THE REPRESENTATION OF RACE AND GENDER IN A NEW GEOLOGY TEXTBOOK

It is important that students know a career in the field of geology is open to every gender and race. Introductory textbooks can help to convey this information. Bush and Mattox (2020) examined the racial and gender equality portrayed in geology textbooks. Of the 499 identifiable geologists, they found that 69% were male, and nearly 90% were Caucasian. After reviewing this study, we replicated it on the new textbook “Focus on Geology'' by Kortz and Smay. In this textbook, 50 total geologists were shown. Out of those 50, 23 (46%) were female, 20 (40%) were male, and 7 (14%) were of unknown gender. Out of these females, 18 (78%) were Caucasian, 3 (13%) were African American, 1 (4%) was Asian, and 1 (4%) was Latino. Out of the males, 11 (55%) were Caucasian, 5 (25%) were African American, and 4 (20%) were unknown. Additionally, we researched whether the geologists were photographed indoors or outdoors. 15 (30%) were photographed inside, 34 (68%) outside, and 1 (2%) was unknown. Although the data show the highest percentages of Caucasian scientists in the “Focus on Geology” textbook, there was a higher representation of identifiable minorities compared to other textbooks. We can see that authors Kortz and Smay chose to have a higher percentage of women shown as scientists in their textbook. Being that these authors are both female, we can see why this would be an important aspect of the photo selection. In order to continue to increase the number of women and minorities shown in textbooks, we encourage authors to be purposeful in their representation of geologists. Since the appeal of working outside does not necessarily relate to a diversity of people into the field of geology, we also recommend that authors include photos of geologists working both indoors and outdoors to show the broad environments one could work in, if they choose the field of geological science.