GENDER NEUTRAL LANGUAGE USE AMONG UNIVERSITY LECTURERS: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN INSTITUTIONS WITH AND WITHOUT GENDER MAINSTREAMING POLICIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v7i3.1247Paraules clau:
gender differences, institution type, gender neutral language, university lecturersResum
Despite the wide spread awareness regarding the need to reduce gender bias in communication styles, it still exists in organizations and its negative effects on women’s behaviour and perceptions in the workplace remain a great concern. Consequently, the importance of gender neutral language (GNL) use in reducing gender stereotypes and discrimination cannot be overemphasized. Gender differences between gender and non-gender policy organizations has not been given much attention among university lecturers in the investigation of GNL use in Nigeria. This study examines the main and interaction effects of gender and institution type on GNL among public and private university lecturers. Using a two-way factorial design, 161 lecturers were randomly selected from four faculties and twelve departments while convenient sampling method was used to select the target respondents. A questionnaire focusing on socio-demographic profile and a GNL test was administered to the participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test analysis and analysis of variance at 0.05 level of significance. Three hypotheses were tested. The results revealed that gender differences and institution type interacted to influence GNL use among the participants of the study. Gender and institution type are important in developing interventions for GNL use in academia.
Article visualizations:
Referències
Abbas, M. M. (2010). Lexical Analysis of Gender and Language Theories. Babillion-Hilla: Iraq.
Adams, P. (2015). Gender neutral language. Singapore: Sage publication.
Adebayo, A. and Akanle, O. (2014). Gender and The Academy in Nigeria. African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. 17 (1); pp. 147-154.
Adebowale, A. (2009). Gender Differentials in Formal Labour Participation in Nigeria. In Nwagwu, et. al. (eds). Women Issues in Nigeria. Ibadan: Royal People Ltd.
Adegun, A. O. (2012). Gender Factor and Labour Participation among Academic Staff in Tertiary Institutions in Ekiti State, Nigeria. European Journal of Educational Studies 4(2): 249-258.
Akinmameji, O. O (2016). Lexical indices of feminist ideology in Buchi Emechta’s The bride price. In A. Odebunmi, A. Osisanwo, H. Bodunde & S. Ekpe (Eds.), Grammar, applied linguistics and society (pp. 410-426). Ile-Ife: OAU Press.
American Psychological Association. (1975). Guidelines for nonsexist use of language. American. Psychology. 30 682–684. 10.1037/h0076869
American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: Supplemental Material, 6th Ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Belknap, J. And Porter, H. (2006). ‘Intimate Partner Abuse’ in Renzetti, C.; Goodstein, L. And Miller, S. L. (eds). Rethinking Gender, Crime and Justice. California: Roxbury Publishing Company.
Blaubergs, M. S. (1980). An analysis of classic arguments against changing sexist language. Womens Studies. 3, 135–147. 10.1016/S0148-0685(80)92071
Bosak, J., Sczesny, S., Eagly, A. H. (2012). The impact of social roles on trait judgments – a critical re-examination. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 38 429–440.
Budziszewska, M., Hansen, K., & Bilewicz M. (2014). Men against feminine job titles. The impact of gender-fair language on men’s and women’s perception of women. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 33, 681–691.
Cameron, D. (1985). Feminism and linguistic theory. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Cameron, A. (1998). The First Feminist Critique of Language: A Reader. London: Psychology Press.
Cameron D. (2005). Language, gender and sexuality: current issues and new directions. Appl. Linguist.26:482–502
Carreiras, M., Garnham, A., Oakhill, J. V., Cain, K. (1996). The use of stereotypical gender information in constructing a mental model: evidence from English and Spanish. Experimental. Psychology. A 49 639–663. 10.1080/027249896392531
Cuddy, A. J. C., Fiske, S. T., & Glick, P. (2004). When professionals become mothers, warmth doesn’t cut the ice. Journal of Social Issues, 60, 701–718.
Dong, J. Y. (2014). Study on gender differences in language under the sociolinguistics. Canadian Social Science, 10 (3), 92-96. doi: 10.3968/4602
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M. (2014). A giant leap for mankind but what about women? The role of system-justifying ideologies in predicting attitudes toward sexist language. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 33 667–680. 10.1177/0261927X14538638
Drynan, L. (2011). Communication Clash: Gender and General Effects on Communication in the Workplace.
Eagly, A. H., & Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C. (2001). The leadership styles of women and men. Journal of Social Issues, 57,781–797.
Eagly, A. H., & Karau, S. J. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109,573–598.
Eagly, A. H., Wood, W., & Diekman, A. B. (2000). Social role theory of sex differences and similarities: A current appraisal. In T. Eckes & H. M. Traunter (Eds.). The developmental social psychology of gender (pp.123–174). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Egunjobi, O. A. (2008) Women in Academics: The untold story of Gender Inequality and Discrimination against Women in the Ivory Tower. Lead Paper presented at the seminar organized by the National Association of Women in Academics (NAWACS), University of Ado-Ekiti Chapter, Ado-Ekiti.
Eze-Anaba, I. (2006). Domestic Violence and Legal Reforms in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges. London: Berkeley Electronic Press.
