Gender, Language and Communication

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Gender, Language and Communication

• Week 22

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Sexism Language

• A. Connotations
• governor governess
• master mistress
• patron matron
• sir madam
• bachelor
• Word Pairs
• brothers sisters
• husband wife
• boys girls
• hostess host
• queen king
• Eve Adam

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Sexism Language

• Generic He/Man
• policeman
• spokeman
• manpower
• Social Man
• mankind
• workmans compensation
• Man the oars
• he, him, his

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• Part A. Connotations
• Words associated with men appear on the left,
  those with women on the right. What does each
  word connote to you?
• Power, authority, positively valued while for
  women..
• What did spinster mean originally? Semantic
  Derogation over time? Word becomes associated
  with women often acquires semantic
  characteristics congruent with social stereotypes
  and evaluations women as a group (PM Smith in
  Renzetti Curran).

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What do these connotations say abt the status of
women in society? Generally men associated with
positive things, women negative things? Shrew
from the name of a small, but vicious, animal is
defined in most dictionaries as an ill-tempered
scolding woman. A shrewd businessman has
different connotation, clever, discerning
awareness .Patron of the arts vs a matron who
supervises a public institution or simply an old
woman.Would you rather be an old master (someone
who has achieved consummate ability in your
field) or an old mistress
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Word Pairs

• Read each word pair. What if you reverse them?
  Sound incorrect, awkward?
• Traditionally placing the female term after the
  male term signifies something? Status of women?
  the supreme Beingis in languages Masculine, in
  as much as the masculine Sex is the superior and
  more excellent (quoted in Baron, 1986)
• Linguistic Sexism is the larger problem of
  semantic derogation
• Linguistic sexism ways in which a language
  devalues members of one sex (women), defining
  womens place in society unequally ignoring
  women. Example titles of respect for men, Mr
  which reveals nothing about relationship to
  women. While women being addressed as Miss or Mrs
  define women in terms of their relationships to
  men. Husband wife having Ph.Ds-commonly
  adddressed as Dr Mrs. How is a womans identity
  subsumed?

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Generic He/Man

• What image comes to your mind when reading the
  words?
• Do you visualize women, women and men together,
  or men alone? Only men
• he/man language frequently results in
  cognitive confusion or misunderstanding
• How can sexist language be changed? Individuals
  (you me), organizations
• Ms for Miss Mrs, Alternating the order of
  feminine masculine nouns and pronouns
• She/he, or he and she or they for he/man
• Police officer, spokesperson, businessperson

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Do Women Men Speak Different Language

• Deborah Tannem (1990,1994 ab) argues women men
  are of different speech communities
• Different communication styles and goals.
• Women men speak different genderlects just as
  people from cultures speak different dialects.
• Women speak hear a language of intimacy
  connection. Men uses language of status
  independence.
• Therefore, when women men converse, the
  conversations often become product of two
  different cultures resulting in misunderstanding.
• Some studies using large sample found few
  communication differences among gender, but both
  women men communication patterns and styles are
  influenced by situational factors sex of the
  receiver, the context, the perceived status of
  both speaker and receiver.

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• On listening reactions, few differences between
  female and male listeners except female gave more
  active understanding responses (explicit
  acknowledgment of the speakers feelings) when
  the speaker was a female friend. Is communication
  an interactive process affected by a variety of
  factors of which gender is only one?
• Many researchers observed gender inequality
  characterizes much daily communication,
  reflecting differences in mens and womens life
  experiences, social status, power (Henley et al.,
  1985)

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In cross-sex conversations, men are found to do
more of the talking which in many situations give
them more opportunity to express their opinions
(business meetings). Plus men have more success
than women in getting the conversation focused on
topics. Listeners of both sexes more actively
attend to men when they speak than to women
speakers (McConnell-Ginet, 1989).Non verbal
communication of men in cross-sex interaction
dominant. They control more space than women,
they invade womens personal space more than
women invade mens by standing closer to them,
and by touching and staring at them more.
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• Women tend to avert their eyes when stared at by
  men, but they also smile and laugh more than men
  whether they are happy or not, a gesture viewed
  as both social and submissive.
• Research on same-sex conversation showed that in
  all female groups, women talk more than men do in
  all male groups.
• Men prefer to talk more about sports, work women
  prefer to indulge more about personal topics
  (Bischoping, 1993).

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Women conversations are less individualistic and
more dynamic than mens conversation in same-sex
interaction. Women enlarge on and acknowledge one
anothers contributions, respond to
conversationalists attempts to introduce
topics..Although interruptions are frequent in
womens conversations, these are typically
supportive rather than aggressiveWomens
conversations are being stereotyped as gossiping
whereas mens conversations with another are
regarded as more serious and important.
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• Wld these negative traits and consequences of
  communication differences associated exclusively
  with women have to do with men having greater
  power to define acceptable standards of
  communication? Obviously, womens communications
  are considered not only different from mens, but
  also typically inferior (Lakoff, 1990)

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Is the Situation Changing ?

• Some evidence the situation may be changing.
• Berryman-Fink (1994)-no difference in how women
  men (sups, peers, or subordinates) rated the
  communication competency of women in the work
  place. In self-evaluations, women rated their
  communication competency lower than others rated
  men. Women need to develop greater self
  confidence in certain communication settings.

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http//www.filmakers.com/WOMEN.htmlBody
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Increase Visibility 7 secrets of successful
women (Donna Brooks Lynn Brooks
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The former president of Bryn Mawr College advises
taking an interest in wider business areas that
will carry you into situations with more sr
people. She recommends taking advantage of teams
committees, volunteering engaging with people
socially. She sees the need to develop
partnerships..
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• Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton agrees saying
  that it can be difficult for a woman to speak up
  in a roomespecially in a political environment.
  It takes some gumption to jump in. But women are
  bringing in a certain culture, how they behave.

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Karen, now president of a large publishing
company, wanted to be recognized earlier in her
career. However, she realizes that there were
many ingrained ideas within organizations. Men
talk to men more often. Mens names are mentioned
in decisions more often. They are just more
visible. Women are not often as deft at
self-promotion
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• Dianne, A Director, Agrees That Women Need To
  Take Advantage Of Opportunities-even In Places
  Like Hallways Elevators-and Talk To Sr Managers
  Whenever Possible..As A Manager, Management By
  Walking Around Is Also Important To Her

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• A friend of the author at Merck feels that
  femininity brings something to the workplace that
  didnt exist before, such as higher-level
  teamwork team units that resemble the family
  structure. She says women do it all the time at
  home. Older women may still look like masculine
  leaders because thats how they succeeded,
  that have maintained that image. However, at
  Merck, theres a group of women who purposely
  wear red jackets at team meetings, to introduce
  color into the group to show an easy leadership
  style, but one of authority. The color you wear
  may depend on the type of meeting the authority
  you want to show. Subtle details in appearance
  can mean a lot.