GENDER REPRESENTATION IN PTB ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR GRADE 8: A TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study looked at how boys and girls are shown in the Grade 8 English textbook published by the Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) in Pakistan. It aimed to find out if both genders are given equal roles or if the book still shows old-fashioned ideas, where boys are active and girls are passive. The research followed a qualitative approach and used a method called transitivity analysis, which comes from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). This helped examine who is doing the actions in the text and what kinds of roles are given to each gender. The researcher used purposive sampling to choose only those parts of the book that clearly showed gender roles. Some quantitative data was also used, such as counting how many times boys and girls were shown doing things. The results showed that boys were seen more often and given active roles like leading, helping, or working, while girls were shown less and mostly in quiet or home-based roles. Only one story showed girls as confident and successful. These results match earlier studies and show that gender bias is still found in textbooks. The study suggests that school books should show both boys and girls in equal and varied roles, so students can grow up with fair and open ideas about gender.