Subtle Linguistic Cues Affecting Gender In(Equality)

Gender stereotypes and related gender discrimination are encoded in and transmitted through language, contributing to gender inequality. In this article, we review research findings on subtle linguistic means of communicating gender stereotypes and gender hierarchies. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive repository of various instances of subtle linguistic biases potentially useful in creating a text analysis toolbox to quantify gender bias in language. Our focus is predominantly on those areas that have received less attention both in research and in policy making. As gender inequalities are communicated through linguistic practices, attempts to change social reality include changes in language. Therefore, we suggest possible interventions for practices of gender equality in language.

The Second World War: Remaking the British Working Class?

In the post-war years, to the 1970s, most historians’ verdict on the Second World War was abundantly clear: it represented a watershed in social and political relations, shifting Britain in a social-democratic and more egalitarian direction. In more recent years, this verdict has increasingly been called into question. Some historians began to judge the war’s results, especially in terms of the flattening of social and gender hierarchies, to have been considerably exaggerated. Geoffrey G. Field has produced a sizeable, detailed and well-produced work which reaffirms the judgements of the ‘war as dramatic watershed’ school. He synthesizes much of the work on British society and the working class in the Second World War, interspersed with analysis of the vast holdings of The National Archives, the Mass Observation Archive, as well as film and literary sources. This review focuses on industrial relations, particularly the arms industries: where unionization, collective bargaining and workplace union organization were transformed. Joint production committees, however, proved ephemeral.

Changed Men? Men Talking About Violence and Change in Domestic and Family Violence Perpetrator Intervention Programs

This article critically interrogates the ways in which men's talk about domestic and family violence (DFV) and change reproduce gender hierarchies which are themselves productive of violence. Drawing on interviews with men who have completed a perpetrator program, and building on the work of Hearn (1998), we show that these men’s conceptualizations of change both reflect and contribute to the discursive construction of masculinity, responsibility, and violence. By reflecting on men’s representations of change—and of themselves as “changed” men—we argue that DFV perpetrator interventions constitute a key site for the performance of dominant masculinities, reproducing the gendered discourses underpinning and enabling men’s violence.

“Patchy Patriarchy” and the Shifting Fortunes of the CCP's Promise of Gender Equality since 1921

The CCP's commitment to gender equality since 1921 has produced vast gains in employment and education for countless women while overlooking established gender hierarchies in family life. Long-term research in Beijing reveals that crossing class, sectoral and generational differences, there is an apparent paradox between women's increasing access to education and employment and their abiding attachment to ideas and practices associated with their roles as wives, mothers and daughters-in-law. A reconfigured “patchy” form of patriarchy is sustained by a dominant discourse of gender difference that naturalizes women's association with the domestic sphere. Unprecedented engagements with international feminism after 1995 introduced new approaches to gender equality. Recently, young feminists from diverse backgrounds have launched public protests targeting expectations of women in marriage and family life, marking a contestation of previous articulations of gender equality. Online platforms are flooded with exchanges about women's empowerment in a market environment that grants them considerable leverage to manage their marital and domestic relationships. The focus of this new generation of feminists on social reproduction signifies a radical departure from the classical Marxist principles underpinning earlier approaches to women's emancipation. Nevertheless, a “patchy patriarchy” continues to characterize widely held gender assumptions and expectations, spanning class and sectoral difference.

Hierarquias de gênero em questão (Gender hierarchies in question)

A intenção deste artigo é o de destacar o campo social e existencial, hierarquia entre os gêneros numa perspectiva genealógica e tomando assim a construção histórica da categoria da mulher como mãe e a sua desconstrução posterior com o Primeiro Movimento Feminista.

