|5| The Language of Men and Women (Level 1)

Text level 1

Thinking and language influence* each other. Some scientists seriously believe that one can not exist* without the other. As human beings we have been around for at least two million years, maybe as much as four million years. But we have only had a well developed language for 50 or maybe 100,000 years. Most human societies have always been dominated* by men. Their language ruled the early farming settlements*. Their language was used to write our first laws. Their language still dominates our daily life. During the twentieth century we increased our efforts* towards equality* between men and women, but it seems as if the language of the men has held back our progress. It is only in the last 40 years that people have begun to understand the problem. It is both the words we choose, our grammar, and our style that send the wrong signals. For the reason of equality we now try to find words that do not discriminate* or insult women. A word like chairman is replaced by chairperson, salesmen become sales assistants, and so on. Instead of using the word mankind we choose humanity as the two words mean the same thing. In grammar, one of the problems is that the words he and his are used when the sex of a person isn't known. We have no neutral word. Listen to this example: "A student at this university remembers our rules all his life". Are there no female students? Of course, there are. Let's take two examples of prejudice*: Here is the first example: "Also a managing director is supposed to address his clients with respect" The speaker seems to think that managing directors are all men. Here is the second example: "Any teacher surely understands that she must work for a low pay". This person seems to think that teachers are all women. Newspaper headlines are often biased*. "Clinton faces trial", "Hillary's on the go" are two examples where the man is referred to by his surname and the woman by her first name. Studies seem to indicate that since the 1960's changes are beginning to happen. One study, by R. L. Cooper in 1984, shows the use of the two words he and man fell from about 12 in 5,000 words to about 4. Things might have been different if God had been a black woman in stead of a white man. Let's end off with a riddle*. Can you solve it? A man and his son get involved in a car accident. The father is killed instantly*. The son survives and is taken to hospital. They need to operate on him. The surgeon* sees the boy and says, " I cannot operate on this boy, he's my son." How is that possible?