Formanowicz, M., Bedynska, S., Cisłak, A., Braun, F., & Sczesny, S. (2013). Side effects of gender-fair language: how feminine job titles influence the evaluation of female applicants. European Journal of Social Psychology. 43 62–71.
Formanowicz, M. M., Cisłak, A., Horvath, L. K., & Sczesny, S. (2015). Capturing socially motivated linguistic change: how the use of gender-fair language affects support for social initiatives in Austria and Poland. Frontiers in Psychology.
Formanowicz, M., & Sczesny, S. (2014). Gender-Fair language and professional self-reference: the case of female psychologists in Polish. Journal of Mixed Methods Research. 10 64–81.
Gabriel, U., Gygax, P., Sarrasin, O., Garnham, A., & Oakhill, J. (2008). Au-pairs are rarely male: role names’ gender stereotype information across three languages. Behavioural Research Methods 40 206–212.
Gastil, J. (1990). Generic pronouns and sexist language: the oxymoronic character of masculine generics. Sex Roles 23 629–643. 10.1007/BF0028925
Gaucher, D., Friesen, J., Kay, A. C. (2011). Evidence that gendered wording in job advertisement exists and sustains gender inequality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 101 109–128. 10.1037/a0022530
Gbadamosi, G. S. (2014). Gender Differentials in the Management of Tertiary Institutions in Ekiti State, Nigeria. An Unpublished Masters Thesis European Scientific Journal November 2015 /SPECIAL/ edition ISSN: 1857 – 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431 305Submitted to the department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ekiti State University.
Gberevbie, D. E., Osibanjo, A. O., Adeniji, A. A. and Oludayo, O. A. (2014). An Empirical Study of Gender Discrimination and Employee Performance among Academic Staff of Government Universities in Lagos State, Nigeria. International Journal of Social, Human Science and Engineering, 8 (1), pp. 101-109.
Gustafsson-Senden, M., Back, E. A., & Lindqvist, A. (2015). Introducing a gender-neutral pronoun in a natural gender language: the influence of time on attitudes and behavior. Frontiers in Psychology. 6:893 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00893
Gustafsson-Senden, M., Lindholm, T., & Sikstrom, S. (2014). Biases in news media as reflected by personal pronouns in evaluative contexts. Social Psychology. 45 103–111. 10.1027/1864-9335/a000165
Hamdan, S. M. & Hamdan, J. M. (2013). Authors' perceptions of author’s gender: A myth or a truth? Asian social science 10 (10), 67-83. doi:10.5539/ass.v10n10p41
Hansen, K., Littwitz, C., & Sczesny, S. (2016). The social perception of heroes and murderers: Effects of gender-inclusive language in media reports. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1–7.
Hegarty, P., & Buechel, C. (2006). Androcentric reporting of gender differences in APA journals: 1965-2004. Review of General Psychology. 10 377–389. 10.1037/1089-2680.10.4.377
Heilman, M. E., & Eagly, A. H. (2008). Gender stereotypes are alive, well, and busy producing workplace discrimination. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1, 393–398.
Hodel, L., Formanowicz, M., Sczesny, S., Valdrova, J., & von Stockhausen, L. (2013). Gender fair language use in online job advertisements, in Proceedings of the 16th Conference of European Association of Work & Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), Munster.
Holmes, J, & Stubbe, M. (2015). Power and Politeness in the Workplace. London/New York: Routledge. 2nd ed.
Holter, O. G. (2014). What’s in it for men? Old question, new data. Men and Masculinities, 17(5), 515–548.
Horvath, L. K., & Sczesny, S. (2015). Reducing women’s lack of fit with leadership? Effects of the wording of job advertisements. European Journal of Work and Organizational. Psychology. 10.1080/1359432X.2015.1067611
Horvath, L. K., Merkel, E. F., Maass, A., & Sczesny, S. (2016). Does Gender-Fair Language Pay Off? The Social Perception of Professions from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Frontiers in psychology 1(1) 6-12, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02018
Koeser, S., Kuhn, E. A., & Sczesny, S. (2015). Just reading? How gender-fair language triggers readers‘ use of gender-fair forms. Advance online publication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 34 343–357. 10.1177/0261927X14561119
Lauer, R. H. & Lauer, J. C. (2002). Social Problems and the Quality of Life. New York: McGraw Hill.
Litosseliti, L. (2013). Gender and Language Theory and Practice. London: Routledge
Maass, A., Suitner, C., & Merkel, E. (2013). Does political correctness make (social) sense?, in Social Cognition and Communication, eds Forgas J. P., Vincze O., Laszlo J., editors. (New York, NY: Psychology Press), 331–346.
Maass, A., & Arcuri, L. (1996). Language and stereotyping. In C. N. Macrae, C. Stangor, & M. Hewstone (Eds.), Stereotypes and stereotyping (pp. 193–226). New York: Guilford.
Madera, J. M., Hebl, M. R., & Martin, R. C. (2009). Gender and letters of recommendation for academia: Agentic and communal differences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 1591–1599.
