万物归类、
男女有别！
Gender Bias in Employment?
Gender Bias in Marriage?
Employment
Gender difference in syntax(语法，句法）
1. All man are created equal: the first sentence in American
Declaration of Independence
2. He is a policeman /CEO of a famous
company/pilot/fireman/doctor/chairman/president. (to
enjoy exalted(高尚的，尊贵的，兴奋的） positions)
3. She is a nurse/babysitter/teacher/housekeeper/shopkeeper.
(service-oriented（导向的，定向的） professions)
4. The girls are chatting/gossiping. The boys are discussing.
5. He is a hard man. (他是个勤奋刻苦的人）
She is a hard woman. (她是个铁石心肠的冷面女人）
6. He is cold. (他沉着冷静）
She is cold. (她性格冷僻）
美渠·中国
Gender difference in syntax(语法，句法）
7. John Bull, Uncle Sam, Ivan are always used to stand for
British, American, and Russian people respectively. All of them
are male names.
8.man on the street: ordinary（普通的，平凡的） people / woman on
the street: a prostitute（妓女）
an imposing man: an impressive（给人以印象深刻的） man / an
imposing woman: she is cold and merciless
9. word pairs: father and mother, grandpa and grandma, uncle
and aunt, brother and sister,
In Chinese: 爸爸妈妈，金童玉女，才子佳人，英雄美人
10. first males then females, ladies and gentleman: lady first in some formal
occasions to show the gentleness of the man.
美渠·中国
Gender difference in syntax(语法，句法）
11. The –ess (less) suffix has a minimizing（极小值的） or trivializing
（trivialize使平凡，使琐碎） effect.
Host, hostess-----host
Actor, actress----actor
Poet, poetess----poet
Hero-heroine
Ambassador-ambassadress
Heir-heiress
Emperor-empress
Conductor-conductress
Author, authoress----author
Steward, stewardess----flight attendant
美渠·中国
What about language bias in Chinese?
1) social roles and family roles（prefix）:
警官，女警官
法官，女法官
大胖小子，小丫头
Even in derogatory(贬损的） words:
大色狼
小三
2）address:
Wife in classical Chinese: 拙荆(cheap headdress made of wood from branches)、
糟糠(grain unrefined)、内子、贱内
Wife in different dialects: 堂客，屋里的，烧锅的，家煮婆
Husband in classical Chinese: 老爷，官人
Husband in dialects: 当家的，掌柜的
3) same words, different denotations:
狮、虎： used to describe MEN who are robust, brave and royal;
But for women: 河东狮吼，母老虎
美渠·中国
In the 1960s feminism（女权主义，女权运动，男女平等主义）became the
subject of intense debate when the women’s liberation movement
encouraged women to reject their traditional supporting role and to
demand equal status and equal rights with men in areas such as
employment and pay.
Feminism has brought about many changes in the English language.
Many words for job titles that included “man” have been replaced, for
example
“police officer” is used instead of “policeman”,
“fire fighter” for “fireman”
“chairperson” for “chairman”.
The title “Ms” is used for women instead of “Miss” or “Mrs.”, since it
does not show whether a woman is married or not.
The way we solve it
美渠·中国
Mr. Ms.
2022/1/16
美渠·中国
Gender bias in language
Then let’s list more examples:
The use of male terms to refer to both males and human beings in
general.
Mankind, chairman, British man, fireman, mailman, spokesman,
salesman, policeman, congressman（国会议员；众议院议员）, postman,
etc. (biased)
Revised versions:
Humankind, chairperson, British people, firefighter, mail person/mail
carrier, spokes person, sales person, police officer, congress person,
etc.
美渠·中国