Sexism In Language and Gender-Neutral Language

Sexism in Language

Sexism in language means conveying sexism within a language in different forms. The term "sexism" refers to bias or discrimination based on sex, and it is associated with ideas about the inherent differences between men and women and the roles played by them as individuals in society. On the contrary, language is the essential communication tool used by individuals to uphold old beliefs, challenge them, and construct, accept, or reject new ones. 

Sexism in language is a globally discussed and debated area because the social fabrics of societies are heavily dependent on languages and communication. And sexism is so gravely embedded in our languages that whenever we think about any language, our thoughts often jump to gendered (masculine and feminine terms). It is not just the structure of language but its usage that mostly makes languages sexist, like the phrases, clauses, word choices, and sexist idioms. 

Gendered Stereotypes

Sexism in language

We may witness sexism in almost all cultures in various forms, and gender stereotypes are preconceived notions that might elevate one gender over the other. According to gendered stereotypes, men should exhibit agentic/competence traits (like being efficient, self-reliant, active, strong, authoritative, and aggressive) while women should demonstrate culturally cooperative ones (like being pleasant, nurturing, caring, loving, kind, helpful, and generous). These traits are repeated, deliberately or unconsciously, in the terminology used in our daily conversation. However, the content of languages is rarely gender neutral because it represents the status and power disparities that privilege males and are associated with the related social roles. The language employed to describe men and women also clearly reflects these disparities because more agentic-related terms are related to men, whereas more communal-related terms are related to women. In languages, using sexist terms associated with gender is alarming because it reflects stereotyped views in the language and influences users' cognition and behavior.

Opinions on Sexism In Language

Different people have different opinions on sexism and language; some think it is just a language used to represent the society where we live, while others adopt a linguistic determinism viewpoint (linguistic determinism is how we perceive the world based on the structure of the language we habitually use). Dale Spender (1980) claims that:

 Sexist language enables sexist worldviews. It is because males have had power that they have been in a position to construct the myth of male superiority and to have it accepted. 

Linguistic determinists believe it is crucial to focus on linguistic sexism, which leads to gender-based inequalities because language usage is connected to reality and affects women to some extent. Since people interact in oracy-based civilizations, they employ various proverbs and verbal narratives that are vital in visualizing thought patterns in many cultures.

The second wave of feminism challenged the long-standing traditional stereotypes of comparing men and women based on their appearances, speech patterns, and voices. Different linguists have different views on linguistic sexism, and scholarly books and journal articles on sexism and language by linguistics are available. The prominent figure and linguist professor, Sara Mills, said in her book on Languages and Sexism that:

A statement is sexist if it contributes to, promotes, or exploits an unfair, irrelevant, or impertinent distinction between the sexes.

Sara Mills further stated that, 

words can only be sexist in some contexts, and it's crucial to analyze texts at the word level because some word choices represent gender disparities. 

The use of masculine generic terms is customary in almost all languages because these words are commonly used for both sexes. In English, the most frequently used words are "he," "his," and "man," which refer to both males and females, and similarly, we can see the word man in phrases like "policeman," "fireman," "chairman," "businessman,"   "postman," or "manpower," "one-man show," "mankind," and many more. According to Pauwels, this language usage renders women invisible. So it demonstrates sexism in language as a discriminatory form, a conflict, and the right to possess power over another sex (women) to diminish and make them invisible. 

Shaw & Hoeber (2003) argue that sexist language deconstructs unequal power relationships where women have to prove themselves against their counterparts. This kind of hierarchical thinking might be antagonistic and intentional, or it can be unconscious and show up as unconscious bias. 

Naming in Languages

Naming is another crucial issue of gender disparities at the word level. In languages, naming highlights the unequal power relations between men and women. For example, there are more offensive words for women than for men, and there are also some word pairings for men and women, such as in English, mistress-mister, Lord and lady, Wizard and witch, and spinster-bachelor, where the male counterpart has a good connotation as he is the master and has the power to fight against evil, whereas the female is either evil or has a pejorative meaning. 

Titling in Languages

Image by Markus Spiske from Pexels

The use of titles and how they vary between genders is another aspect of naming, and feminists condemn this tradition because it discriminates against women based on their relationships. For example, in English, women are called "Mrs," "Miss," or "Ms.", which means they are defined by their marital status, whereas men are called "Mr." regardless of their marital status. 

Feminists are striving hard to stop sexism in language because it affects all genders in multiple ways, but women are more susceptible to it, especially in countries where patriarchy still exists. Laws, languages, and education are the main categories in creating, validating, and maintaining sexism and prejudices against certain groups (women). Stereotypes are perpetuated and contested in educational environments like schools and other institutions. Depending on these categories, we can sense gender-based superiority and inferiority, whether they are good or bad, and the architects of these categories are the dominant groups (men) of our society.

Gender-Neutral Languages

Although, to some extent, the use of sexism in language is gradually changing as the roles of both men and women are shifting, there is still a long way to go because sexism in language is widespread in different cultures. Over time, societies continue to develop and change, and it has also reduced the gaps by eliminating sexism from language. These changes have begun as more people are showing an understanding of gender-neutral language, and one group of linguists and researchers also endorses it and welcomes language reforms. According to them, using gendered language means we own it and are equally responsible for strengthening and validating its biased message. Shahid Siddiqui in his book Language, Gender and Power wrote that:

The focus of language has shifted from a language spoken by women to a language spoken about women. 

And language reforms at a vocabulary level are of little use as the problem is much more intense. It is time to challenge and discourage biased stereotypes like the sayings, idioms, songs, jokes, and proverbs. Some individuals adjust to language changes more quickly than radical ones, as they may still use gendered phrases inequitably. 

Language imbalances are strongly associated with social structure, and the media can play a crucial role in breaking sexist stereotypes by portraying women in non-traditional roles.