1 The Effects of Gender on Writing Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Course Number and Name Instructor Name Date THE EFFECTS OF GENDER ON WRITING 2 The Effects of Gender on Writing Reseach Question How does writing differe between the genders? Introduction Writing refers to the activity of using symbols or words to express one's ideas, thoughts, feelings, and perspectives on a given subject matter. Have factors affect writing, including gender, personal experiences, prevailing rules and regulations, thoughts and beliefs, and writing purposes, among others. Writing requires concentration and focus, and the time taken depends on the content and that being written and other author-related factors. Writing dates back to ancient times before the discovery of the alphabet and has developed over the years. Generally, this section explores the effects of gender in writing. Discussion Gender refers to the two sexes as either female or male, particularly regarding cultural and social variances rather than the biological ones. Moreover, the term denotes socially constructed ideas, norms, expectations, and attitudes associated with the male and female sexes (Attiyat, 2016). Gender has tremendous impacts on writing, and considering that men and women are wired differently. Gender affects writing style, word choice, and how writers depict the same gender. Gender affects our perception of self, family, and society. It is imperative to indicate that most societies are patriarchal, implying that men dominate moral authority roles, political leadership, control or property, social, and hold the primary power. The dominance by men implies that they have the power to determine what women write about, when they write, how they write, and to whom they for at any given time (Charidi & Aaid, 2017). For instance, men would not allow women to write or express thoughts that would put THE EFFECTS OF GENDER ON WRITING 3 their dominance in question or at risk. Writing that threatens their dominance would never see the light of the day as they may frustrate publication and distribution of the material. The fact that men dominate all leadership areas implies that they influence even printing firms and determine what is published and is not. Women have different experiences from those of men due to the different socially constructed roles that they play. For instance, women go through different socio-cultural, personal, and professional experiences, all of which impact writing. Very few women are involved in politics, and thus their exclusion or lack of interest in political matters would imply that they do not engage in writing political content (Charidi & Aaid, 2017). Patriarchal social compels women to deal with issues to do with family welfare, such as ensuring good health of children, maintaining order at home. Thus, their writing also revolves around family matters. The type of content that themes that manifest in women's writing revolves around the same family issues that they handle in society. On the other side, men would focus on matters of leadership or governance, security, technology, among other matters that relate to their gender defined roles. It is imperative to indicate that the roles allocated to different genders shape their thoughts, ideas, and perspectives, which reflect in the themes that both genders handle during writing. Men and women have different personal attributes that may also affect writing. For instance, the masculine gender has been socialized to demonstrate bravery, abrasiveness, dominance, and intelligence, while the female gender has been socialized to demonstrate compassion, empathy, tenderness, and care. These attributes reflect predominantly in writing irrespective of the theme or content (Hamouda, 2020). Ideally, women will write about social factors, which allows them to demonstrate the said attributes. In contrast, the masculine gender will write about conflicts and governance, among other subjects, to demonstrate the said THE EFFECTS OF GENDER ON WRITING 4 attributes. The masculine gender also tends to be confrontational in their writings as opposed to the feminine gender. Most significantly, society has put more pressure on women than it has on men due to the imbalance of power. The pressure compels women to write more material as a way of venting their issues. Women tend to write to reach out or create awareness about the injustices that are meted on them (Hamouda, 2020). The female gender will write about social activism, depression, intensity, androgyny, among other themes. The pressure exerted on women has caused many of them to develop stress, and in extreme cases, they develop depression. Consequently, those with writing skills will focus on writing materials that bring their issues to light or calls for actions from the relevant authorities. Feminism represents advocacy calls that the female gender has been pushing for over the years. Feminists have been calling for gender equality, and most of the writings of feminists revolve around women's rights in society and a call to the end of oppression. It is imperative to indicate that men dominate power in society and thus have more experiences in different life aspects. On the other hand, women have limited roles, having been confined to home chores, and thus, men tend to have a wider pool of items that they may want to write about and as compared to women. Individuals go through experiences depending on the roles that