WOMEN FAR LESS LIKELY TO WORK IN COUNTRIES WITH GENDERED
LANGUAGE
Countries whose main language has strong male/female distinctions – Arabic and
Spanish, for example – typically have a far smaller proportion of women in the
workforce than countries where gender distinctions in the language are less prominent.
That is the central finding of new research by economists Estefania Santacreu-Vasut
and Amir Shoham, to be presented at the Royal Economic Society’s 2012 annual
conference.
Comparing languages across 137 countries, their study finds that this effect holds even
when religion, colonial history, climate, geography and levels of income are taken into
account.
The research suggests that these differences in language may represent cultural
factors that make it harder for women to work. For example, in Spanish, a group of
people comprising 99 women and one man is still masculine in gender. And many
Arabic-speaking countries are frequently criticised by women’s rights activists.
The study also analyses the effect of language on women’s choice of jobs. Compared
with men, women are more likely to work in services and less in agriculture in countries
where the female/male distinction in the language is more distinct. The research also
finds that gender intensity in the language is associated with less empowerment of
women.
The authors conclude:
‘Psychologists are showing how the way speakers of different languages think
about inanimate objects has important implications for politics, law and religion.
Our findings show that language structures have economic consequences too.’
More…
Are women less likely to work in countries where female/male distinctions are more
present in their grammar of their language?
To answer this question, this study analyses gender related language variables in the
World Atlas of Language Structures. The researchers compare 137 countries and find
that on average speaking a language in which gender is more salient lead to up to 17
percentage points lower female participation in the labour market, even taking account
of the impact of religion, colonial history, climate, geography and levels of income.
This is a big gap since the average labour force participation rate in the set of countries
is 51%. The results are similar when analysing the share of the labour force that is
female.
The researchers further analyse the occupational choice of women. Compared with
men, women are more likely to work in services, and less in agriculture in countries
where the female/male distinction in the language is more pervasive.
The researchers extend their analysis to the relationship between language structure
and the political participation of woman and their access to finance, land ownership,
education, marriage and fertility behaviours. They find that gender intensity in the
language is associated with lower degrees of woman empowerment.
Because grammatical rules concerning gender may be based on distinctions such as
social status or age, the researchers did a preliminary analysis of their relation to other
socio-economic outcomes. They find that languages in which a gender marking system
is absent are more egalitarian.
What is the structure of languages capturing? Current research points to both biological
and cultural forces as determinants of the origin and evolution of languages. In parallel,
cognitive scientists currently study cross-linguistic differences in thought related to time,
colours, objects and events.
Boroditsky, a psychology professor at Stanford, studies how grammatical gender
influences the way speakers of different languages think about inanimate objects. As
Boroditsky argues, ‘These questions touch on all the major controversies in the study of
mind, with important implications for politics, law and religion. Yet very little empirical
work had been done on these questions until recently.’
This new study shows that language structures may have economic consequences as
well. Because languages travel with migrants, studying their behaviour may be a
promising avenue for future study.
ENDS
‘Language and Socio-Economic Structures: The Case of Culture and Gender’ by
Estefania Santacreu-Vasut (Department of Economics at ESSEC Business School and
THEMA) and Amir Shoham (The FOX School of Business Temple University and The
College of Management Academic Studies, Israel)
Contact:
Estefania Santacreu-Vasut
+33 6 82 56 36 27
Email: santacreuvasut@essec.edu