Language and Gender: How Language Constructs Gender

This paper explores the relationship between language and gender, including the cultural perspective, feminist perspective, and mainstream media. It discusses the positive and negative implications of language in gender relationships and proposes a gender-sensitive language.

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• How does language construct gender?
2a. Research Questions
Define language.
What period does this research focus on?
What is the relationship between language and gender? Is it defined in terms of sexuality or are
there other determinants to consider?
What language were women supposed to use culturally? How were women and girls expected to
talk?
In what ways does the cultural perspective vary from the contemporary perspective?
What role did women play in language development? What vocabulary were they supposed to
use? Did they do anything that positively changed the broader language?
Points to consider:
Gender
Jargon
Double talk
Euphemism
Professional language
Language and gender variance
Gender-sensitive language

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2b. Hypothetical Answers concerning the Research
The contemporary time is a period of sexual revolution. Today, women are increasingly
demanding inclusion in leadership and decision-making; and equality in employment and
education. Initially, women were expected to remain as home managers and mothers; during this
times, the society did not pay a lot of attention to the language used when addressing women. In
this traditional society, women voices against insults and euphemism were dismissed – their
complaints rarely appeared in news media and parliaments. The equality campaigns by the
United Nations somewhat liberated the public from male supremacy and female sexual passivity,
and the created platform was women complaints such as abuse and discrimination were
discussed in public.
In Chronicles, some women broke away from the social expectations of their families and
built professional and social movements for themselves. The groups included women from all
backgrounds; some were lawmakers, while others were artists. The movements empowered
women to push for the creation of gender-sensitive language policies. At the same time, men
organizations spoke in support of the gender-language issue. They acknowledged that
euphemism was wrong; and that both sexes deserved fair access to linguistic conventions and
vocabulary. During this time, international conventions such as the United Nations created
publications supporting women inclusion in controlling language at churches, schools,
legislatures, and publications. Today, the interaction between gender and language is fair: the
sexual difference in relation to language-use is small. The situation emanates from the fact that
language stereotypes have increasingly adopted a positive perspective. It is important to view
gender, not as the relationship between men and women but also involving transgender and more
specific same-sex or cross-sex interactions. In most cases, the vocabulary used to address both

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sexes is respectful; however, in areas with a Muslim majority, women’s access to vocabulary is
limited. The culture requires women to use a more respectful dialect.
This paper will consider the positive and negative implications of language in gender
relationships from the cultural perspective, as well as that of feminists, socialists, and the
mainstream media. Despite the awareness campaigns and legislation, this paper argues that the
gender difference still influences the language. And the interaction between the two concepts
remains mysterious.
3. Brief Literature Discussion and Analysis
The primary scholarly debate questions how language affects gender interactions and the
relationship between the two concepts. Analyzing the two concepts involves determining how
men address women, and what language women use. Martin (1991) explains that men and
women have distinctive biological differences, such as their reproduction physiology. According
to Quina et al. (2017), gender stereotypes mainly affect the linguistic usage among the sexes.
That is men's style of language rates low in social warmth and high incompetence compared to
the feminine style. Further, the study suggests that men vocabulary is broader (including the
stereotypes against women) than that of women.
Wijngaard (1991) suggests that scientific theories often over-state masculinity, and
understate femininity. The result is that global societies limit the vocabulary usage for women to
the basic level. Park et al. (2016) explain a lot of languages differ slightly across gender. In
mainstream or social media, topics associated with female participants include social life, family
and friends. On the other hand, topics related to male-participants include anger, swearing, use of
argumentative language, and discussion of objects rather than people. Mavisakalyan (2015)
shows the presence of sex differences in the application of assertive dialect or affiliative

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language: more men used impersonal, colder and more hostile language compared to their female
counterparts who used a warmer, polite, more compassionate and interpersonally warmer
language.
By contextualizing women behavior, Park et al. (2016) explain that majority of the global
communities uphold male supremacy in issues related to language: the society allows broader
access to vocabulary for men, compared to women. Women caught violating using a language
that is more assertive or cruel are liable to prosecution. An example is a Muslim community:
they argue against public display of rage for women (Crawford, 2017). In professional settings,
however, the dialect use is fairly equal. Historically, a majority of the women found new and
better lives as a result of the networks they built and their campaign for inclusion during the
liberation movement.
In her book, Robin Lakoff states that "women are marginal to the serious concerns of life
preempted by men" (Lakoff, 1975). Lakoff explains that women use words that suit their
interests; including adjectives such as divine, precious, and cute; correct grammar; and polite
language; and that they must avoid “rough” speech. Additionally, women tend to ask more
questions, compared to their male counterparts. Beside the words used, the manner in which
people speak contributes to the gender difference (Brownlow, 2013). In some countries, there is
a strong “push” for girls and women to observe high standards of respect when addressing men:
they prohibited from arguing or talking back to men (Baxter, 2017). In some cases, they are not
even supposed to look directly into men’s eyes or socialize outside their family. An example is
Latin countries and sub-Saharan Africa.
In many societies, differentiating a man and a woman is clearly defined in the choice of
words (Inoue, 2016). In the English language, the difference is clear – the pronoun used to