they play in society; for instance, individuals in political will be interested in writing about biographies, political discourses, and international relations, among others. Men also have more exposure to the many roles that they play in society (Hamouda, 2020). Most importantly, most of them tend to work on outdoor activities hence have higher exposure and interaction. The history of writing also suggests that men authors have experienced more success compared to women authors. Men enjoy dominance in society, and their writings are not THE EFFECTS OF GENDER ON WRITING 5 subjected to the same scrutiny standards as women. Ideally, men dominate the editorial team of many printing firms and tend to go easy on their fellow gender than on the opposite female gender (Hamouda, 2020). Minimal success by women has discouraged many of them from expressing their ideas through writing. The frustrations that they experience when they want to publish their writing also stand as another limiting factor. Cases of women being asked for sexual favor before their works are published have been rife over the years, greatly affecting writing. On the other hand, men do not experience such incidences as all they have to do is put their ideas on paper and present the same to the editor. Oppression of women by the predominantly masculine society has made them construct their realities that consider their desirable alternative masculinities. Women do not like portraying men in their dominance as they believe it affirms that position; hence choose to twist reality to favor their wishes (Charidi & Aaid, 2017). On the other hand, men wish for the status quo to remain unchanged and hence produce content that depicts dominance and satisfaction with the prevailing situation. Sometimes, they may also twist reality to create the impression that women enjoy the treatment they have been subjected to, aiming to influence public opinion. The choice of words used in writing also differs from one gender to the other. Women tend to be more courteous with words and very indirect in expressing the reality of reality or thoughts. The masculine gender tends to be direct in their address, and this arises from their social orientation that demands that they face issues straight with diverting (Urquhart-Cronish & Otto, 2019). Polite words tend to depict weakness in which the masculine gender has been trained to shun. The directness and abrasiveness seek to intimidate and, at the same time, assert dominance. THE EFFECTS OF GENDER ON WRITING 6 Most importantly, every type of writing attracts feedback, which may be positive or negative. Men enjoy the privilege of receiving positive feedback in their writing, which motivates them to produce even more materials on different issues that revolve around the (Malti-Douglas, 2019). Society has always been unfair to the feminine gender, and the feedback they receive from their work is always negative and full of mean words. The majority of the responders are always men who still want to vilify women and discourage them from producing more materials. Negative feedback discourages women from writing, which allows men to dominate even more. Women authors will always be criticized even when there is truth in their writings. Society does not like it when women address issues that affect them, explaining the negative feedback and harsh criticism they receive. Besides the negative feedback, men tend to be rewarded for writing more than women. Recognitions and rewards motivate writers to produce even more content, and lack of it discourages women who are rarely considered (Hamouda, 2020). For instance, literary awards tend to favor the masculine gender over the years to the detriment of the feminine gender. Recommendations I recommend for further research to be conducted to ascertain whether gender impacts on recall of information. Writing entails recollection of information which impacts on writing and thus it will be crucial determine whether the ability to recall information varies between the two genders. Conclusion Generally, writing is a skill like many others and requires training and experience to attain perfections. Gender has a lot of influence on writing. It determines the type of content that THE EFFECTS OF GENDER ON WRITING 7 one handles, the success of the publication of the same material, and the type of feedback received from the writing publication. Both the masculine and the feminine gender have different roles that they play in society hence go through different experiences. The different gender roles that both sexes play influence the type of content they write. The choice of words used in writing also depends on the different gender. Men tend to be direct, aggressive, and abrasive, while women tend to be soft, courteous, and indirect in expressing their ideas. THE EFFECTS OF GENDER ON WRITING 8 References Attiyat, N. M. A. (2016). The Effect of Gender and Social Class in Second Language Writing Style: Theoretical Review. Charidi, S., & Aaid, S. E. (2017). Deconstructing gender in dystopian fiction. Hamouda, H. K. (2020). Gender Differences in Writing among Islamic University of Gaza Students. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 3(3), 80-88. Malti-Douglas, F. (2019). Woman's body, woman's word: gender and discourse in Arabo-Islamic writing. Princeton University Press. Urquhart-Cronish, M., & Otto, S. P. (2019). Gender and language use in scientific grant writing. Facets, 4(1), 442-458.
