How are knowledge and meaning ‘produced‘? And what significance does this have for the portrayal of woman in a historical context in current textbooks? This master’s thesis provides a feminist analysis of the two most widely used history book series in South Africa (each for years 10 to year 12), where the author worked on one of the series herself.

The work explores the quality of the portrayal of women, ‘women’s topics’ and gender in the texts and images, building upon the ‘feminist phase theory’ conceived by the educationalist Mary Kay Thompson Tetreault. The author concludes that the references to (extraordinary) women in the textbooks ultimately provide an alibi for the masculine hegemony that is carried forward and consolidated. In an understanding of history dominated by men, designed to suit male standards, women do not make history, they merely contribute  to it. The author demonstrates, through her dissection of subliminal narratives of colonialism, institutionalised racism and struggles for nationhood and democracy, that even well-intentioned attempts to incorporate women’s experiences into historical portrayals can frequently result in cementing the ‘male’ historiography – precisely because the parameters of this historiography are not questioned.

Drawing on the deficits found in the studied textbooks and her own experience writing textbooks, she concludes that the fair representation of the sexes in history textbooks will not be achieved by simply focussing on aspects of gender, as this is an aspect of identity that cannot be separated from categories of ethnicity, race, class, culture, religion and nationality. The author is able to present the complexities of the problems facing gender-sensitive historiography in detail, enlightening the reader during the process.