thus, the
meaning of the word is changed from characterizing male as knowledgeable/wise and leader to
representing female as supporter of male gender in the expressions. The idea is similar to the English
stereotype [clearly articulated with the proverb which says] behind famous man, there is strong
woman (7). The proverb informs that women are there not to be famous but to support men to be fame

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in work or eminence. Thus, roof and country are idiomatically and proverbially associated with male,
and pillar is associated with female gender. Indeed, associating females with pillars demonstrates their
crucial roles of making family life sustainable. However, it is one of the discursive strategies of
limiting them to domestic activities or denying them accesses to outdoor activities. The stereotypical
thinking towards female and male is also recapitulated with the proverb mentioned in (6) where
walking stick is associated with men to demonstrate the position of male gender in the Oromo society.
In the society, a walking stick is the property of male expected to be placed in the living room not in
the kitchen which is considered to be the place of women to perform their duties. Therefore, the use of
such proverbial and idiomatic expressions in the textbook, legitimize and transfer gendered positions
to students.
Like the oral expressions discussed so far, the short story composed by storywriters of the textbook
transmits traditional gender inequalities to students. The next short story taken from the textbook
portrays economic inequality of both female and male genders.

(8)
Aadde Gameettiin maatii harka-qalleessa keessatti waan
dhalatteef iyyeessa ta‟uurraan kan ka‟e barumsa addaan kutte.
Nama sooresssaa fi beekamaan beekamuuf carraa hinqabdu.
Jireenya qananiitiif uumamtullee dhiirsa galii xiqqaa qabutti
heerumuun baay‟ee ishii yaaddesse. Uffataa fi faaya gatii
guddaa baasu, kan dubartoonni ittiin bareeduuf hawwan
argachuuf lubbuu ishiitii olitti barbaaddi. Hawwiin ishiin
dargaggoonni akka jaalala ishiitiin du‟aniif qabdu hagana
hinjedhamu. Haata‟uu, iyyeessatti waan heerumteef, kana
guuttachuu hindandeenye. Filannoos waan hinqabneef ogummaa
hojii kushiinaatii fi hojii manaatti deebite. Qubeen ishii qalama
dibuu dhiise distii fi waciitii dhiquuf itti fayyadamte. Uffata
miicciti; ganamaan kaatee haraa baattee badheetti gatti. Tayee
rarraafattee gabaa dhaquun shiroo, mi‟eessituu, mosee fi
timaatimii bittee ittiin jiraatti.
„Mrs. Gameti was born from a poor family.
Because of her poor family background,
Gameti dropped out from school. She had no
opportunity to marry a rich and famous
husband. She was very much interested in
having a beautiful dress and ornaments that
could attract youths at her age and could
make them fall in love with her. However,
Gameti got married to a husband with little
income. Gameti‟s husband could not fulfil her
interest. This worried her very much. Because
she had no choice, Gameti picked up washing
utensils, clothes, cleaning house, buying and
selling vegetables, fruits and spices, etc. to
lead her life (pages 189 -190).

The main character of this story is a woman named Gameti. Gameti was presented as a woman with
poor economic background. The synonymous words maatii harka-qalleessa and iyyeessaa „poor‟
show the impoverished economic backgrounds ascribed to the woman in the story. Gameti was
mainly characterized as a woman with no opportunity and capacity to do works that fulfill her interest
and to live well-to-do life. The expressions she has no chance, because she has no alternative and she
can‟t fulfill presented in the story depict the limited access to economic resources of the women actor.
Gameti was also portrayed as a woman waiting for husband‟s help for her success using the
expressions to marry a rich and famous husband and she was worried because she got married to a
poor husband. Actually, the words heerumuu „to weed‟ and fuudhuu „to marry‟ are used in the society
in connection with the marital relationship between woman and man attribute passive and active roles
to female and male, respectively. Hussien (2005) argues that the establishment of marital relationship
among the Oromo using the expressions of sexuality such as married vs. was wedded and ulfoofte
„became pregnant‟ vs. ulfeesse „made pregnant‟ demonstrate activation and passivation in which
males are perceived as doers and females as receivers of actions. This maintains the importance of
masculine potency of the gender-bias ideology in the culture.
The story of Gameti ended with hopelessness and her restriction to indoor activities. The story
represents women as incapable creatures that cannot fulfill their interests. The use of stories which
represent female actor in this way in the textbook may have negative effects on girls. It may minimize
girls‟ efforts for their own success, and may distort boys‟ perceptions of girls.

