Finnish textbooks marginalise women in prehistory, study finds

Finnish history textbooks present a narrow and gender-biased view of the past, with men making up 80 per cent of the figures shown, according to a study reported by Yle.

Archaeologist Ilari Aalto and Lauri Kemppinen, a docent at the University of Turku, examined history textbooks used in the fifth and sixth grades. The international study also compared Finnish textbooks with those used in other Nordic countries.

“The way prehistoric times are dealt with in Finnish books is still very conservative,” Aalto said.

The researchers had expected gender bias to be less visible in teaching about prehistory, since archaeological finds provide information about women and men in roughly equal measure.

Women shown as passive

Women are generally portrayed as passive in the textbooks. The books describe women’s clothes and jewellery, but do not explain that women made them themselves.

Trading is also associated exclusively with men, although many Iron Age women’s graves contain weights and coins, which were used in commerce.

Illustrations often reinforce traditional gender roles more strongly than the text. Women are shown preparing food, caring for children and working with soft materials, while men make stone objects and forge iron.

“Men invent everything and drive history forward, while women mainly sit at home,” Aalto said.

Norway and Iceland offer broader perspectives

The difference is particularly clear when Finland is compared with Norway. Norwegian textbooks, for example, explain that no Viking ship would have sailed without sails made by women.

One Norwegian map of Sápmi is shown upside down to highlight how the world looks from that perspective.

“It is shown at the centre, from the viewpoint of how the world looks from here. This is something I would like to see in Finnish textbooks,” Aalto said.

History is no longer taught as a separate subject in Norway, where it has been combined with social studies. Aalto said this makes it possible to compare history with the present.

Icelandic textbooks state directly that both women and men took part in Viking expeditions.

Aalto criticises the direction of the curriculum

The 2014 curriculum changed the way history is studied, but Aalto said development also took a wrong turn.

“Men and women disappeared, and were replaced by vague communities. Children need figures they can identify with,” he said.

Textbook authors have tried to avoid referring to gender altogether, instead writing about tribes, communities and peoples. Aalto said this makes the past harder for children to understand.

“For a 12-year-old, it is easier to understand history in which people take part: women, men, children and elderly people,” he said.

Suontaa burial could highlight diversity

Aalto pointed to a burial discovered in Suontaa, Hattula, in 1968. A person was found buried with swords and wearing women’s clothing. Later DNA studies showed that the person had an extra chromosome, XXY.

“It would be extremely important to include this in current history textbooks, because it would highlight the diversity that Finnish history textbooks need,” Aalto said.

The find raises questions about how people whose gender differed from the norm were treated in Finland’s past.

Aalto also noted that for most of history, people in the Nordic region lived in very small communities. Work was not divided along gender lines, he said, because everyone had to contribute for the community to survive.