Advancing Gender Equity through Language Curricula

Gender bias in educational contexts remains a pressing and pernicious issue worldwide. A United Nations global monitoring report issued in 2020 identified removing stereotypes and gender bias from teaching and learning materials as one of the six key measures still necessary to achieve gender equity in education. To tackle the problem of gender bias in world language pedagogy, a group of language, education and gender experts established the Language Curricula and Gender Global Working Group at Northwestern University's Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs.

Join us for a presentation and discussion exploring the group's research on how language curricula can reinforce, exacerbate or disrupt cultural assumptions and stereotypes about gender. The group will share their findings from two surveys of Northwestern language instructors and students gauging perceptions of the significance of gender equity in the curriculum and the classroom environment. The group will also share findings from their analyses of textbooks used to teach eight different languages. The group aims to help language instructors think critically about their work and teach language dynamically through the lens of gender equity and social justice.