JAIPUR: The deep-rooted gender bias in our society is being propagated by the revised school textbooks in Rajasthan. Ample instances hinting at male superiority have been found in Hindi and English revised textbooks.
Class III Hindi textbook chapter ‘Games’ has three pictures showing only boys playing games, indicating that sports is meant only for boys. In most chapters, women have been introduced in reference to men, says a report prepared by a group of academics based in Jaipur and Delhi. "The previous books had decent representation of girls in all illustrations, if not equal," said Devyani Bhardwaj, one of the academics who scanned the revised textbooks.
The chapter on Sant Kanwar Ram, a Sindhi poet, in Class VIII "states that a woman’s duty is to follow her man. It also showcases how the poet had six children, three each from his two wives. He married twice after the death of his first wife at the age of 46. The entire chapter reflects male dominance and that a woman’s job is to bear children," said Bhardwaj.
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