Who Names the World for US? Women’s Representation in Sindhi Textbooks and their Ascribed Roles

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the representation of women in Sindhi school text books and what values and ideologies are portrayed in and through school text books. The study has employed Critical Discourse Analysis as a research framework, specifically utilizing Critical Language Study as a tool of analysis. This framework enables the researcher to unearth how social meanings and dominant ideologies are (re) produced and legitimized in and through language. The paper unfolds the stereotypical gender roles ascribed to women in Sindhi language texts and the unfair and inexcusable picture of women projected through them. These texts are reflective of institutionalized discrimination of women in Pakistani society because of which women are marginalized and rendered powerless to the serious concerns of life. The work is centered round linguistic representation of women and their social positioning through text books. The findings of the study indicate the presence of patriarchal ideology and gender discrimination in Sindhi text books because of which women’s rights are sacrificed to sustain a form of paternalism.