Gender Bias in Language
Language shapes society. If we want society to be gender-fair and inclusive, we need to make sure our language and language technology reflect those values. Even seemingly neutral sentences in one language can reinforce harmful gender stereotypes when translated by a machine translation (MT) system. For example, a 'doctor' is frequently assumed to be a man, whereas a person that takes care of children is assumed to be a woman. In addition, the existence of people with non-binary gender identities is rarely taken into consideration by MT models.
Some stereotypes are embedded in the language itself. Broadly speaking, there are cases of lexical bias as well as grammatical bias. Lexical bias can be seen when certain expressions exist only for a specific gender, or when there is an imbalance between genders. While the number of expressions to refer to promiscuous women is 10 times greater than those to refer to promiscuous men, for example, classic examples of work-related terms are only available to men (businessman, chairman, etc.) The absence of certain terms for a certain gender is also known as a lexical gap.
The grammatical structure of most languages supports gender bias and sexism. Often, masculine words are used as the basis or the norm, and expressions or words referring to females are grammatically more complex, generally by adding suffixes to the masculine word. Potentially the most problematic case of gender bias in language is the use of the masculine forms as the generic when referring to groups of people with mixed genders, or when the genders are unknown.
Why is Gender Bias in Language so Problematic?
Language shapes how we perceive the world and influences our behaviour. Using and reinforcing gender stereotypes can lead to actual discrimination against women and generally excludes non-binary people.
Some actual consequences of language bias in society:
- it is more difficult for women to become and succeed as leaders, as leadership qualities are associated more with men in language and are seen as more negative in women
- masculine-oriented language in job advertisements can make a position less appealing to women (even subconsciously), ensuring that certain positions are more likely to go to men, thus further strengthening gender inequality
- masculine generic does not depict women and men as equal human beings and makes females and non-binary people invisible in people’s imagery and memory
- feminine forms of occupations are often used in a derogatory way, thus belittling females working in these professions. For example, the French term “couturier” is usually understood as“fashion designer”, whereas the female form “couturière” means “seamstress”.
- hurricanes with traditionally feminine names are perceived as less serious than ones with male names, resulting in lower evacuation rates and higher death rates.
