GENDER REPRESENTATION IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOK “WORK IN PROGRESS”

This research attempts to find out how gender was represented visually in English
language textbooks "Work in Progress" for tenth grade students used in schools,
and to asses gender balance or imbalance represented in textbooks using Kress
and Van Leeuwen's theory. The textbook were newly published by the Indonesian
Ministry of Education and Culture. Descriptive qualitative research was used as
the design of this research. Meanwhile, the technique of analyzing the data was
content analysis. Screenshot of the pdf book was used to obtain the data.
Moreover, the data was analyzed by identifying, reducing, classifying, analyzing,
and drawing conclusions. The findings of this study indicated that there was a
gender imbalance in the proportion of men and women images/pictures in the
―Work in Progress‖ English textbook, with only 34.1% of images depicting
women, there is a lack of representation compared to men, who make up 65.9% of
images. However, the textbook also describes women well, women’s image
represents a powerful symbol of gender equality, challenging traditional gender
stereotypes and promoting the idea that women are equally capable of excelling in
physically demanding sports. This balanced portrayal can encourage more
inclusive and realistic views on how students of all genders behave in society,
family, and themselves.