Learning about Leadership: Gendered Portrayals of Leaders in Nigerian Textbooks

• In Event: Women, Gender, and Democracy in Africa

Abstract

A wave of research on the political attitudes of young people has provided new insights into the early formation of political attitudes and how gender structures political interest, political ambition, and perceptions of political leadership early in life (Banaszak, Liu, and Tamer 2023; Bos et al 2022; Fletcher and López-Pérez 2022; Taylor-Robinson and Geva 2023). Studies that specifically look at children have found that they overwhelmingly see political leaders as men and that girls express less interest in politics than boys (Bos et al 2022, Santhanagopalan 2022, Okedele, Kang and Greenlee N.d.). Many of these findings emerge in different countries and contexts, suggesting that children around the globe are learning that politics is a male and masculine space.

This body of research highlights the importance of understanding the early political messages that children receive. One source of information are children’s direct observations of the political world, where women’s continued under representation in elected office around the globe perpetuates the association between politics and masculinity (Clayton, O’Brien, and Piscopo 2023b; Fisk and Overton 2019; Lawless and Fox 2010). Another critical site of learning is schools. If schools use teaching materials that present men as political leaders and discuss politics in masculine terms, these messages may play a role in shaping how girls and boys see politics and their place in it (Lay et al 2020). Thus, in this paper, we look carefully at school social studies, history, and national values textbooks, to better understand the messages that children in Nigeria receive about politics and political leaders.

Using 12 textbooks adopted by four schools across six grades, we conduct content analysis to measure how political leaders are portrayed, focusing on the gender and gendered traits connected to those leaders. We then leverage original survey data that we collected in early 2023 from 981 primary and secondary students in Ogun State, Nigeria to draw connections between the textbook content and children’s perceptions of politics and political leadership. By looking at the texts the children in our data studied in school, we are able to draw a tighter connection between classroom learning and the views of children about the political world.

One fundamental step in reimagining and realizing democratic societies that are fully representative of their citizenry may be teaching children to see that political leadership is an inclusive space that values participation from people of all genders. Our results offer valuable insights into how classroom teaching materials shape early views of children and point towards how changes in those materials could promote greater gender equality in views of who can and should be a political leader.

Authors

• Adebusola Omotola Okedele

• Alice Kang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Jill S. Greenlee, Brandeis University