Female personalities in history/social sciences textbooks from past to present

The representation of female personalities in textbooks is of great importance for enabling students to understand historical events and societal developments from a more comprehensive perspective. The inclusion of women's contributions to society in textbooks provides female students with strong and inspiring role models. In this context, the study aims to examine how female characters have been portrayed in history and social studies textbooks in Türkiye from the 1930s to 2024 and to offer recommendations for addressing shortcomings to contribute to the affective development of female students. The roles of female personalities in historical processes were identified using a qualitative document analysis method and thoroughly examined through document analysis techniques. The research process encompasses four key historical periods: the Turkish History Thesis, the Humanistic History Approach, the Turkish-Islamic History Synthesis, and the Pedagogical Era. In each period, the transformation of women's representations was analyzed in detail, focusing on the roles they assumed in textbooks, the contexts in which they were presented, and the language and narrative used in the texts. According to the findings, female personalities were represented in textbooks with limited and negative images during the early Republican period, a trend that persisted largely unchanged until the 2000s. However, significant social, cultural, and economic changes alongside the adoption of constructivist educational approaches in the 2000s led to a positive shift in these representations. Despite these improvements, the representation of women in textbooks has not yet reached the desired level of inclusivity and diversity. Accordingly, it can be argued that a more comprehensive portrayal of female personalities in textbooks, emphasizing their historical and societal roles, could contribute to female students self-confidence, the establishment of their historical identities on a solid foundation, and the development of positive perspectives regarding social roles. This study is expected to serve as a valuable reference for enhancing the inclusivity of future textbook content.