Conference Abstracts
The effect of status and masculine generics (or their alternatives) on the recall of feminine exempl
Magda M. Formanowicz, Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities; Sylwia Bedynska, Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities; Aleksandra Cislak, Warsaw School
Conference: ISPP 2011
Affiliation: Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Area: Social inequality and social change
| In many languages with grammatical gender, masculine occupational titles (either singular or plural) have a generic meaning and may be used to describe both men and women. Previous research has shown (ex. Stahlberg, Sczesny and Braun, 2001) that generic forms are male-biased and people asked to specify politicians recall more masculine referents than when asked to recall a person dealing with politics or men and women working in politics - forms that are used in gender neutral or both gender inclusive context. In two studies it will be demonstrated that this effect results not only from usage of a specific form (masculine noun used in a generic sense, gender neutral or both gender inclusive terms) but depends also on status of occupations. Presented results will be discussed in a theroetical background of the backlash effect (Rudman, 1998) and followed by an analysis of possible practical implications. |