A Study on Physical Activity of Girls through Physical Education Textbooks in Korea: 1980-2010 = A Study on Physical Activity of Girls through Physical Education Textbooks in Korea: 1980-2010

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore changes of girl`s physical activity in school sports during the past 30 years by analyzing physical activities of female students in Korean Physical Education textbooks for elementary schools. Method: This study had analyzed physical education textbooks of 5th grade in elementary school, which were published in 1980(the 4th National Curriculum) to 2010(2007 Revised National Curriculum). The national elementary school textbooks were selected because middle-high school textbooks are many kinds of authorized textbooks which have a problem of context inconsistency. For the methods of analysis, the researcher firstly examined the proportion of girls in photographs and pictured materials in physical education textbooks. Second, each chapter was investigated regarding whether there was a gender bias. The grounds on categorizing gender bias are followings: (1) If only one gender participates in internationally recognized competition, such as Olympic game, the sport was categorized as one gender biased sports. (2) If the sport consists of both genders, it was categorized as gender equal sports. (3) If it is not an internationally recognized sport, it was decided by reviewing its contents. (4) In other cases, if an international sport which generally consists of only one gender allows the participation of both genders equally, it was reclassified into gender equal sports. Result: In the 4th National Curriculum textbook published in the 1980s, a high proportion of girls` participation in physical activity can be found in only two ``Dance`` units, and just six units, including a ``medical examination`` units, contains the equal ratio of male and female participation. The units in which girls do not appear in the photographs and picture materials are 17 units out of 30 units, so more than half of the total units do not handle the figure of female students. The 5th National Curriculum textbook shows the participation of female students in ``Wrestling`` units. Since ``Wrestling`` units is traditionally recognized as a masculine sport dominated by male athletes, it can be said that the physical education is developed from the viewpoint of gender equality. The 5th National Curriculum textbook contains only three units in which girls did not appear, which is significantly lower than the 4th National Curriculum textbook. The remarkable feature of the 6th National Curriculum textbook is that the boys and girls appeared in the ``Couple Dance`` and ``Folk Dance`` units in the same proportion. It is an interesting change in physical education because dance was traditionally female-dominated sport. In the 7th National Curriculum textbook, girls and boys have appeared equally in all units except the ``Fitness Work`` unit. In particular, it was possible to see that boys and girls engaged together in sports such as ``Balance Beam``, ``Rhythmic Gymnastics``, ``Soccer`` and so on, which clearly separated male and female participation in the past. In the revised textbook of 2007, the new sports, such as tee-ball and netball, and female- friendly programs appeared in competitive activities. In addition, illustrations presented in ``Sexual Education`` express that both genders can be perpetrators or the victims, breaking the stereotype that males are perpetrators and females are victims. It shows the advanced form in gender equality perspective. Conclusion: First, the physical education textbook in the 1980s showed that the sports of girls are clearly separated from those of boys. Therefore, physical activities in which boys and girls can participate together are not frequent in 1980s. However, since the 6th National Curriculum, there is a positive change in gender equality in sports with the onset of equal participation of men and women in physical activity. Second, although there is a clear distinction of masculine, feminine, and neuter proportion in the gender bias in physical education textbooks, masculine and feminine aspect recently tends to decrease while gender equal aspect tends to increase, when compared to the previous textbooks. Third, the girls` participation in physical activities has been increasingly activated due to the advent of new sports, such as netball. Since the new sports do not require direct physical contact when compared to the contact sports such as basketball, new physical activity program certainly contributes to a high level of girl`s participation today.