Article

Representing Gender Roles and Harmony In Friendship: A Moral Lesson for First Grade Vietnamese Students

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Abstract

Moral education which plays a crucial role in Vietnam is prevalently influenced by the Confucius concept of social harmony. This paper explores how gender representation in a first-grade moral lesson on friendship echoes both the discourse of harmony and the expectations of gender roles. This research uses the social actor relationship framework to analyze the manifestations of gender binaries and different expectations of gender roles boys and girls in visual images. The analysis confirms the prevalent bias in depicting males with more agency and power than females and gender stereotypes about both feminine and masculine traits. The imbalance of power and agency between man and woman can be understood through the Confucian hierarchical principles, which are also the cornerstones of social harmony. The generic depiction of both genders suggests the expectation for compliance and rigidity in playing gender roles to maintain a harmonious life.

Keywords: discourse analysis, Vietnamese students, harmony, gender roles, moral education

How to Cite:

Dang, Q., (2021) “Representing Gender Roles and Harmony In Friendship: A Moral Lesson for First Grade Vietnamese Students”, Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis 10(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/jctp.11568