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What is Gender Sensitivity?

Gender sensitivity is the act of being aware of the ways people think about gender, so that individuals rely less on assumptions about traditional and outdated views on the roles of men and women. In language and the humanities, this is often expressed through people’s language choice. People can choose more inclusive language that doesn’t define gender, and many new words that are gender neutral have entered languages like English to substitute for more gender specific terms.

For centuries, many words referring to all people were specifically masculine. Terms like “man,” and “mankind,” which are used to describe all human beings, exclude females. While some people argue that such terms do include women, it’s been argued that these words have a belittling effect on women. True gender sensitivity, it is said, moves past these terms to include all and exclude none.

It is further contended by experts that the use of such terms is by no means innocent, and they have a negative cultural effect felt beyond the words. By making women either absent or non-apparent in terms like “mankind,” they become worth less and society will see them as possessing less value. This societal view in extreme forms is of detriment and corresponds to discrimination and even, arguably, things like greater violence against women.

In language and the humanities, this argument is accepted and a number of substitute words like “humankind,” express the gender sensitivity of the present. In the late 1980s, when Star Trek: The Next Generation began to air, a noted and more gender sensitive substitution differed from the original series. The opening narration changed so that “where no man has gone before,” become “where no one has gone before,” with a great deal of emphasis on the word “one.”

Some feminists suggest changing basic words with a masculine element to those with a specifically feminine element. Terms like “herstory” have been proposed for “history.” This substitution merely transfers the power from masculine to feminine, however, disregarding the male gender. A common compromise is to use gender-neutral terms so that males and females are both included.

Such terms can be obvious, like firefighter and police officer, in place of fireman or policeman. Pronouns are often considered carefully, too, and writers may take several tactics to remain gender neutral. They may oscillate back and forth between male and female pronouns, use plural pronouns that lack gender bias, or they use terms like “one.” Being gender sensitive with pronoun choice often takes work.

At the core of gender sensitivity in language is the goal of stripping away assumptions about limits of gender, and this benefits men and women. A stay at home parent isn’t automatically a mom, but can be a dad too. Such sensitivity from a language basis offers more choice and gives people the opportunity to view each other as individuals with different capacities, shedding assumptions about the traditional roles men and women may fill.

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source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Gender-Sensitive Language

What this handout is about.

This handout will explain some of the current thinking on gender issues and writing and will provide suggestions to help you appropriately express gender relationships as you write.

What is "gender-sensitive language" and why should I use it?

English speakers and writers have traditionally been taught to use masculine nouns and pronouns in situations where the gender of their subject(s) is unclear or variable, or when a group to which they are referring contains members of both sexes. For example, the US Declaration of Independence states that " . . . all men are created equal . . ." and most of us were taught in elementary school to understand the word "men" in that context includes both male and female Americans. In recent decades, however, as women have become increasingly involved in the public sphere of American life, writers have reconsidered the way they express gender identities and relationships. Because most English language readers no longer understand the word "man" to be synonymous with "people," writers today must think more carefully about the ways they express gender in order to convey their ideas clearly and accurately to their readers.

Moreover, these issues are important for people concerned about issues of social inequality. There is a relationship between our language use and our social reality. If we "erase" women from language, that makes it easier to maintain gender inequality. As Professor Sherryl Kleinman (2000:6) has argued,

[M]ale-based generics are another indicator—and, more importantly, a  reinforcer —of a system in which "man" in the abstract and men in the flesh are privileged over women.

If you're reading this handout, you're probably already aware that tackling gender sensitivity in your writing is no small task, especially since there isn't yet (and there may never be) a set of concrete guidelines on which to base your decisions. Fortunately, there are a number of different strategies the gender-savvy writer can use to express gender relationships with precision. This handout will provide you with an overview of some of those strategies so that you can "mix and match" as necessary when you write.

A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun. The English language provides pronoun options for references to masculine nouns (for example, "he" can substitute for "Tom"), feminine nouns ("she" can replace "Lucy"), and neutral/non-human nouns ("it" stands in for "a tree"), but no choice for sex-neutral third-person singular nouns ("the writer," "a student," or "someone"). Although most of us learned in elementary school that masculine pronouns (he, his, him) should be used as the "default" in situations where the referent (that is, the person or thing to which you're referring) could be either male or female, that usage is generally considered unacceptable now. So what should you do when you're faced with one of those gender-neutral or gender-ambiguous situations? Well, you've got a few options . . .

1. Use "they"

This option is currently much debated by grammar experts, but most agree that it works well in at least several kinds of situations. In order to use "they" to express accurately gender relationships, you'll need to understand that "they" is traditionally used only to refer to a plural noun. For example,

Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton  were famous "first-wave" American feminists.  They  were also both involved in the Abolitionist movement.

In speech, though, we early twenty-first century Americans commonly use "they" to refer to a singular referent. According to many grammar experts, that usage is incorrect, but here's an example of how it sounds in our everyday speech:

If  a student  wants to learn more about gender inequality,  they  should take Intro to Women's Studies.

Note that in this example, "a student" is singular, but it is replaced in the second sentence by "they," a plural pronoun. In speech, we often don't notice such substitutions of the plural for the singular, but in writing, some will find such substitutions awkward or incorrect. Some people argue that "they" should become the default gender-neutral pronoun for English writing, but since that usage can still sound awkward to many readers, its best to use "they" only in plural situations. Thus, one other option the gender-savvy writer may choose to employ is to make her/his sentence plural. Here's one way that can work:

Many people accept the negative stereotype that  a feminist's  beliefs are based on  her  hatred of men.

