Underrepresentation and Exclusion: The Hidden Curriculum in Language Textbooks of Basic Level Education in Nepal
This study delves into the portrayal of gender in Nepal's Grade 5 language textbooks: the Nepali Textbook Grade 5 (NTB5) and the English Textbook Grade 5 (ETB5) using content analysis and the concept of hidden curriculum (Apple, 1971; Chao, 2011). For this, visual illustrations, textual references, authorship patterns, and narrative motifs and results are analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative inquiry reveals a persistent male predominance with 72% of illustrations and 55–59% of textual mentions attributing male. Female authorship is conspicuously absent in NTB5. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed four interconnected patterns that reinforced traditional gender roles: women's confinement to domestic domain, men's authoritative and agentic position, women's passive and controlled empowerment, and symbolic and linguistic attempt to normalize existing gender identities. These bias gender representations in the school texbook serve as hidden curriculum of deep-seated patriarchy and assists to normalize gender imbalance persisting in the society. These finding, which pose a question mark upon Nepal's policy level advocacy for gender equality, reveal the hidden curriculum, subtly socializing young learners into patriarchal norms.