Abstract:

Visuals are among the most important elements of history textbooks. Within the framework of new approaches in history teaching and gender studies, the visuals in the history textbooks are also expected to represent women and shed light on their historical roles. In this study which was conducted with a qualitative approach and document analysis method, the visual images of women in the 10th grade history textbook published in the 2022-2023 academic year were analyzed. Content and semiotic methods were used to conduct this analysis. Findings demonstrate that the 10th grade history textbook contains 210 visuals in total and the rate of visuals which include women is quite low compared to ones with men images. 61.90 percent of the visuals are related to men. The visuals of women have a rate of 16.4 percent in the textbook. However, in most of the visuals, female figures are not recognizable and they do not directly provide information about women’s experiences. Only 2 of women’s visuals include a single woman figure and they have strong relationship with the subject texts. The other women’s visuals mainly to decorate the textbook. Through visuals, it is possible to get the images of women as oppressed, nomad, soldier, warrior, social individual, queen, tyrant, Muslim, non-Muslim, culture bearer, neighborhood dweller and patriot. However, it is not easy for students to notice women in the visuals and obtain relevant information about them. The findings of the study reveal that the visuals in the 10th grade history textbook are not used with the concern of including women's history and experiences. Visuals should be used as means to develop historical thinking skills instead of mere decoration for textbooks. Students should be enabled to access information about women's history through visuals and to construct beneficial information on their own. Further research should be conducted on the integration of women's history into history textbooks and the functional use of images related to women.

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