Volume 14, Issue 2, April 2015, Pages 208–217
Dr. Mary W. Were Nasibi1
1 Educational Communication and Technology Department, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenya
Original language: English
Copyright © 2015 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
African history has reached a high level of research and writing, yet the female role in history has not been brought out clearly, in historical explanation or discourse, and in teaching of the discipline. The main question posed is whether the history syllabus and the textbooks put in place to facilitate the implementation of the curriculum generate the kind of historical consciousness in education for both female and male gender. The research constituted a survey where information was collected by use of documentary analysis. The history syllabus (1992 and 2002) and textbooks used in teaching secondary school students were analyzed).The evaluation was to determine how the female gender was presented in history transmitted to the students. The data was presented by use of descriptive statistics and evaluative discussions. The findings indicate that in spite of a lot of information on women, the history syllabus and textbooks do not accurately portray the vital and multi-faceted roles played by both male and female in society. The syllabus suffers from sex blindness of traditional historiography and the most insidious forms of bias, bias of omission in relation to women history. The textbooks meant to facilitate the achievement of the syllabus objectives perpetuate the same views of male dominated approach to history. It is concluded that history taught tends to obscure and or ignore women. It is recommended that the curriculum should be revised to reflect gender as a new dimension of teaching history and writing.
Author Keywords: African history, education, gender, women, syllabus, textbooks, teaching.
Dr. Mary W. Were Nasibi1
1 Educational Communication and Technology Department, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenya
Original language: English
Copyright © 2015 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
African history has reached a high level of research and writing, yet the female role in history has not been brought out clearly, in historical explanation or discourse, and in teaching of the discipline. The main question posed is whether the history syllabus and the textbooks put in place to facilitate the implementation of the curriculum generate the kind of historical consciousness in education for both female and male gender. The research constituted a survey where information was collected by use of documentary analysis. The history syllabus (1992 and 2002) and textbooks used in teaching secondary school students were analyzed).The evaluation was to determine how the female gender was presented in history transmitted to the students. The data was presented by use of descriptive statistics and evaluative discussions. The findings indicate that in spite of a lot of information on women, the history syllabus and textbooks do not accurately portray the vital and multi-faceted roles played by both male and female in society. The syllabus suffers from sex blindness of traditional historiography and the most insidious forms of bias, bias of omission in relation to women history. The textbooks meant to facilitate the achievement of the syllabus objectives perpetuate the same views of male dominated approach to history. It is concluded that history taught tends to obscure and or ignore women. It is recommended that the curriculum should be revised to reflect gender as a new dimension of teaching history and writing.
Author Keywords: African history, education, gender, women, syllabus, textbooks, teaching.
How to Cite this Article
Dr. Mary W. Were Nasibi, “REPRESENTATION AND MISREPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN HISTORY TAUGHT AT SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL IN KENYA,” International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 208–217, April 2015.
