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4A gender language

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Subido el 13 de octubre de 2026 por Angel Francisc B.

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I'd like you to look at the images and think about what jobs you can see. 00:00:05
You're almost certainly thinking postman, fireman, policeman. 00:00:10
The English language is evolving. 00:00:29
Many words and expressions that were in regular use are now no longer acceptable in modern society. 00:00:32
They reflect the male-dominated social structures of past eras, 00:00:39
and as a result, they discriminate against women. 00:00:44
The trend nowadays is towards gender neutrality, that is, to use language which includes everybody. 00:00:48
Here are five ways in which you can make your language gender neutral. 00:00:56
Firstly, it's best to use a neutral word if possible. 00:01:01
The suffix man was used to describe many social roles and occupations because they were traditionally performed by men. 00:01:07
However, in the 1970s, as women were increasingly taking on more significant social and professional roles, 00:01:15
people started to replace chairman with chairperson or chair. 00:01:24
Now jobs, once mainly done by men, are increasingly carried out by either sex, 00:01:30
and the gender-neutral suffix person is preferred. 00:01:36
So spokesperson instead of spokesman. 00:01:41
However, we don't always automatically substitute person for man. 00:01:44
Sometimes a gender-neutral alternative has evolved. 00:01:54
For example, we say police officer rather than policeman or policewoman. 00:01:58
Other examples include firefighter rather than fireman, 00:02:04
refuse collector rather than dustman, 00:02:09
and flight attendant rather than air hostess. 00:02:12
A second way to make language gender neutral is to avoid the suffix s. 00:02:18
That's e-s-s. 00:02:24
This suffix, which has been used since medieval times, 00:02:26
is added to a male noun to indicate the equivalent role for a woman. 00:02:30
For example, manager, manageress. 00:02:34
Actor, actress. 00:02:41
By the end of the 20th century, it was no longer considered relevant 00:02:45
to specify whether a job was being done by a man or a woman. 00:02:49
The female form was seen as patronising to women and fell out of fashion, 00:02:54
and the male form became the standard term. 00:03:00
So now, for example, both men and women are managers or actors. 00:03:03
Thirdly, don't say man when you mean everybody. 00:03:09
This is a less obvious change that it's easy to forget about. In Old English, the 00:03:14
word man meant human being. But now, to refer to humanity in general, try to avoid the use 00:03:20
of man or mankind. There are a number of gender-neutral alternatives, depending on the context. Talk 00:03:28
about the future of the human race, for example, rather than the future of mankind. Instead 00:03:36
Instead of describing a manpower shortage, refer to a shortage of staff or workers. 00:03:43
Don't ask somebody to man the front desk – it can be staffed or run. 00:03:49
The adjective man-made is easily replaced by synthetic or artificial, whilst the opinion 00:03:55
of the man in the street is really just the opinion of the average person or ordinary 00:04:02
people. 00:04:08
Another important thing is to use woman, not girl. An absolute no-no is to use girl to 00:04:10
refer to any woman in a particular job or role. This term implies that women are in 00:04:18
some way immature, children rather than adults. So, for example, while in the past a man might 00:04:25
have referred to the weather girl on morning TV, it is much more appropriate now to describe 00:04:32
this person as the woman who presents the weather, or use the gender-neutral term weather 00:04:39
presenter. 00:04:45
The final piece of advice is to beware of binomials. 00:04:47
Binomials, phrases consisting of two words joined by a conjunction, such as and, typically 00:04:52
place the male word before the female, so men and women, boys and girls, brothers and 00:05:00
sisters and Mr and Mrs. Just remember, you don't have to put the male word first. 00:05:07
Mix it up, girls and boys! Society is changing, and the English language 00:05:15
is evolving to match. You're still likely to hear gendered language, but keep your eyes 00:05:21
and ears open, be careful what you say, and go as gender-neutral as you can. 00:05:27
Etiquetas:
Lingüística
Subido por:
Angel Francisc B.
Licencia:
Todos los derechos reservados
Visualizaciones:
3
Fecha:
13 de octubre de 2026 - 20:47
Visibilidad:
Público
Centro:
EOI E.O.I.DE MADRID-EMBAJADORES
Duración:
05′ 39″
Relación de aspecto:
1.78:1
Resolución:
1280x720 píxeles
Tamaño:
84.60 MBytes

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