This document discusses gender bias and discrimination in language. It provides examples of how some languages, like Italian and English, incorporate gender asymmetry in titles, job names, and pronouns. For instance, Italian uses "signora" and "signore" differently, and English job titles sometimes have gendered variations. The document also examines how generic terms like "man" can implicitly refer to men. Finally, it discusses how language change may help reduce gender bias by rephrasing stereotypes and using inclusive language.

1. Gender Language and
empowerment
Giuliana Giusti
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

2. Sexism
= discrimination by sex
discrimination: the practice of treating one person
or group in an unfair way and differently from
another based or partly based on prejudices on
their race, colour, religion, national origin, sex,
sexual orientation, age, physical or mental
handicap. On the other side, discrimination can
adversely effect privileges, benefits, working
condition and result in disparate treatment, or has a
disparate impact on employees or applicants.
(Longman dictionary of contemporary English
2005, p. 446)

3. Can a language be sexist?
Italian
signora, signorina
signore, #signorino
English
Mrs, Miss vs. Ms [mız]
Mr
titles of courtesy
Why should a woman of our time
be addressed according to her
marital status OR AGE?

4. Can Language be discriminating?
Saussure: there is an arbitrary
relationship between form and meaning
 Meaning can be sexist, form cannot.
the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: language can
shape thought (doubtful)
 Sexist USE of the language
reinforces sexist stereotypes

5. Today we will talk about
1. reference to generic human beings
2. job titles
3. different grammars
4. stereotyped metaphors
5. language change

6. 1. Reference to human beings
1.1. honorifics: madam, sir / doctor, professor
1.2. job names and qualifications: doctor, nurse
1.3. Man as a false generic: the average man
1.4. pronominal reference: he, she, they

7. 1.1. women honorary titles
(1) a. C’è una signora al telefono
b. There’s a lady on the phone
(2) a. Parlo con la signora Maria?
b. Am I speaking to Maria?
(3) a. Scusi, signora!
b. Excuse me, ma’am / madam!
(4) a. la signora dei mari
b. the mistress of the see
(5) a. Porti la sua signora
b. Bring your wife
lady is too formal
no correspondence BUT
cf. Miss Scarlet
ma’am/madam is not
currently used in middle
class spoken register
N.B. Mistress has a very
different meaning in other
contexts
why doesn’t Italian say
moglie????

8. signora is not symmetric to signore
(1) a. C’è una signora al telefono
b. C’è un signore al telefono
(2) a. Parlo con la signora Maria?
b. Parlo con il signor Giovanni?
(3) a. Scusi, signora!
b. Scusi, signore!
(4) a. Chiedilo a quella signora.
b. Chiedilo a quel signore.
signore is more
formal, more old-
fashioned, less
used
signore is used
only by children
not really by
adults

9. first vs. last names
signora vs academic titles
(1) a. C’è la signora Maria al telefono
b. C’è il signor Rossi al telefono
(2) a. Parlo con la signora Maria?
b. Parlo con il geometra Rossi?
(3) a. Scusi, signora!
b. Scusi, professore/dottore!
(4) a. E’ arrivata la Rossi.
b. E’ arrivato Rossi.
Women are
more often addressed
by their first names.
Men are more
often addressed by
their last names.
Men are more
often addressed by their
job titles than women.
Last names
referring to women are
generally introduced by an
article.

10. 1.2. job names are used asymmetrically
• ostetrica /ostetrico
• segretaria /segretario
• direttrice / direttore
• maestra / maestro
• presidente / presidentessa
• vigile / vigilessa
• soldato /soldatessa
• avvocato / avvocatessa
• assessore
• ministro
• architetto
• pretore
• casalinga
• lavandaia
• bambinaia

11. grammar vs use
• impiegata / impiegato
• cameriera / cameriere
• direttrice / direttore
• maestra/ maestro
• insegnante
• cantante
• presidente
• giudice
• avvocata / avvocato
• ingegnera/ ingegnere
• pretrice / pretore
• ministra / ministro
• architetta/architetto
• casalinga/o
• lavandaia/o
• bambinaia/o

12. job titles in English
chairman /chairwoman
steward/stewardess
fisherman
laundress, laundryman
foreman/forelady
director/directress
salesman
watchman
congressman
freshman
chair, moderator, head
flight attendant
fisher
laundry worker
supervisor
director
sales agent
guard
representative
first year students

13. 1.3. Man and uomo as false generics
• l’uomo della strada
• la fratellanza
• l’uomo dell’età della
pietra
• i padri della patria
• un uomo di mondo
• il genere umano
• i diritti dell’uomo
• the average man
• brotherhood
• the stone age man
• the Pilgrim fathers
• a man-about-town
• mankind
• human rights

14. A little history
Old English
man = human being
cf. German Mensch
Latin
homo = human being
wer = male
werman = male human being
wif = female
wifman = female human being
vir= male human being
mulier = female human being
Cic homo nata fuerat=era nata umana (human vs beast)

15. language change
man  male human
(wer(man) desappear)
wifman  woman
wif  wife
homo  uomo =male human
(vir desappears)
mulier  moglie «wife»
domina  donna «woman»
cleaning lady, a young lady, ladylike, a lady doctor
(Dizionario Sansoni 1975)
la signora delle pulizie, una signorina,

16. 1.4. pronominal reference
(1) a. God send everyone their heart’s desire.
b. God send everyone his heart’s desire.
(2) a. If a person is born of a gloomy temper
(...) they cannot help it.
b. If a person is born of a gloomy temper,
(...) he cannot help it.
(3) a. Each of them (...) should make
themselves ready.
b. Each of them (...) should make himself
ready.
Shakespeare
Lord Chesterfield 1759
William Caxton 15th c.

