What Are Gender Differences In Language

Language for society is important especially when it is used to communicate between one another. Language and gender are related in a way that the language and the settings that the language that we use differentiates the two genders. Most of the time, males are considered to be more dominant and that females are less dominant in the way they use the language in different context as well as the tone that is used when they speak. For example, “what a lovely idea!” used by females and “what an awesome idea!” used by males. Gender biases in language can also relate as there are certain terms or words that are used where its basic form refers to the description of men and not used to describe women. The under-generalization of the two genders

It is quite common that some people have this mindset where they think that males are more dominant than females. Males especially have this mentality because the believe that their masculinity, tough, strong figure and their tone of voice portray them as more dominant while females are seen to be more soft spoken, elegant and also believed to have a smaller body frame. Another representation of this would be that the two genders do not generalize certain activities that is able to carried out by both genders. For example, men do not see woman to be able to fight as they see women to be weak because of their smaller frame. At the same time, women think that men do not go shopping as it is most common that women go shopping. These accusations are also known as gender stereotypes where certain activities are done by a certain gender only. Most of the time, such labels construct the development of unfair and unequal treatment for either one of the genders. In some cases, religion also contribute to the rise of gender inequality. Many women especially in a Muslim country suffer gender discrimination as many believe that women are not compatible to become the leader of the country and think that men are more capable to take up the responsibility to become a leader. Women in Muslim countries most of the time are known to be housewives and look after the children. This stereotype causes women to be seen to be

The language system and the way language is used contributes to this factor. Based on the language system, for example, the use of “he” and “she” to differentiate and identify the two genders results in gender biases in language. Another factor would be that most words in their basic terms usually refer to the male more than the female. For example, “waiter” and “waitress”. The most common term we use would be “waiter” and it is used for the male. This can also mean that those who do not generalize the term would see waiters to only be men instead of women which increases gender discrimination. Looking at the way language is used in different contexts and the way different genders speak according to the language shows a lot. This is known as “gendered language”. Gendered language is the way words are used and spoken in different contexts and it can be interpreted in either a masculine or feminine manner. Also, it can mean the way sentences are structured to see if it can either be sexist or intimate. By being sexist, it means to bring another gender down by using offensive words or the way the sentence is phrased could be offensive to a particular gender. More commonly, certain sentences tend to discriminate women by making them seem powerless. Such things segregate the two genders and creates discrimination which will be bad for society especially the younger generation who may grow up