Mothers and Soldiers: Gendered Citizenship Education in Post-War Sri Lankan Textbooks

Abstract

Effective forms of citizenship and gender equality are critical components of social cohesion; however, official curricula of education systems around the world often promote narrow forms of national identity that exclude minority groups, particularly women and girls. This chapter examines how citizenship education is gendered in post-war Sri Lanka through document analysis of the state-sponsored civics education textbooks for grades six to nine. Drawing on theories that take into consideration the role of patriarchy in conflict-affected societies, this chapter uses thematic analysis to understand how education is contributing to gender (in)equality. Results show that although there is evidence that some aspects of the four textbooks promote gender equality, overall, the content of the textbooks contribute to maintaining the status quo, or in some cases, contributing to further gender inequality. This was done through the lack of representation of women and girls and their contribution as citizens. When women and girls were present, it was usually in stereotypical roles that reinforced hyperfeminine roles, particularly in the private sphere. Men, on the other hand, were frequently presented as leaders and fighters with linkages to military and harmful masculinity. Violent representations of soldiers and the military sacrificing themselves for the motherland paint the ideal citizen as male, hypermasculine, violent, and ethnically Sinhalese. These representations exclude not only women and girls, but minority ethnic groups, thereby undermining social cohesion and the hope of promoting peace and gender equality through education in post-war Sri Lanka.