Protecting Manhood: Race, Class, and Masculinity in Men’s Attraction to Guns and Aggression

Using an original self-report survey of 18- to 30-year-old men, this study aims to understand gendered processes underlying men’s attitudes toward guns and aggressive behavior through two types of threats. We find that acceptance threat, a threat to an individual man’s sense of masculinity, and status threat, the belief that societal changes disadvantage men as a group, are positively associated with both men’s attraction to guns and their aggressive reactions to perceived disrespect. The effect of acceptance threat is amplified when a strong sense of status threat is also present, including attraction to guns and aggressive reaction to disrespect. These patterns are more pronounced among economically advantaged white men due to their precarious position in the race, class, and gender hierarchies. The racial and classed intersections amplify beliefs of status and acceptance threat for white men, channeling these threats into aggression and attraction to guns. We discuss how men’s economic and racial locations shape their responses to threats, and ultimately the consequences for men’s violence.

The Tea workers

The region of Darjeeling has been a backdrop for political conflict since its colonization by the British in the 1800s. In the aftermath of the politically-motivated 104-day long citywide shutdown in the summer of 2017, Darjeeling’s tea industry took a significant hit. The forced closure of the plantations meant that workers were unable to earn wages, in spite of often being at the frontlines of the Gorkhaland movement protests. This paper contextualizes the research that went into the short film The Tea Workers. In particular, it explores the complexity of the female experience of labour on and around tea plantations, as well as the ways in which labour and gender hierarchies intersect to uniquely affect women labourers in the politicized landscape of tea production.

The Tea workers

The region of Darjeeling has been a backdrop for political conflict since its colonization by the British in the 1800s. In the aftermath of the politically-motivated 104-day long citywide shutdown in the summer of 2017, Darjeeling’s tea industry took a significant hit. The forced closure of the plantations meant that workers were unable to earn wages, in spite of often being at the frontlines of the Gorkhaland movement protests. This paper contextualizes the research that went into the short film The Tea Workers. In particular, it explores the complexity of the female experience of labour on and around tea plantations, as well as the ways in which labour and gender hierarchies intersect to uniquely affect women labourers in the politicized landscape of tea production.

“Her Winning Personality”: Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Portrayals of Females in Sport

At the intersection of fourth-wave feminism and third-wave sports media research, this critical discourse analysis will focus on the ways in which gender hierarchy and gender expectations are manifested in articles on ESPN.com. Through the investigation of sports media framing techniques, the ESPN articles in examination construct an idealized female identity within sports through the language used. This narrow view of female athletes allows for the power and influence that sports media has to construct gender hierarchies in the media landscape. Using Fairclough’s (1989) method of conducting a critical discourse analysis, the prevalent sports media sentiments about Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, and Serena Williams will illustrate the sexist, racist, and homophobic language used. Through applying the Televised Sports Manhood Formula (Messner et. al, 2000) as a foundational discourse in sports media to journalism, the hierarchy of sports media results in the use of character framing techniques for sportswomen. When aspects like ambivalence and non-sports related information are emphasized, these strategies uphold the masculine hegemony of sports media. Keywords: Sports media sentiment, gender, gender hierarchy, critical discourse analysis, Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, Serena Williams.

“Her Winning Personality”: Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Portrayals of Females in Sport

At the intersection of fourth-wave feminism and third-wave sports media research, this critical discourse analysis will focus on the ways in which gender hierarchy and gender expectations are manifested in articles on ESPN.com. Through the investigation of sports media framing techniques, the ESPN articles in examination construct an idealized female identity within sports through the language used. This narrow view of female athletes allows for the power and influence that sports media has to construct gender hierarchies in the media landscape. Using Fairclough’s (1989) method of conducting a critical discourse analysis, the prevalent sports media sentiments about Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, and Serena Williams will illustrate the sexist, racist, and homophobic language used. Through applying the Televised Sports Manhood Formula (Messner et. al, 2000) as a foundational discourse in sports media to journalism, the hierarchy of sports media results in the use of character framing techniques for sportswomen. When aspects like ambivalence and non-sports related information are emphasized, these strategies uphold the masculine hegemony of sports media. Keywords: Sports media sentiment, gender, gender hierarchy, critical discourse analysis, Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, Serena Williams.