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3.2.4. Gendered illustrations

Illustrations are visual semiotic resources often employed in textbooks to aid students‟ understanding
of the contents of the textbook. They visualize the ideational and interpersonal functions of the texts
employed in the textbook (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 1996). Most of the illustrations are meant to ease
students‟ understanding of contents of the chapters of grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbook show
disparity in terms of involvement, skill, knowledge and activities attributed to female and male
genders. Frequency of the use of illustrations in the textbook in connection with female and male
actors is presented in the following table.

Table 3. Frequency of female and male-related illustrations in the textbook

Illustrations
No. %
Male dominated 11 52.38
Male monopolized 3 14.29
Female dominated 1 4.76
Female monopolized 1 4.76
Female-male balanced - -
Unidentified 5 23.8
Total 21 100

As shown in Table 3, most of the illustrations used in grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbook involve more
male than female participants. The illustrations used to ease students‟ understanding of contents of
texts presented in the textbook are mostly male dominated and partly male monopolized. The series of
illustrations presented here under substantiate the male domination demonstrated in Table 3.

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Pages 73-4

A series of illustrations are used in the textbook as a pre-reading activity to raise students‟
interests on the passage they are expected to read. The illustrations present the story of three
men passengers who could sing, swim and hunt, and a girl washing clothes at a river bank.
While they were traveling, the men faced a crocodile getting out of and dragging a girl to the
river. The men got sad. The girl stretched her hand to them from the river for help. The men
used their skills to save the girl from crocodile. The singer provoked the crocodile to put its
neck out of the water to listen to his voice. Immediately, the hunter shot it, and facilitated the
life-saving effort for the person who dived in the water, swam and took her out safely. Finally,
the girl stood up in front of the men to acknowledge the favor they have done for her. The
story presented through the illustrations, therefore, portrays male actors as skillful, strong,
traveller, rescuer and brave. On the contrary, it illustrates female actors as vulnerable, feeble
and dependent. The illustrations also present activities like „washing‟ as a domain of female
actors. The following illustrations also demonstrate the activities female and male actors are
instructed to do in the textbook.

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Page 39 Page 59

As the illustrations demonstrate, women and men actors are engaged in different activities. The
illustrations taken from page 39 of the textbook depict that men are involved in tilling land,
constructing houses and preparing instruments. They also present that women are engaged in
sifting crop and putting it into a sack. In their order of appearance, men‟s activities are
presented at the top and women‟s activities are presented at the bottom of the illustrations.
Such presentation of women and men actors‟ activities in the textbook is similar to the
traditional allocation of roles to both genders in a daily practice of the patriarchal society.
On the other hand, the illustrations taken from page 59 of the textbook show change and
continuity of stereotypical allocation of roles to female and male genders. In the illustrations
labeled „A and B‟, women are involved in teaching-learning and meeting activities. They are
portrayed as chairperson, teacher and students. However, the women-men compositions of the
participants in both activities mirror gender imbalance. The learning activity shown in the
illustration is dominated by women whereas, domination of men participants is clearly
observed in the meeting. Stereotypical role assignment to women is clearly reflected with the
illustration labeled C. In the illustration, a woman is grinding crop in a traditional way while
carrying a baby on her back. Incorporating such allocation of works to women in textbooks
inevitably perpetuates the assumptions about women in the patriarchal system. The Oromo
Gada system is one of the patriarchal systems that exclude women. According to Jirata (2019:
3) “Gada is a patriarchal system in which men take the superior social position in performing
cultural practices and making decisions in public spaces.” The following photo taken from
grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbook shows the monopoly of male in the system.

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This photo is presented as a pre-reading activity to help students guess what they expect from the
passage entitled Jireenya Hawaasa Sirna Gadaa „life of the society in the Gada System‟. It is a male
monopolized photo that overtly excluded women from participating in the assembly. This is similar to
Tadesse‟s observation of the system in relation to gender. Having the data obtained from the Guji
Oromo during the fieldwork, Jirata (2019: 5) states that “…the exclusion of women from participation
in the Gada system goes back to the time of the legendary woman Akkoo Manooyyee, the last queen of
the Oromo before the establishment of the System.”
In sum, the textual and visual representations used in the textbook favor male and disfavor female
genders. This favoritism is portrayed in the more frequent use of words and illustrations related to
male than female genders. It is also manifested in male-first female-second orders of appearance,
assignment of more prestigious outdoor activities to male and less prestigious indoor activities to
female in both the texts and the illustrations used in the textbook. The gendered illustrations also
presented males as producers and processors of knowledge, ability and skills, physically fit,
economically rich, morally and socially capable creatures. Thus, the textbook contains gender-bias in
its textual and visual representations. It can perpetuate stereotypical roles that impact both girls and
boys negatively in their education.

