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gender bias within the workplace
gender bias within the workplace
essays on gender bias
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Attitudes About Gender Revealed by the English Language
Throughout the age of language different attitudes are revealed about
both men and women. This can be presented by the fact that a-lot of
terms used to refer to the women of the world, contain the man men or
male for example the world female, women or the word woman all contain
the world man or male and just have a simple prefix attached. There
are also a-lot of words that are used to represent women, which are
degrading and derogatory, whereas with men there are not many words
like these. These examples would imply that the English language is
biased towards men being the more important gender. This essay will
explore further the ways that this can be seen throughout the English
language.
Default assumptions are a good case of this: A default assumption is
when you hear a word and assume that it’s a certain thing in this case
gender. For example most people would associate a male with a surgeon,
a female with a sectary, a male with a builder or a female with a
beautician. From these examples one would explain that default
assumptions might possibly of come about by historical employment
patterns. Or perhaps representation because of things such as
children’s books where a Doctor was almost always a man and therefore
it would have been programmed into that child’s mind from a young age
that a doctor was a man and once they go past the stage where what
sociologists call the “window of opportunity” they find it difficult
if not impossible to think otherwise.
There are words that are “women’s terms” and “men’s terms” which are
used to refer to the appropriate gender. However when put into a study
it was determined that the woman’s terms are mainly insulting, words
like cow, bird, minger, slapper, and more vulgar and derogatory words
are normally used to refer to a woman. Whereas the words used to refer
to a male are typically words like: bloke, guy, geezer, mate, mush or
The topic of over-generalizing characteristics of a man or woman has become a controversial debate. While both sides have valid points, Monika Bartyzel, a freelance writer who created Girls in Film, a weekly feature on “femme-centric film news and concerns” at theweek.com, argues in her gender stereotype article “Girls on Film: The Real Problem with the Disney Princess Brand” Disney has gone against their own perception of a princess, leaving young girls to believe they are only worth value if they are pink, sparkling and dependent on a man.
"Feminity." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 22 Jun. 2014. .
In today’s society we measure people by the way they appear to us. Within the first five seconds of meeting someone, we will come to a decision whether or not the person acts in the “proper” way society approves of. This misleads people into behaving and acting in ways they normally wouldn’t to fit into what society deems as the right way to behave. When someone decides to reject the “proper” way they become alienated from their peers/society. In almost every area of life be it work, school, or the community, people create an idea of a person based on how they appear to us. We neglect to see the person for who they really are. We are expected to behave accordingly to the box we are placed in whether it be based on our sexuality, sex, race or our cultural background, and when we refuse to accept this, we become rejected, cast off. This leads me to believe that the majority of social issues society faces, would be solved with the abolishment of tyranny: “Any harsh discipline or oppression.” (Collins English Dictionary - Complete & unabridged 10th edition)
In many circles of the world, various groups of people distinguish themselves from one another through religion, language, culture, and sometimes gender. People also develop stereotypes about a particular group of people in order to identify them. However, most of the time, these stereotypes hold true for only some members of a group. Sometimes, these stereotypes are just plain misconceptions that do not even apply to the group it claims to. Stereotypes are placed on people because it is a way to easily identify what type of person or ethnicity an individual is. At one point in time, these stereotypes may have been true; however, in today’s modern society, most of these stereotypes are outdated and false, which leads them to turn into misconceptions. Usually, stereotypes are utilized to humiliate and degrade the person or group; they also do not provide any beneficial outcomes. Stereotypes focus on how a particular group acts because of the radical ideas and actions of the few, how a particular group looks, or how that group is physically lacking in some way. These stereotypes often lead to conflicts because the group does not appreciate the way it is being perceived. Seldom are the stereotypes placed on a group of people truthful and accurate. Some hardly even apply to the particular group people it claims to. It is true that how people are perceived has a big impact on how other individuals interact with them; however, people are not perceiving these groups correctly.
As one speaks, usually, thoughts flow in and out, making what is said a whirlwind of terms. As a teenager in now the ‘new’ millennium, two perplex me that seem commonly misused and misspoken; the words of ‘Lady’ and ‘Woman’. Many might feel as if these two words are as interchangeable as the books in a library, however, I strongly disagree. Though these two words are similar, distinct differences exist between them.
