Sexist language in classrooms

Introduction

Sexist type of language is often used in many cases in reference to one gender thereby excluding the opposite gender from the talk but having both genders in the same setting. This can include using the word man in reference to humanity such as using the word chairman instead of using chairperson. Gender bias is very inappropriate especially in the classroom since it shows some level of discrimination on the basis of gender. For example statements such as each individual student should use his own ideas while formulating a hypothesis makes a reader or the involved party to think of it as a single based gender whereas more than half of the classroom is occupied by females (Formanowicz & Sczesny, 2016). In most cases, while in the same classroom setting, a presenter might be used to having the sexist language until no further corrections can be made to the damage already caused making the make gender the dominant or the norm while making the female gender a new word thereby referring to it as the other.

Sexist language is one of the most common languages that have affected many people in the society today. In the classrooms and educational institutions, the female gender is the most affected since most people are used to referring to them as the other while recognizing the presence of the male gender in the same setting (Vervecken et al., 2015). In the classrooms, the language encourages the use of dirty languages to the minority gender which usually offends them while still nothing is done to improve the situation. The minority gender is affected to the level that one feels the void since no recognition is done to them. In such a case, the minority gender or the victim will have a hard time recognizing the existence of the same group. This creates the fear and the lack of confidence making it hard for the victim making it very hard and challenging to pursue their dreams in such an environment. Such influences can haunt the life of the victim even in the society where no recognition is awarded to the gender.

When it comes to career choices, most of these people are left to choose some of the worst and ever low types of careers which only could be performed by those who did not attend school (Vervecken et al., 2015). This is evident today in a case where a career is the only male-dominated while others are female dominated while either gender can do a better work on the same. For instance, the engineering and handy jobs are recognized as male-dominated and in such a case, no female would dare engage or even have interest in it and yet some females have taken up the challenge but no recognition is done on their part. Sexist language affects people but others just feel the need to continue in such an environment since there is no other option but in the professional world, the language will create an impact that will affect the speaker in a huge way. If one feels the need to use the language in the classes while addressing the students, then there will be consequences if the person does not change the behavior (Formanowicz & Sczesny, 2016). In the professional world, when one uses the sexist language, there are chances that the person will be implicated to stop or otherwise lose the audience which was ready to listen but due to the fact of referring the audience as a masculine related talk, none will be willing to listen.

Neanderthal type of behavior where a woman in most cases is not respected by the society especially by the men was a norm in the past few years but things have changed in the current generation. Women were taken advantage of in the past by men referring to them as just a figure meant to make a client happy but not the seriousness they deserved. In the current times, females have been dominating the professional industry making it very inappropriate to use the sexist language in such a setting. This is however not the case in most employment places where the females have been tasked with defending their part (Kramarae & Zhang, 2015). Females have been left to do the basic and undeserving types of works such as cleaning and dusting whereas many can do better than a man in what men are perceived to be doing. In cases where men and women are tasked with working on a project, the males will have the day while the female will just be there as a show of support but none of their ideas will be incorporated in the report. When it comes to recognition, the females will just be given a vague comment while males will be given a great review and in most cases, the females are the engine behind such an idea.

In schools and classes, the theme of prejudice and stereotypes is very necessary for the society. The stereotype is considered to be the reason most of the people live in the reality in the society today. This kind of stereotype is very positive but in many occasions, it stops people from thinking of the real thing which can have an impact in the life of a person (Weatherall, 2015). The negative parts of the stereotype are more than the positive part making it very challenging even in the schools. The sexist language is one of the stereotypes that are affecting the education sector is very evident in most parts of the world today. Students who have lived with sexist language from the elementary schools up until the university level have more to learn than just been discriminated in the education society. For example, children in schools are given tasks according to their genders and this stick into their minds even after school. They have no choice but obey and grow with the perception even after their school. While still in schools and colleges and especially in the classes, teachers and lecturers also contribute to the discrimination against the females in the class.

In many cases, teachers will always expect the best from the male genders while the females are just participants who make up the number in a class. In terms of performance, a teacher will be very strict while dealing with a boy than when dealing with a girl. The potentiality of the boys is considered to be very great whereas that of the girls it is always termed as average. When it comes to performing, girls are expected to do well in languages which do not require a lot of effort mastering whereas the boys are expected to star in subjects such as math and the sciences (Kramarae & Zhang, 2015). This translates into lack of being recognized where teachers will in many cases and in some schools, sexist language is the order of the day. In such a case, the abilities and the potentiality of the students are ruined and recovering from such a horrific part of life is very difficult. This is the reason the society today will not recognize that females can be of great value and males are expected to be the minds behind every project. In cases where a female student has performed best more than the boys, there is no recognition and the school is turned into a battlefield where it is felt like there is no performance at all.

The schools are not the only places where sexist language is used; churches have also embraced the language thereby causing this socio-culture of discriminating one gender a reality to many people. Acquisition of skills and abilities in the society has been brought down by the issue of sexist language in our schools (Weatherall, 2015). There is no freedom of speech in the schools and classes since recognition is done to only one single gender. From such an experience, we can role in the idea that one thing is very wrong with the current educational systems we have in place. Children are raised in a society where such kind of stereotypes is very rampant making it very difficult to have the children being independent in life. Students learn the idea of having one gender recognized as the dominant gender from the families and the society they grow up. While in the elementary schools, boys and girls are taught different ideas which they will use for the rest of their lives which include girls can never be better than boys. These ideas translate to their minds and during addressing each other, what transpires is a case where the male gender is left to be the ruling party (Msuya, 2016).