3.3. Messages of the Gendered Representations in the Textbook

The texts and illustrations representing both female and male genders discussed so far in every topic
and subtopics of the analysis display/send strong messages in binary oppositions. The binary
oppositions include strong vs. weak, rich vs. poor, stressful vs. patient, skillful vs. less skillful,
illiterate‟ vs. literate, misleading vs. loyal, small vs. big, prestigious vs. less prestigious, rescuer vs.
vulnerable, fearful vs. hero, etc. Among the binary oppositions, the former describe female negatively,
and the latter describe male positively. The descriptors in the binary opposition show that meaning
constructed through the representations convey the messages that what is not said about the group
may be significant. For instance, through examination of the representations of behavioral
characteristics of female and male, in association with weak, if the behavior of female is equal to
weak through representation, then what it is not equal to, by implication, is strong. By the same token,
if female becomes equal to illiterate through representation, then what it is not equal to, by
implication, is literate. Similarly, if males become strong and big through representations, then what
they are not equal to, by implication, are weak and small. Thus, the representations in the textbook
convey negative messages with regard to female gender‟s social, economic, cultural and educational
roles, and positive messages with regard to male‟s roles in these domains. These asymmetrical
representations of female and male actors in the textbook can be presented as X<Y, where „X‟ is
female and „Y‟ is male. The main reason for such representation of female and male actors seems to
be stereotypical thinking. Stereotype, by its very nature, is neither wrong nor false but reductionist
(Burton, 2005).

3.4. Ideology and Power in the Representations of Female and Male Actors in the Textbook
The discussions made in the proceeding topics and subtopics portray reductionist views of gender
constructed since antiquities to legitimize their low positions of the present. The representations are
ideologically charged. The high frequencies of the use of male-related words, the male-first order of
appearance, female indoor and male outdoor division of activities, male monopolized and dominated
visual representations prevailing in the textbook implicate the ideologically low position reserved for
female. The implication agrees with Taki and Shahbazi (2012) argument in which the less frequently
appeared gender implies less important than the more frequently appeared one. Likewise, the
proverb/saying behind the famous men, there are strong women, and Husband is head and wife is
pillar of a house used in the textbook are discursive strategy of perpetuating and justifying the
stereotypical role division between female and male genders. Overtly, the proverbs positively portray
women to make men conspicuous and family life sustainable. Covertly, they seem to be discursive

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strategy of limiting them to indoor activities, and impacting their psychology to be prominent like
men. According to Van Dijk (2008), ideologically motivated representations mask themselves in
traditions, and conveyed as being given by nature. Hall (1997) also states that systems of
representation are produced by ideology to sustain power inequalities that serve interests of the
powerful group over the powerless, in my case, male and female genders, respectively. Thus, ideology
and power are inextricably interlinked to influence perspectives of the writers towards representing
female and male genders in the textbook.

4. Conclusion and Implications

Most of the texts and illustrations used in grade 11 Afaan Oromo textbook to represent female and
male genders, their roles and characteristics are apposite to the usual gendered practices in many
homes in Ethiopia in general, and Oromia in particular. The traditional gendered practices reflected
through the representations are guided by reductionist gender ideology which frames unequal
assignment of roles to and asymmetrical power relations between female and male actors used in the
textbook. In this case, the textbook transmits stereotypically constituted gender inequality to students
through the representations. This contradicts with the emancipatory, transforming and changing roles
education plays to enable people live better life regardless of their biological and socio-cultural
differences. To attain this goal, teaching materials need to play advocacy, transformative and
informative roles. Thus, the use of gender-bias representations in the textbook has serious pedagogic
implications. It promotes stereotypical thinking in education which may have negative effects on
teaching and learning language in classroom. It may have the potential to lower girls‟ engagement in
classroom activities. It may also deter their efforts from participating in activities with wider scope
and magnitude.

5. Recommendations
Based on the conclusions drawn from the discussions made in the preceding topics, the following
recommendations are given.
The existing grade 11 Afaan Oromoo textbooks should be revised. Verbal representations must be
wisely used in the revision in order to accommodate both female and male actors and their roles
fairly.
The characters who take part in the oral and written expressions, the roles attributed to them, the
temporal and spatial issues they blame and claim, and the themes intended to be conveyed should be
free from stereotypical attitudes of the writers.
The textbook should incorporate gender balanced visual representations that broaden the behavioral,
social and linguistic roles of female and male students.
As an immediate intervention, Oromia Educational Bureau needs to give short term on job training
for language teachers, textbook writers and editors on gender parity in education.
Gender equity and equality should be among the criteria to decide the appropriateness of
instructional material for classroom teaching.

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