The publication in 1991 of the National Curriculum history programmes of study for primary and secondary schools in England was quickly followed by a range of new history textbooks from commercial publishers. In examining the representation of women in these recently published history textbooks, this paper seeks to establish whether these books, designed to support teaching and learning of the history National Curriculum, have built upon equality initiatives introduced a decade or so ago. Are they contributing to the development of history which is more gender balanced? This paper first considers the potential of the history National Curriculum to promote gender equality and then reviews a range of history textbooks designed for pupils aged 11‐13, in the first two years of secondary school; consideration is given to the illustrations, the text and language, activities and exercises, and the authors themselves. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the impact of these classroom resources on initiatives to integrate women's experiences into the historical record.
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Audrey Osler (1994) studied this question.