{"id":452,"date":"2020-02-15T19:25:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T19:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/upgrade-stop\/?p=452"},"modified":"2020-08-21T14:25:28","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T13:25:28","slug":"a-giant-leap-for-mankind-but-what-about-women-the-role-of-system-justifying-ideologies-in-predicting-attitudes-toward-sexist-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/a-giant-leap-for-mankind-but-what-about-women-the-role-of-system-justifying-ideologies-in-predicting-attitudes-toward-sexist-language\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A giant leap for mankind’, but what about women? The role of system-justifying ideologies in predicting attitudes toward sexist language"},"content":{"rendered":"

More about Professor Karen Douglas<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

More about Professor Robbie Sutton<\/a><\/p>\n

Full text of paper<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

About\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

In recent years, several initiatives have been implemented to reduce gender stereotyping and discrimination. One such initiative is the <\/span>use<\/span> of gender-fair language (GFL). GFL is implemented either through neutralisation (police officer instead of police<\/span>man<\/span><\/i>) or through \u2018feminisation\u2019 (i.e. <\/span>the applicant\u2026 he or she instead of the applicant\u2026he)<\/span><\/i> of language (<\/span>Sczensy<\/span>, <\/span>Formanowicz<\/span> & Moser, 2016).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, despite these initiatives, sexist language continues to be used across several languages and outlets (e.g., media, academic writing). This seems to be especially true for men: women prefer non-sexist language while men are more likely to use sexist language.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Research (Parks & <\/span>Roberton<\/span>, 2004) suggests that one reason this may be is that \u201cmen hold more traditional values towards women and so the use of non-sexist alternatives may potentially violate cultural sex role expectations\u201d (Douglas & Sutton, 2014, p.5).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Programme and methodology\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u2022 149 <\/span>UK <\/span>participants completed questionnaire<\/span> measures:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Ambivalent sexism inventory\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u2022 <\/span>Attitudes toward women (e.g. item <\/span>\u201cWomen should worry less about their rights and more about becoming good wives and mothers<\/span>\u201d )<\/span>
\n\u2022 <\/span>SDO (<\/span>e.g., <\/span>Some groups are simply inferior to other <\/span>groups )<\/span>
\n\u2022 <\/span>G<\/span><\/i>ender-specific system justification <\/span><\/i>(<\/span>e.g.,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>In general, relations between men and women are fair<\/span>\u201d)<\/span>
\n\u2022 <\/span>I<\/span><\/i>nventory of attitudes toward sexist\/nonsexist language-general (<\/span><\/i>e<\/span>.<\/span>g<\/span>. \u201c<\/span>Worrying about sexist language is a trivial activity<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Key findings<\/h3>\n

\u2022 M<\/span>en were significantly less likely to support gender- inclusive language than women\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2022\u00a0The gender difference in attitudes toward sexist language wa<\/span>s <\/span>explained by system-justifying ideologies.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2022 SDO also explained the gender differences in attitudes towards women\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Impact<\/h3>\n

Offers<\/span> n<\/span><\/b>ew and important insight<\/span><\/b> in understanding <\/span>gender discrimination<\/span><\/b>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Gender difference in attitudes towards sexist language may not only be rooted in sexism but also in people\u2019s ideologie<\/span>s (<\/span>that <\/span>keep people \u201cin their place\u201d<\/span>)<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2022 GFL <\/span>challenges conventional <\/span>sex-role <\/span>expectations<\/span> (e.g., police<\/span>man<\/span><\/i> vs police officer)<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2022 S<\/span>exist language serves to maintain the status quo and keep women in traditional sex <\/span>roles<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Important <\/span>implications<\/span><\/b> for<\/span> media and <\/span><\/b>organisations<\/span><\/b>:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Sexist language is <\/span>common <\/span>in popular media <\/span>(e.g., advertisements)<\/span>[Symbol] exposure to sexist language may affect women\u2019s self-esteem\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Important <\/span>implications <\/span><\/b>for <\/span>educators<\/span><\/b>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Sexist language can be psychologically threatening and can enhance stereotypes associated with women\u2019s academic performance<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2022 Sexist language may affect women\u2019s performance in stereotypically \u2018male-dominated\u2019 subjects- e.g., mathematics\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Important <\/span>implications<\/span><\/b> for <\/span>social and legal policies<\/span><\/b>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Equality campaigns and legal policies should consider the implementation of GFL in media and outside\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

———————- —————————– ———————- ———————-<\/p>\n

Definitions:
\nWhat are SDO and SJT?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Social Dominance Orientation: <\/span><\/b>A g<\/span>eneral preference for hierarchical, as opposed to equal, relations between groups (<\/span>Sidanius<\/span> & <\/span>Pratto<\/span>, 1999).<\/span> \u2022\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span><\/b>ystem <\/span><\/b>J<\/span><\/b>ustification <\/span><\/b>T<\/span><\/b>heory<\/span><\/b>:<\/span><\/b> P<\/span>eople\u2019s dependence on social systems for wealth and security that motivates them to justify those social systems and see them as essentially fair and functional.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>So<\/span><\/b> what do SDO & SJT have to do with GFL?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SDO: <\/span><\/b>The researchers argue that because SDO reflects a preference for existing social hierarchies, it could be associated with attitudes toward sexist language, which serve to perpetuate the hierarchical social relationship between women and men.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SJT: <\/span><\/b>The researchers <\/span>propose that because system justification reflects the perception that existing social systems are fair, it could be associated with attitudes toward sexist language<\/span> (<\/span>which<\/span>, <\/span><\/b>as theorists argue, serve to uphold a social system where men dominate<\/span>)<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More about Professor Karen Douglas More about Professor Robbie Sutton Full text of paper About\u00a0 In recent years, several initiatives have been implemented to reduce gender stereotyping and discrimination. One such initiative is the use of gender-fair language (GFL). GFL is implemented either through neutralisation (police officer instead of policeman) or through \u2018feminisation\u2019 (i.e. the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":1184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prejudice-gender"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2247,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions\/2247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}