Dalarna University's logo and link to the university's website

The purpose of the thesis is to examine how women are represented in questions in history textbooks and to evaluate the quality of the questions. Additionally, it aims to explore how women are portrayed in historical contexts and to highlight how such portrayals might influence students' understanding of history.

The material includes six history textbooks from different time periods from 1967 to 2012. The method used is content analysis based on a modified version of the SOLO taxonomy, aimed to assess both the quality of the questions and their representation of gender roles. The textbooks were analyzed to see how the quality and complexity of the questions have changed over time, how gender representation is reflected in the questions, and how these can foster critical thinking and an awareness of history.

The results show that the questions in these history textbooks reflect an imbalance in gender representation, with women only being mentioned in questions from 2008 onwards. Even though both women and men are included in questions from that point, many of the questions focus more on men's perspectives, while women's roles are not highlighted in a way that encourages deeper understanding. The study also shows that most questions focus on basic understanding, where students are expected to link facts without much analysis. Although fewer questions encourage deeper analysis, there is a noticeable shift over time towards more in-depth understanding.

The conclusion is that there is uneven representation of women in the questions in history textbooks, which impacts how women are portrayed in history. To foster critical thinking and a deeper understanding of history, a more balanced and inclusive representation of women is necessary. This would provide students with a more accurate and well-rounded view of history, where women's roles are also highlighted.