Gender and Language

Since the second grade or before, girls and boys are taught to speak differently. We read an article about research observing second grade boys and girls language. When a girl student read her story about a young girl feeling like she could not do anything right and crying, the girls seemed to sympathize, while the boys were puzzled by her feelings and crying. This confusion of the opposite genders language begins as a child, but continues into adulthood. The second article we read discussed the language used in the workplace. When giving performance reviews, men and women managers both use different language when giving an evaluation to a woman rather than a man. Women are praised for their teamwork and men are praised for their individual work. A man could have an evaluation with wording such as "strong visionary," while a woman could have words like "nurturing", "helpful", or "a dedicated team player." This difference in language is what allows for men to be promoted over women. Teamwork is important, but managers want to see someones individual skills, which is not talked about in womens performance reviews. This language used in the workplace connects to the first way we discussed, in our conversation with Mr. Robertson, that gender and language connect. Each gender is encouraged to express itself in a specific way. In other words, the way we use language. For women, language is used to talk about their strengths in the community, and as previously stated, for men, the language is individualistic. The second way in which language and gender connect, was through the culture using different words to talk about gender. This relates to the last article we read about the wording in the dictionary. The dictionary is  used as a tool of knowledge and can give sentences or definitions that can appear to some as being sexist. For example, the article discussed the sentence for the word "shrill" which referenced "women's voices." The editors of the dictionary responded to those who wanted to get rid of the sexism by noting that the sentences they give, are ones commonly used. They stated, "the sexism is in the world, and we just describe it." This sexism in language is not only a current problem. It has been around since my mother was a young girl. She told me of a time she was young and was eating dinner with a female neighbor. The neighbor told my mother to cross her legs because, "Ladies don't sit like that," and she was being "unladylike." Overall, I am left wondering why more parents don't raise their children to speak in whatever way they chose without having to worry if the language they use matches with their gender stereotypes.