GENDER AND SOCIETY

GENDER
FA I R
LANGUAGE
Group 3
Andrade, Kath
Paculaba, Beverly
Pepito, Jianna
Rosario, Jannel
 Gender Fair Language.
Identify
which
words are
GENDER
NEUTRAL
Change these words/phrases to

Gender Fair Language.

GENDER NEUTRAL
STEWARD/ STEWARDESS

SPOKESMAN

MOTHER TONGUE

ALL MEAN ARE CREATED EQUAL

MANLY
 Gender Fair Language.
Define
Language

“Potent tool for how

humans understand and
participate in the world. ”
 What is its relation to gender?

Gender Fair Language.

Common
Adjectives
associated with a
Gendered specific gender
assumptions Examples:
Gender
are present Women (emotional, pretty, Stereotyping
chaste, sensitive
in language
Man (handsome, Stern,
dominant, loud)
 Violations of

Gender Fair Language.

GENDER FAIR LANGUAGE

SEXIST Is a tool that reinforces unequal

LANGUAGE gender relations through sex-role
stereotypes, microaggressions, and
sexual harassment.

Example: Men cannot take care of children; Women cannot

be engineers
 Gender Fair Language.
INVISIBILIZATION OF WOMEN
rooted in the assumption that men are dominant and that women do
not exist

The assumption that The use of male job

The generic use of titles or terms ending
certain functions or
masculine jobs are performed in man to refer to
pronouns or the use by men instead of functions that may be
of a masculine both genders given to both genders
general. “the farmers and their wives
tilled the land”
Businessman,
mankind, guys “politicians and their wives chairman
lobbied for change”
 Gender Fair Language.
Trivialization
of
Women

Bringing attention to the gender of a

person rather than the job or function

 Gender Fair Language.
This notion
girl athlete also works for
male nurses
woman doctor men who
male nannies
lady guard enter
traditionally male secretaries
working wives
female jobs
such as:
 Trivialization

Gender Fair Language.

of
Women

Perception of women as immature

Labeled as “darling” or “baby”; making them

appear childlike or juvenile.

 Gender Fair Language.
Trivialization
of
Women
O b j e c t i f i c a t i o n ; likening to objects of women

Women called as “honey”, “sweets”, “chick”

can feel devalued especially in formal
environments (e.g. workplace)
 Gender Fair Language.
FOSTERING UNEQUAL
GENDER RELATIONS HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS

A form of
Language that microaggression
lacks parallelism
GENDER POLARIZATION OF

man and wife WORDS IN USE OF The father is

men and girls ADJECTIVES babysitting his children

Example:

When men talk

together, it is called
convention. But when
women talk together,
it is called gossip.
 Gender Fair Language.
Philippine  Filipino or Tagalog is mainly gender neutral
 Gendered words came from another culture, which were
Culture adopted after 400 years of colonization
 Values and shaping of the education system were influenced by

and Western powers and ideals

 Filipinos portray a mix of identities, an infusion of both native

Language and foreign perspectives and values

 identities and naming things

Gender Fair Language.

LANGUAGE:
o Defines feminine, masculine, and outside feminine or masculine
o A tool for understanding the world
o Gives a person the power to define oneself and the external world and one’s
place in it
o Provides a definition of others as well, and one’s relationship with them
o People can reflect on their own gendered identities, and battle the
definitions society imposes on them
 Gender Fair Language.
LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE
EXAMPLES
EXAMPLES
SEXUAL HARASSMENT DATE RAPE

• was never seen as an issue as it was never given

a name women who experienced this had
• it is an unwanted behavior in the workplace
no term to describe what occurred
to them, but naming their
• seen as something that could not be contended
experience helped them come to
with terms with their issue
• it was ignored by those in power as if it did not
exist
• recognizing harassment for what it is helped
women around the world put mechanisms that
would address workplace harassment
 Gender Fair Language.
• Language that admonishes certain acts depending on one’s
gender is a form of externalized social control. Sexist
• Common themes of a sexist language are the
commercialization and the trivialization of women Language
• Normalization of sexism = violence against women and children
will be viewed as acceptable and tolerable and
• Using language for gender stereotyping can contribute to
sexism by reinforcing the idea that certain words and traits
should only be associated with specific genders.
Culture
 Gender Fair Language.
• Being sexist depends on a specific culture.
• The attitude of a culture towards a certain gender may
Sexist
Language
influence the words used, creating sexist language.

LANGUAGE and
• both a symptom and a perpetrator of sexism
• the very telling of how a society sees a certain gender Culture
 Gender Fair Language.
These sexist portrayals of women extend to the:

ADVERTISING INDUSTRY E N T E R TA I N M E N T I N D U S T R Y THE ARTS

TOWARDS A GENDER FAIR LANGUAGE

Gender Fair Language.

The use of gender-fair
language in
educational institutions
and the removal of
sexist language as
imperative to gender-
responsiveness is
currently being
advocated.
 Gender Fair Language.
G eneral

A ssembly
Liza Maza called for a ban of sexist language
B inding women for in all official communication and documents
in the House of Representatives.
R eforms

I ntegrity The creation of a comprehensive gender-fair

language policy and the evaluation of the
E quality
effectiveness of gender-fair institution

L eadership and

A ction
 Gender Fair Language.
Language
• cultures and values come from here and vice versa

• also a process that represents one’s views, beliefs,

and experiences

• must be changed to reflect the changes in the world

as well as to be free from bias since words can affect
how a person sees oneself and others around him or
her