The Significance of the Ways the English Language Represents Women and Men In the beginning of the twentieth century, many people felt that language should be used in certain ways. In "The Semantic Derogation of Woman" Muriel Schulz presents an interesting observation of words which refer to women. She claims that this shows the attitudes and fears that men hold about women. Schultz explains that words descend on several theories of why you can predict that almost always, words, once neutral or positive, meaning women acquire negative and often sexual connotations. Historically men have made language for many reasons.
Changes in society have brought issues regarding gender stereotype. Gender roles are shifting in the US. Influences of women’s movement (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett, 2006) and gender equality movement (e.g., Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)) have contributed to expanding social roles for both genders. Nevertheless, gender stereotypes, thus gender stereotype roles continue to exist in the society (Skelly & Johnson, 2011; Wood & Eagly, 2010). With changes in gender roles, pervasiveness of gender stereotype results in a sense of guilt, resentment, and anger when people are not living up to traditional social expectations (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett, 2006). Furthermore, people can hold gender stereotype in pre-reflective level that they may
Language refers to the method that humans use to communicate either through speech or written. It consists of the use of the word in a structured and conventional way. Language has been referred to as ‘our means of classifying and ordering the world; our means of manipulating reality. In structure and in its use we bring out the world into realisation and if it is inherently inaccurate, then we are misled. (Dale Spender, 1980).Language has power that allows us to make sense out of the reality we live in. Sexism is discrimination of a person based on their gender, especially on women. Sexism in language is the use of language which devalues members on one sex, almost always women, showing gender inequality. In the 1960/70’s there was a feminist campaign in Western Countries and a lot of research as conducted into gender inequality. The feminist campaign demanded that gender in equality should be eliminated from the educational system (Shi, 2001.) The existence of sexist language is due to sexism in society and it is also related to social attitudes. There has been a movement amongst feminists to reduce sexual discrimination and it has led to a number of attempts to influence and change in language. Robert Hopper (2003) made a distinction between the terms ‘soft core’ and ‘hard core’ sexist language. He showed that ‘Soft core’ language was less obvious, subtle but still demeaning and patronizing to women. It was found to be more problematic because it was subtle and harder to spot. ‘Hard core’ sexism showed it to be easier to spot.
is a type of issue that has raised many questions over the years in defining and debating if both male and female are equal. Today gender is constructed in four different ways. The
However, what many people are unaware of is that the concepts of “femininity” and “masculinity” are not just utilized to describe genders but also play a key role regards to whether an area has a feminine or masculine
Among the major social determinants of linguistic variation, gender is widely considered to be one of the most significant ones. According to research on a range of linguistic features, gender may even be the dominant factor.
In order to better explain, let me give some examples. What word do we use to name our species? We are human or mankind. Within the human species, we have male and female, man and woman, he and she. Notice what these words all have in common – even though they refer to the two different sexes, the English words we use to name the men and women actually give reference to only one sex-male. While there are many theories about how this came to be, the most widely accepted one is called the “theory of man”. The basic idea of this theory stems from religious beliefs that God made man, and from the man he made woman. So basically, man came first, and woman only exists because of man. She came from him. This is why many patriarchal cultures developed the belief that males are dominant and superior to females. By referring to Homo sapiens as mankind, “the assumption is that man includes ‘woman’, therefore ‘she’ need not be named as a separate...
How does language affect our interaction with other genders? Language is the basis of all interaction. The language we use is essential to other’s perceptions of us. We instinctively know this, so we cater our language to suit how we want to be perceived by others. Language is not the only factor in perception though. Other’s interpretation of our language is as important an ingredient in their perception of us as the language we use is. Our perceptions of each other, more than anything else dictate our interactions with each other. The essential question is does interpretation of language vary between genders?
Our capacity as human beings to acquire and express complex methods of communication has been one of the biggest driving forces of humanity’s success. These complex linguistic systems are what we know as language. Language gives us a method of expressing concepts, emotions, and ideas in a varied way which sets us apart from all other animals. Language and gender is an area of sociolinguistics and related fields which attempt to define the differences in language related to gender, and what the inferences of these differences may be.
The book An Intorduction of Sociolinguistics is an outstanding introductary book in the field of sociolinguistics. It encompasses a wide range of language issues. In chapter 13, Wardhaugh provides a good insight to the relationship between language and gender. He explains gender differences of language-in-use with concise examples. Wardhaugh riases questions about sexist language and guides readers to look closer at how people use language differently because of their own gender in daily life. According to the Whorfian hypothesis, which indicates that the way people use language reflects their thoughts, different genders adapt different communication strategies.