SLAGS & STUDS

Gender Bias in the English Language

Learning Outcomes

• To examine male/female terms of reference – the language used about men and women

• To explore ideas relating to gender & socialisation

• To learn some new concepts and terminology to apply to exam texts

Reorganise the list of words into different semantic fields, under the separate headings of male and female. E.g one semantic field will be animals

MALE FEMALE

AnimalsDog

Bitch

Chick

Cow

Task

compiled similar inventories of words and found that there were more words for men but also that there were more . She also discovered that many words for women had sexual overtones (220 for a sexually promiscuous female compared to only 20 for a sexually promiscuous male.)

Therefore, language embodies .

argues that it is not an accident that there are more negative words for women. It represents

and is rule governed. Words that are ‘marked’ for females undergo a process of pejoration.

In many western cultures, the largest dominant group of all consists of white, middle-class men. Historically, power has rested with men and has been handed on to men. A society in which power is distributed in this way is called a

.

Julia Stanley (1977)

positive words

sexual inequality

Muriel Shulz (1975)

patriarchal order

patriarchy

Task Look at the sheet which gives a number of different ‘title’, divided into gender pairings.

You may not recognise some of the titles – use a dictionary if you need help. Think about the dictionary definitions but discuss the connotations of the words – think about the impression the words give you. Record these ideas on your handout.

You have 5 minutes to complete this task.

MALE titles FEMALE Titles MALE connotations

FEMALE connotations

LORD LADY

GOVERNOR GOVERNESS

BARON BARONESS

SIR MADAM

MASTER MISTRESS

KING QUEEN

BACHELOR SPINSTER

The male titles have retained the original positive meanings whereas female titles have frequently undergone a downhill slide – often ending with a sexually debased meaning.

Words for women assume negative connotations even when they are designated the same state or condition as they do for men e.g. ‘bachelor’/’spinster’.

This is known as Lexical Asymmetry – the words are unequal (asymmetrical) in their associations and connotations.

Keeping his options open

Rejected, undesirable, on the shelf

What is the female equivalent?

Can you give a female equivalent for each of the professional titles?

• Actor• Waiter• Priest• Manager• Mayor• Usher• Steward• Doctor

Marked and unmarked terms

• When women move into a profession they do not gain a ‘noun’. Instead, the male terms are converted to female equivalents by the addition of a bound morpheme, such as ‘-ess’ or ‘ette’ or by the qualifier ‘lady’

doctor Lady doctor

It is suggested that male roles are more important because the standard, unmarked term refers to them. Julia Stanley refers to this as women having Negative Semantic Space

He/Man LanguageIn groups, discuss the gender issues in each of the following examples:

God bless her and all who sail in her. Using female pronoun to refer to inanimate objects. Women as male possessions – cars, boats etc often referred to in female form

Man, being a mammal, breastfeeds his young.

Using ‘man’ generically to refer to the human race – implies that men are more important – even though, in this case the sentence describes a biological impossibility

The men and their wives… Placing male form first implies superiority, but females are referred to by their ‘role’ in marriage in this case.

Mr Jones owns a travel agency with his wife, a striking blonde who mans the telephone

Relegates her to a secondary role, describes her physical appearance. Although female she ‘man’ the phones – again using male form generically.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…

Constitution of the USA

Generic use of man – to include women. Perhaps – men are created equal – but women are not!

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Neil Armstrong

Recording history in terms of male achievement – excludes women.

DOCTOR, n a man of great learningThe American College Dictionary, 1947

Implication that is can only be a male role.

This seems to show that there is a bias in the English Language in favour of males. refers to this as

.Anne Bodine (1975)

Androcentric language

‘Man’/’Mankind’ is always a generic term but this has been criticised because it implies that men are more important.

‘Deer’ is a generic term for a species – male deer are ‘stags’ and female deer are ‘does’.

‘Man’ refers to the species as a whole and males – this is why the term man has been labelled the .False generic

‘Humankind’ is an alternative that is increasingly used.

Exceptions to the pattern:

Ladies and gentlemen

Mother and father

There is evidence that the word ‘man’ naturally includes ‘women’ from as early as 1553 when it was considered more neutral to place the male before the female – men and women, husband and wife, boys and girls, son and daughter etc. male superiority is reflected in the structure of the language,

Suggests that bringing up the children is primarily the role of the female parent.

Generic ‘he’The masculine pronoun ‘he’ is used generically to refer to both males and females. Grammarians of the 19th century argued that the use of ‘he’ included women on grammatically objective grounds. In 1850 an Act of parliament legislated that ‘he’ stood for ‘she’ in texts. Some use ‘they’ although this is considered grammatically incorrect.

Review