This document summarizes sexism in the English language. It discusses how feminism aims to establish equal rights for women, and traces the history of feminism through three waves focused on women's suffrage, legal rights, and representation. The document then analyzes how English contains sexist elements, like words containing "man" that can apply to both genders, and feminine forms created by adding suffixes to masculine nouns. Specific examples of sexism in words, titles, proverbs, and descriptions of gender roles are provided to demonstrate how language reflects and perpetuates societal discrimination against women.

1. BS English
8th Semester
Language and gender
Presentation topic Sexism in language
Presented by Lubna
Roll no 13
Submitted to Ma’am Ayesha

2. FEMINISM
Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining,
establishing and defending equal political, economic and social rights for
women.
Feminism is the belief that women should have equal rights to men. In
consequences ,the feminist movement fights for equal rights and
opportunities for women.
Origin
Charles Fourier, a utopian socialist and French Philosopher, is credited with
having coined the term “feminism” in 1837.

3. Waves of feminism
 The history of the modern feminist movements is divided into
three “waves”.
 First wave of feminism
 Second wave of feminism
 Third wave of feminism

4.  First wave of feminism
First wave of feminism began in late 19th and early 20th
centuries and mainly concerned with women ‘s right to vote.
 Second wave of feminism
Second wave of feminism began in (1960s-1980s) and
campaigned for legal and social rights for women. Second
wave of feminism is also called Women Liberation Movement.
Language was a particular feature and target of Western
women’s movements.
 Third wave of feminism
Third wave of feminism began in (1980s-2000) and
campaigned for representation of women at all levels of
government.

5.  Sexism
 Sexism is discrimination of a person based on their gender.
 Sexist language
 Sexist language is language that express bias in favor of one sex
and thus treats the other sex in a discriminatory manner. This bias
is in favor of men and against women. Thus the language is
presented as a powerful tool of patriarchy.
 The existence of sexist language is due to sexism in society .In the
past women are supposed to stay at home , remaining powerless
and generally subordinate to man, whereas men are considered as
the center both in the family and society.

6.  According to Hudson sexism in English language has
existed for a long time , which is reflected of the
traditional ethics that men are superior to women . In
this order of idea Deborah Cameron work , reveals that
men originate from Mars and women originate from
Venus. Given this evidence that some gender differences
do exist. Thus as a special social phenomenon , sexism is
inevitably through language and sexism in language
reflects sexism in society. Weitz (2003) has highlighted
that throughout history women’s bodies have centrally
affected the structures within which women live. Females
are described as passive, for example Mother Nature
objects such as cars and boats are mostly deemed
female.

7. Sexism in English
English language is a sexist language it become clear from the
following observations.
Taking into account the fact that humanity is divided into two
spheres: the sphere of males and the spheres of females, it can be
revealed a major ambiguity concerning the subject if the language is
made by men or by women .Even though, English countries claim
that all people are born equal ,there are a lot of inequalities between
men and women. It is put stress on this topic because according to
sociolinguistics research, this inequality is reflected in language and
this phenomena sexism in language represents one of the major
issues in sociolinguistic studies.

8. Sexism in words
 In English there are many words ,which are clearly male-
oriented in that they contain the element “man” while they
can in fact apply to both sexes.
For example
 Chairman ,congressman , policeman ,newsman, mailman ,
salesman etc.

9.  Sexism in English is also showed in the noun of feminine gender can
only be obtained by adding a certain bound morpheme to a noun.
For example:
Man woman
Manager manageress
Hero heroine
God goddess
 Some English words, especially the name of some professions, are
basically of common gender ,can be applied to both sexes.

10. For example:
Doctor lady doctor
Professor woman professor
Lawyer lady lawyer
 According to Robin Lakoff that a sexist language take male -as –
norm attitude while female norms have a less positive connotation
than males. Thus Lakoff uses the example of ;
Master vs mistress to make the point that there are unequal
connotations that surround these two unequal terms.

11.  Germaine Greer, in her book Female Eunuch (1972) notes how
‘terms of endearment’ for women are also terms for food like;
honey, sweetie, sugar .By calling women with such names shows
women oppressed condition in society.
 The way women get addressed by Miss, Mrs , or Ms , shows
their marital status while men are only addressed by Mr . which
is a term that shows their gender, not marital status.
 Stereotyped images of men and women are based on
oversimplified generalizations of what women and men should
be and how they should behave. Such images are often not only
inaccurate but also severely hamper the representation of the
changing roles of the sexes in society.

12. For example:
 A man and his wife , man and wife .In these examples women
are described and defined in terms of their relationship to
men. Men, however, are hardly ever described in terms of
their relationship to women.
 Women are primarily described in terms of their physical
appearance .This concentration on physical attributes to the
exclusion of other features seldom occurs in the description
of men. Male and female stereotyping occurs frequently in
relation to occupations and gender roles.

13. For example:
 Women employed outside the home are described in
terms of being the ‘wife of’ ‘mother of ‘or ‘daughter of’.
Portrayals of men in their professional roles seldom
described them as ’father of’ ,’husband of’ and the like.
Sexism in proverbs
 Proverbs are certain condensation of one language.
Therefore the sexism reflected perfectly in proverbs.

14.  For example:
 A woman ‘s tongue cracks bones.
 A woman is like a lemon; you squeeze her and throw away.
Not only in English but also in many other languages, women
are the victim of evil- intentioned jokes or proverbs. Afghan
jokes and folklore are blatantly sexist , such as this proverb:
 “If you see an old man , sit down and take a lesson ;if you see
an old woman, throw a stone”.
These proverbs shows that women are discriminate on the basis
of their gender

15. Conclusion:
sexist language excludes , marginalizes or discriminates
against people on the basis of their gender and
creates an unfair distinction between women and
men.

16. Thank you
For Listening
My Presentation