Martin, P., & Barnard, A. (2013). The experience of women in male-dominated occupations: A constructivist grounded theory inquiry. South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, 39(2). 19-26 doi:10.4102/sajip.v39i2.1099
Maruzani, N. (2013). Gender Discrimination in Retail Shops’ Personnel: The Case of General Dealer Shops at Murambinda Growth Point, Buhera, Zimbabwe. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 3(3): pp. 669-681.
Merchant, K. (2012). How Men and Women Differ: Gender Difference in Communication Styles, Influence Tactics, and Leadership Styles. Claremont Colleges, CMC senior theses.
Merkel, E., Maass, A., & Frommelt, L. (2012). Shielding women against status loss. The masculine form and its alternatives in the Italian language. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 31 311–320. 10.1177/0261927X12446599
Moscatelli, S., Ellemers, N., Menegatti, M. G., & Rubini, M. (2016). The Lehman sisters would not have been hired: How the introduction of morality as a personnel decision criterion puts female job applicants at a disadvantage. Paper under review.
Mucchi-Faina, A. (2005). Visible or influential? Language reforms and gender (in)equality. Soc. Sci. Inform. 44 189–215. 10.1177/0539018405050466
Mullany, L. (2007). Gendered Discourse in the Professional Workplace. London: Palgrave Macmillan
National Gender Policy: Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (2007). Federal Republic of Nigeria. Abuja: Amana Printing Ltd.
Nemati, A. & Bayer, J. M. (2007). Gender Differences in the Use of Linguistic Forms in the Speech of Men and Women: A Comparative Study of Persian and English. IOSR journal of humanities and social sciences 13 (3) 63-79.
Nwajiuba, C. A. (2011). Culture and Sex Imbalance in Higher Education in Nigeria: Implications for development. Educational Research 2(3): 926-930
OCR. (2015). English Guide, and Theme: Gender and Language. Cambridge: Oxford Cambridge and RSA examination. Retrieved from http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/231748-languageand-gender-delivery-guide.pdf
Ogbogu, C. O. (2006). An Evaluation of Female Labour Input in the Nigerian University Educational System. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Oladeji. M. O. (2009). Dimensions of Domestic Violence Against Women in Nigeria, in Kehinde, A. (ed.). Gender and Development. Essential Readings. Ibadan: Hope Publications Ltd.
Poole, M. (2005). Removing the Equality Barriers: Women as Senior Managers and Executives in Universities. Paper Presented at the International Association of University Presidents, 2005 XIV Trennial Conference, Bangkok, Thailand.
Reid, S. A., & Ng, S. H. (1999). Language, power, and intergroup relations. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 119–139.
Rubini, M., Menegatti, M., & Moscatelli, S. (2014). The strategic role of language abstraction in achieving symbolic and practical goals. European Review of Social Psychology, 25, 263–313.
Sattar, T., Imtiaz, M. & Qasim, M. (2013). Gender Biased Discriminatory Factors Affecting the Carrier Progression of Female Employees in Private Organizations of Multan City Pakistan). Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 4 (3), pp. 279-294.
Sczesny, S., Moser, F., & Wood, W. (2015). Beyond sexist beliefs: how do people decide to use gender-inclusive language? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 41 943–954. 10.1177/0146167215585727
Simpson, J. (2011). The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics. London: Routledge
Stevenson, J. (2014). Gender neutral language at workplace. New York: Sage publication.
Stahlberg, D., Braun, F., Irmen, L., & Sczesny, S. (2007). Representation of the sexes in language, in Social Communication. A Volume in the Series Frontiers of Social Psychology, ed. Fiedler K., editor. (New York, NY: Psychology Press), 163–187.
Stout, J. G., Dasgupta, N. (2011). When he doesn’t mean you: gender-exclusive language as ostracism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 3 757–769.
Swim, J. K., Mallet, R., & Stangor, C. (2004). Understanding subtle sexism: detection and use of sexist language. Sex Roles 51 117–128. 10.1023/B:SERS.0000037757.731.06
Taylor, D. (2007). Employment preferences and salary expectations of students in science and engineering. Professional Biologist, 57,175–185.
UNESCO. (2011). Priority Gender Equality Guidelines. Available at: http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/BSP/GENDER/GE%20Guidelines%20December%202_FINAL.pdf
Vervecken, D., & Hannover, B. (2015). Yes I can! Effects of gender fair job descriptions on children’s perceptions of job status, job difficulty, and vocational self-efficacy. Social Psychology. 46 76–92. 10.1027/1864-9335/a000229
Vervecken, D., Hannover, B., & Wolter, I. (2013). Changing expectations: how gender-fair job descriptions impact children’s perceptions and interest regarding traditionally male occupations. Journal of Vocational Behaviour. 82 208–220. 10.1016/j.jvb.2013.01.008
Wood, W., & Runger, D. (2016). Psychology of habit. Annual Review Psychology. 67 111–11.26. 10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033417
Yusuf, Y. (2006). Language mirror, weapon and shield. Inaugural lecture series 187 of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Ile-Ife: OAU Press.
World Bank (2005). Gender Equality as Smart Economic: A World Bank Group Gender Action Plan (Fiscal Year 2007-2010). Washington DC.