 Girls in most cases do better than the boys and the idea behind it cannot allow the presenter to recognize the ladies. In the society today, girls who start showing interest in the male-dominated industry are not respected and in many cases are mistaken for being transgender or having some genes which are male related. In the military world, many addresses are still done referring to the leader as a male even if it is a female. This is a factor that has attracted national interest in some parts of the world, especially the human rights groups. Many are advocating for a situation where females in leadership are addressed as females and not as males. In schools, the males are very rude and most resistance but no one will object that since this is not something new to them. However, when a girl makes a mistake it is expected that she is given the toughest kind of treatment to make sure that that does not happen again (Nair, 2017). This is a problem in the society that needs a lot of consideration and correction. It is not appropriate for a student to be discriminated on the basis of gender and neither is it in order to address a female like a male.

Researchers done to many schools indicate that there is a substantial difference in both males and females where males are given the first priority more than the ladies. According to the research many advocates for an opportunity where both males and females are educated in a different school setting for example males in a male-only school and females in a female school only. This can in return cause the balancing of the institutions creating a substantial level of recognition for both genders. Separating males from females can make up for the lost part of the society where the management and even the teachers and lecturers will be in a position to respect and address each according to the gender. In such a case, one does not expect to hear a teacher addressing the students who are females as males. This will be regarded as being unfit and rude to the students by showing a bad example of how to treat a lady (Drury & Kaiser, 2014). Every person today has parts of the brain developing in a different level where the males are given the priority to have the development encouraged more than the females. This has translated into showing some dependency levels on the males more than the females. Considering this part, it is very important to recognize the fact that the brain development is not equal to both genders but efforts should be made to make up the void. Just like it is in the classrooms where males are given their time to generate and bring up ideas meaning more attention to the males than the females, this also happens in the workplaces where males are allowed to make presentations uninterrupted but females are tasked with defining each term they use in the presentations. This in return indicates that the females are not trusted to develop something on their own making it very discouraging on their part.

Implications of sexist language

There are a number of reasons as to why sexist language is very inappropriate in our schools and which translates into our workplaces. It is an obvious thing that the females feel very insecure and so hurt in cases where only masculinity is recognized and the females are generalized as others. The status in the society is destroyed by the sexist language and it hurts both psychologically and physically. Thinking about it, females are deprecated and ignored every single day in the general conversations and in the professional industry. In many cases, the effects are experienced even in the mental state of a person where they start questioning their integrity and capability developing into stress and eventually rendering the person mentally ill (Nair, 2017). Use of the language reinforces the sexist attitudes and also the behaviors. The languages used to shape the human thinking and how a person thinks basically implicates the actions of the person. If a country takes the females as the inferior gender to men just because men are referred to with respect, then it will definitely cause disrespect for the women. Items that are neither respected nor shown humility are always kept on the sidelines and anything can happen to them if they cannot protect themselves. This is the same case with women who are most neglected and not respected making it hard for them to survive amongst the males in the society.

Considering some of the states where violence is the order of the day, it is very evident that women are the most affected and they are never shown any kind of mercy by their oppressors. One of the major reasons as to why this is happening is the issue of sexist language from a low level in life (Chan & Ismail, 2016). Leaders who grew up in an environment where women are not recognized translate the same to the people they lead. It is not an amazing thing as such in a country like that to find females being raped and nothing is done to the perpetrators. Justice in such a case is a new word and there is no reason to cause harm to the females. For a fact, different circumstances and elements have created this level of injustice but the main contributor is the language. The continued reference to females in secondary positions creates a scar in the minds of the females. A research done on women indicated significant differences. In this case, the women were tasked with generating a generic pronoun and most of them never had an image of a person while the others had an image of a man (Msuya, 2016). This study shows that females can imagine themselves as general humans making it hard to identify a position where a woman can succeed in life.

Generalizing the fact that women are subjected to low esteem is the only possible outcome and this has been affected by the language used while addressing an audience. A person who has no self-esteem and no positive image in a capitalist society has zero chances of making it out successful. Lack of making it in the society can lead to some psychological disorders such as depression (Drury & Kaiser, 2014). In a country like the United States, the rate of women who suffer from depression is at almost 10 percent compared to the man which is at least below 4 percent. Depression in females comes from the act of gender inequality, stress response, body image, dietary, role strain and poverty. Not all types of depressions are caused by the issue of language but many and quite a number of them stem from sexist language from a low level in education.

Conclusion

Educators are very influential when it comes to the lives and behaviors of students through making them very aware of the disadvantages of using the sexist language. Students need to be taught on how to eliminate this menace that is affecting the society today. The kind of society we live in today is affected by sexist language which has lowered the level of economic growth and diversification. Potential females are being subjected to inferior positions in the workplaces and slowing down the level of success (Chan & Ismail, 2016). If companies and the general world would embrace the fact that women in the society should be recognized, then there would be a difference in the state of the world today. Potential minds are being wasted since the victims lack self-esteem and the drive to bigger heights. Educators should embrace recognizing and addressing both genders with respect to change their thinking. Attention should be awarded to both genders to create competition which in turn creates opportunities for growth and development. There is no country or society which can succeed with only a single gender. Every gender needs the assistance of the opposite gender. A society where there are only males is doomed for failure and extinction making it requires the help of the females. With this ideology, it is evident that recognition should be done with respect to the involved gender.

 

References

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