Language and Gender: The Divide

     Language is a beacon for communication in all aspects of life including the workforce, however, there seems to be a disconnect between how men and women use language. Language is a way of expressing ideas that can impact your views and others around you simply based on how well you understand it and in what lens you view things. What I mean by that is depending upon who you speak to or who is speaking to you, the way you take that language and comprehend it can shape your views, this is usually associated with gender, whether intentional or not. 

Throughout history, language has encoded gender constantly in the words we use, subconsciously you may not even realize that you are prolonging these stereotypes every day. Walking in a room it may just be saying, “Hey guys!” when women are present is as simple of an example as one can provide. Something that has been ingrained in a society where a statement or phrase like this is a formality, which hinders the opportunity to change this saying. A large piece of this gender and language argument that has been analyzed would be in writing. What Mr. Robertson told us about these 2nd-grade stereotypes in writing and how in contrast with Mcculloughs' beliefs about stereotypes in language, it shows how early these themes are created in writing. This does not fizzle out as we grow older, According to the article Gendered language in Performance Reviews, Women are reported to be congratulated in reviews for being a “team player” and “helpful. When men are congratulated or applauded for their strengths it's usually for their “performance outcome” or their “expertise”. Men are judged on success and output while women are judged on their ability to work with others and how beneficial they are to the team. Lakoff describes this in his philosophies by saying “Men are allowed to rage, but women are only allowed to complain”. In these reviews, women are ridiculed for being too outspoken and men are criticized for being too soft. It seems that there is no happy medium and the divide between gender and language grows further and further. 

In my life, I have seen gender and language be discriminatory against me, especially in sports. In sports, showing signs of pain is a way of being “weak” and not suited, especially in hockey. I couldn’t even recall the amount of times my coach has told me to “be a man” about things or a player calling me a bitch. These words always appear to be said where there is emotion being shown or not being tough and stone cold. I wonder whether the same things are said in women's sports as well or if it's just a male sport thing, which is my guess. Also to a point that we spoke on in class, it seems like the language vocabulary for men when it comes to cursing is much more understandable than women. The funny thing is that many curse words come in times of importance and revolve around stressful situations and decisions, most likely in power. So men can swear when a stressful time to make a decision comes but women can’t? Or maybe women aren’t in those positions because they are seen as too tough so they don’t get promoted? I view this as a positive feedback loop which means the outcome gets amplified when more things occur, leaving no time to step back and change. The divide will get worse unless there is a change soon.