17. Sexist biases in English
from: C. Miller and K. Swift. 1980/2001 The Handbook of
Nonsexist writing. iUniverse.com Inc.
“Nevertheless, everyone, the fastidious queen included, resigned
himself sooner or later.”
“A man or woman must learn to feel an emotional response before
he is ready to undertake the dreadfully difficult problem of
giving his love, to a being of the human kind.”
(talking abouth Southeners in the US) “Who are these people?
What are they like? Do they have any pastimes besides
fighting, hunting, drinking and writing novels? Do they really
sleep with their sisters and bay at the moon?”

18. some examples in Italian
from: A. Sabatini. 1985. Il sessismo nella lingua italiana.
Presidenza del consiglio dei ministri, Direzione generale
della editoria e della proprietà letteraria artistica e
scientifica.
“Mosca: l’uomo delle nevi esiste e non è aggressivo ...”
(N.B. The article is about a female human being!)
“Napoli operaia, ma anche studenti, donne, disoccupati,
pensionati, movimenti”
“Festa mondana, tra i presenti si sono mescolati uomini
politici, banchieri, grandi funzionari, lavoratori ‘tout court’
e soprattutto una moltitudine di bellissime donne.”

19. 2. different developments in
women’s studies
• As regards the English language, the feminist
movement started to be interested in language and
language use in the US since 1970s in Italy the issue
has never been raised by feminist researchers.
• In Italy, some guidelines have been proposed in the
1980s by initiative of the presidenza del consiglio dei
ministri, but they have never really been applied.

20. Links (Italian)
“Sessismo e linguaggio”
http://www.uni-duisburg.de/FB3/SILFI/SILFI2000/abstracts/papers/Ricci_co094.html
http://www.women.it/lilith/sito/firmamen/linguag.htm
http://www.cirass.unina.it/eventi/programma%20preliminare/giornate/abstract/Il%20sessismo%20nella%20lingua
%20italiana.htm
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4RNWN_en___IT217&q=sessismo+e+linguaggio

21. Links (English)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_nonsex.html
(Purdue Univ.)
http://www.friesian.com/language.htm (against)
http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/index.html (America Philosophical Society)
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=201
(International reading association)
http://www.linguarama.com/ps/195-9.htm (Linguarama - A EFL school)
http://www.ucc.ie/equalcom/language.html (University College Cork)
http://www.keene.edu/pcsw/nsl.cfm (Keene State College)
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/academic_affairs/hb/instrpol/nons
exst.htm (Trinity University, S. Antonio TX)
….

22. 3. DIFFERENT GRAMMATICAL
SYSTEMS
3.1. grammatical gender on nouns:
bambino, bambina, bambini, bambine
vs. children
3.2. agreement for gender and number
le brave atlete sono arrivate prime
vs the good athletes were first
3.3. Motion:
la delfina, la cammella, il casalingo
the dolphin, the male dolphin, the female dophin

23. 4. STEREOTYPES IN LANGUAGE REFLECT
STEREOTYPES IN CULTURE  Metaphors
4.1. Man is species, woman is a subspecies.
(unmarked masculine gender)
4.2. Man is adult, woman is child.
4.3. Man is creator, woman is created.
4.4. Man belongs to the world, woman belongs
to the house.
4.5. Man is a leader, woman is a caretaker.
4.6. Man is strong, woman is weak.

24. 5. Language change
5.1. Is language change legittimate?
Language is an autonomous system, which develops
independently from the intentions of the community
of speakers.
5.2. Is language change possible?
Deliberate language change is often as unsuccessful
as is language conservation
5.3. How can we enhance language change?
We should start with media, school text-books,
advertisements, official documents and forms

25. Some change is possible
• Lexical change is often possible and is asked
for by “political correctness”, e.g.:
– negro  black  African-American
– marocchini  immigrati  migranti
– handicappato  disabile  diversamente abile
• Syntactic and morphological systems cannot
be changed BUT must be used according to
meaning.

26. Rephrasing is the key!
“Nevertheless, everyone, the fastidious queen
included, resigned himself sooner or later”
“A man or woman must learn to feel an emotional
response before they are ready to undertake the
dreadfully difficult problem of giving their love, to
a being of the human kind”
(talking abouth Southeners in the US) “Who are
these people? What are they like? Do they have
any pastimes besides fighting, hunting, drinking
and writing novels? Do their men really sleep with
their sisters and bay at the moon? Do their women
wear crinolines and … ”

27. THANK YOU!
Co-workers
Breaking the glass ceiling