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address a woman is "she" while that for a man is "he." There is no connecting word between the
two. The clinical language used to address women and intersex people is mainly oppressive,
according to Holmes (2011). Also, in professional fields, the difference is evident; for instance,
instead of dressmakers for both genders, people use “seamstress” for women and “tailors’ for
men.
A common similarity between the scholarly articles is that they propose a gender-
sensitive language. Given the society’s perception of gender roles, it is difficult to change the
situation. However, the increased awareness programs in recent years have allowed communities
to create a more gender-sensitive language and reject euphemism against women. My essay
seeks to bring the different sources together.

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Annotated Bibliography
Baxter, Judith, “Solving the Language and Gender Problem in Women’s Leadership,” Discourse
and Communication, Vol. 11, Issue 2, 2017, 141-159.
 Baxter describes the role of consultancy in addressing communication problems for
women in leadership. The article describes challenges women in leadership face when
addressing their crucial issues or their male counterparts, due to the limited vocabulary
and tone prescribed by the society.
Brownlow Sheila, Rosamond Julie, and Jennifer Parker, “Gender-Linguistic Behavior in
Television Broadcasts,” Springer, Vol. 49, Issue 3-4, 2013, 121-132.
 Gives background information on the linguistic behavior of men and women on
television. Explains that women used a simple language with self-referent pronouns to
express certainty in their ideas. The paper helps scholars to conceptualize the linguistic
difference between the sexes.
Crawford, Mary, “Difference: On Gender and Language,” Canadian Journal of Communication,
Vol. 22, Issue 1, 2017.
 She argues that the stereotyped masculinity creates an assertive language for men and a
warm language for women. Argues that the society must adjust the speech patterns to

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allow women to compete on equal terms with men. Explains factors which influence the
language patterns, including the context, race, social status, and class.
David Yaden, David Stillwell, Gregory Park, Margaret Kern, Andrew Schwartz, Martin Seligman
and Michael Kosinski, "Women are Warmer but No Less Assertive than Men," PLoS ONE, Vol.
11, Issue 5, 2016.
 Describes the language women use in mainstream and social media. Suggests that
women use less assertive and warm language when discussing topics related to family,
and the society. In contrast, men are more assertive. Provides useful information relating
gender to vocabulary use.
Holmes, Morgan, “The Intersex Enchiridion: Naming and Knowledge in the Clinic,”
Somatechnics, Vol. 1, Issue 2, 2011, 388-411.
 Holmes interrogates the development of Disorders of Sex Development language and
recommends new guidelines for use. The paper seeks to determine which diagnostic
language is more superior. Helps scholars to understand how clinical language varies
from intersex to people with disorders in their sexual development.
Inoue Miyako, “Where has “Japanese women’s language” gone? Journal of Ethnographic
Theory, Vol. 6, Issue 8, 2016, 44-56.
 Provides a historical account regarding the evolution of women's language – a form of
dialect used by Japanese females. Highlights the role of women movements information

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in a gender-sensitive language. Helps scholars understand the traditional society where
women were more passive in language issues.
Martin, Emily, "The Egg and the Sperm," Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Vol. 16,
Issue 3, 1991, 485-501.
 Describes cultural stereotypes and how they affect men and women. Highlights biological
differences between men and women, including the reproductive physiology. Helps
scholars to understand the importance of gender equality in language.
Mavisakalyan, Astghik, “Gender in Language and Employment,” Oxford Developmental Studies,
Vol. 43, Issue 2, 2015, 403-424.
 Suggests that women lag behind in language and employment domains. Mavisakalyan
proposes sex-based grammatical systems in language to overwrite traditional perceptions
of gender roles in language. The paper explains that in areas where the language is
gender-sensitive, the women participating in the labor force is high; and the gender-
discriminatory attitudes among speakers is low.
Quina Kathryn, Henry Bates and Joseph Wingard, “Language Style and Gender Stereotypes,”
Women Quarterly, Vol.11, Issue 1, 2017, 111-122.
 Focusses on language styles, and gender stereotypes in the perception of feminine
characters, that they discriminate against women, and explains the nature of language
men and women use.
Robin, Lakoff, Language and Woman’s Place (New York: Harper & Row, 1975).

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 The author provides a thorough examination of the roles played by men and women in
shaping the dialect. She argues that women use respectful vocabulary that suits their
social interest while men use argumentative language. Further, she describes similarities
between the language used by men and women in professional settings.
Wijngaard, Marianne, Femininity, and Women in Biology (Amsterdam, Netherlands:
Indiana University Press, 1991 )
 Discusses contemporary gender issues and their influence on language. Provides an
overview of medical inventions which influence the biological orientation of men
and women. Helps the researcher to conceptualize the sexual experience and
behavior of people from a biomedical perspective.