Toward Gendered Intercultural Competence: Reconceptualising Gender Bias in EFL Textbooks as an Intercultural Education Problem

Abstract

Gender continues to shape individuals’ experiences, opportunities, and self-perceptions within educational contexts that are often assumed to be neutral or progressive. At the same time, intercultural competence (IC) has gained increasing prominence as a key educational goal in response to globalisation and cultural diversity. Despite this, influential intercultural competence frameworks tend to conceptualise culture primarily through nationality and/or ethnicity, leaving gender largely under-theorised. This article argues that widely used models of IC remain theoretically incomplete due to their limited engagement with gender as a cultural dimension, despite its central role in identity formation, power relations, and everyday interaction. Focusing on the frameworks proposed by Byram (1997) and Deardorff (2006), the paper emphasises the integration of gender as an explicit analytical and pedagogical dimension of IC. Adopting a conceptual approach, the study examines how gendered representations in educational materials mediate intercultural meaning, using English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks as a key illustrative site. It proposes Gendered Intercultural Competence (GIC) as a reconceptualisation of IC, positioning gender as a constitutive dimension of attitudes, knowledge, skills, and critical awareness. In doing so, the article contributes to ongoing discussions on inclusive and socially responsive education and highlights the need for theoretical models and curricular approaches that more accurately reflect learners’ identities in culturally diverse classrooms.