A long line of research shows that the words we use directly affect the way we think. Whether we notice it or not, our language is infused with countless gender-biased words. In a … read moresociolinguistic study it is clearly stated that 'language appears to play a particularly important role in forming people's attitudes toward gender and occupation'.
Agency: J. Walter Thompson, Amsterdam.
The effects that gender bias has on language can influence women to be ‘less likely to apply for jobs with masculine suffixes’. The terms cameraman, mailman, fireman and salesman create a biased view on what we, as a society, think are appropriate roles for men and women. ELaN Languages, an independent translation organisation in Belgium, wants to tackle our unconscious bias by updating their online translation tool with a new feature: ‘the unbias button’. The plug-in offers unbiased translations of biased words. Making us aware of our unconscious bias by translating bias words, such as job titles, into gender-neutral words. Fireman becomes fire fighter, mailman becomes mail carrier. And the reverse is also true, with midwife becoming birth assistant. Thus thousands of biased words in the ElaN Languages database receive an unbiased translation into English, when the ‘the unbias button’ is applied.
read less...
