The distribution according to gender in literary textbooks : A quantitative study on space given to female and male authors in textbooks for upper secondary school

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the distribution according to gender when it comes to male and female authors in literary textbooks for upper secondary school. This is due to the new curriculum from 2011 which specifies that the students must study literature, by both women and men. Through a quantitative textbook analysis, where I count rows and number of pages devoted to the authors and their works, I examine whether the textbooks follows the requirement of the curriculum. Three textbooks which all consists of anthologies or materials with extracts from literary works have been analyzed. Only one of these was published after the formation of the new curriculum and is therefore the only one that can be expected to be adapted accordingly. However, the two other textbooks are also of interest to the study since they are still used in teaching. In the theoretical research review I discuss feminist literary theory, and women's place in the canon since my hypothesis is that the canon and textbook design are closely linked. The results show that the canonization process has not changed significantly, despite many years of feminist research. Nor has textbook development progressed in the recent decades. There is a remarkable difference in how many female and male authors are presented in textbooks. In all three textbooks women represents a marginal part of the presented authors. Remarkable is also that the textbook that is the closest to meeting the requirement of the curriculum is the oldest one, formed long before the requirement itself. The curriculum does not define how many female or male authors should be included in the student’s literature studies, but my conclusion is that the distribution according to gender in literary textbooks is far from equal