Tuesday, 5 January 2016

The words used to put women down

Article

This article focuses on the derogatory language which is used in society, aimed only at women. It talks about the idea that there are a certain number of terms used to put women and are not used to talk about men. Examples include "bossy" and "hysterical". It also mentions how once women have children, that is often viewed as their only credentials - they're often referred to as "mother of..." and their other achievements are forgotten about.

How to get heard in meetings

Article - How to get heard in meetings

This article discusses the idea that women find it difficult to make themselves heard in the workplace. It mentions that women use inferior language (Deficit Theory, Robin Lakoff, 1975) which is "ultimately unhelpful" when it comes to communication within the working environment. Cat Clancy offers courses titled "How to get heard in meetings" which is ultimately aimed at women, and teaches techniques to help the participants to express themselves better at work.

"Gender linguistics dictate that women downplay certainty, apologise more and value building rapport with colleagues over establishing their place in a hierarchy."