Many people accept the negative stereotype that  feminists  base  their  beliefs on hatred of men.

2. Use  she or he  or  she/he .

Another, simpler option the gender-savvy writer can use to deal with situations in which the gender of the referent is unknown or variable is to write out both pronoun options as "she or he" or "she/he". For example,

Each  student  who majors in Women's Studies major must take a course in Feminist Theory.  She or he  may also get course credit for completing an internship at a local organization that benefits women.

Each  student  who majors in Women's Studies major must take a course in Feminist Theory.  She/he  may also get course credit for completing an internship at a local organization that benefits women.

3. Alternate genders and pronouns

You may also choose to alternate gendered pronouns. This option will work only in certain situations, though—usually hypothetical situations in which the referent is equally likely to be a male or a female. For example, both male and female students use the Writing Center's services, so the author of our staff manual chose to alternate between masculine and feminine pronouns when writing the following tutoring guidelines:

• Respond as a reader, explaining what and how you were/are thinking as you read her texts so that she can discover where a reader might struggle with her writing.
• Ask him to outline the draft to reveal the organization of the paper.
• Ask her to describe her purpose and audience and show how she has taken them into account in her writing.
• Explain a recurring pattern and let him locate repeated instances of it.

Of course, this author could also have included both pronouns in each sentence by writing "her/his" or "her/him," but in this case, alternating "he" and "she" conveys the same sense of gender variability and is likely a little easier on the reader, who won't have to pause to process several different options every time a gendered pronoun is needed in the sentence. This example also provides a useful demonstration of how gender-savvy writers can take advantage of the many different options available by choosing the one that best suits the unique requirements of each piece of writing they produce.

4. Eliminate the pronoun altogether

Finally, you can also simply eliminate the pronoun. For example,

Allan Johnson  is a contemporary feminist theorist. This  writer and professor  gave a speech at UNC in the fall of 2007.

Note how the sentence used "this writer and professor" rather than "he."

Many people accept the negative stereotype that if a person is a feminist,  she  must hate men.

could become

Many people accept the negative stereotype that  feminist beliefs  are based on hatred of men.

Note how the second version of the sentence talks about the beliefs. By avoiding using the pronoun "she," it leaves open the possibility that men may be feminists.

Gendered nouns

Like gendered pronouns, gendered nouns can also provide a stumbling block for the gender-savvy writer. The best way to avoid implications these words can carry is simply to be aware of how we tend to use them in speech and writing. Because gendered nouns are so commonly used and accepted by English writers and speakers, we often don't notice them or the implications they bring with them. Once you've recognized that a gender distinction is being made by such a word, though, conversion of the gendered noun into a gender-savvy one is usually very simple.

"Man" and words ending in "-man" are the most commonly used gendered nouns, so avoiding the confusion they bring can be as simple as watching out for these words and replacing them with words that convey your meaning more effectively. For example, if the founders of America had been gender-savvy writers, they might have written " . . . all people are created equal" instead of " . . . all men are created equal . . .."

Another common gendered expression, particularly in informal speech and writing, is "you guys." This expression is used to refer to groups of men, groups of women, and groups that include both men and women. Although most people  mean  to be inclusive when they use "you guys," this phrase wouldn't make sense if it didn't subsume women under the category "guys." To see why "you guys" is gendered male, consider that "a guy" (singular) is definitely a man, not a woman, and that most men would not feel included in the expression "you gals" or "you girls."

Another example of gendered language is the way the words "Mr.," "Miss," and "Mrs." are used. "Mr." can refer to any man, regardless of whether he is single or married—but women are defined by their relationship to men (by whether they are married or not). A way around this is to use "Ms." (which doesn't indicate marital status) to refer to women.

Sometimes we modify nouns that refer to jobs or positions to denote the sex of the person holding that position. This often done if the sex of the person holding the position goes against conventional expectations. To get a sense of these expectations, think about what sex you would instinctively assume the subject of each of these sentences to be:

The doctor walked into the room. The nurse walked into the room.

As you work on becoming a gender-savvy writer, you may find it helpful to watch out for the following gendered nouns and replace them with one of the alternatives listed below. Check a thesaurus for alternatives to gendered nouns not included in this list.

Proper nouns

Proper nouns can also give gender-savvy writers pause, but as with common nouns, it is usually very easy to use gender-neutral language once you've noticed the gendered patterns in your own writing. And the best way to avoid any confusion in your use of proper nouns is to use the same rules to discuss of women subjects as you already use when you're writing about men. In the examples below, notice how using different conventions for references to male and female subjects suggests a difference in the amount of respect being given to individuals on the basis of their gender.

1. Refer to women subjects by only their last names—just as you would do for men subjects.

For example, we would never refer to William Shakespeare as just "William;" we call him "Shakespeare" or "William Shakespeare." Thus, you should never refer to Jane Austin simply as "Jane;" you should write "Jane Austen" or "Austen."

2. In circumstances where you're writing about several people who have the same last name, try using the full name of the person every time you refer to him/her.

For example, if you're writing about George and Martha Washington, referring to him as "Washington" and her as "Martha" conveys a greater respect for him than for her. In order to express an equal amount of respect for these two historical figures, simply refer to each subject by her/his full name: "George Washington" and "Martha Washington." This option may sound like it could get too wordy, but it actually works very well in most situations.

3. Refer to women subjects by their full titles, just as you would refer to men subjects.

For example, you wouldn't call American President Reagan "Ronald," so you wouldn't want to refer to British Prime Minister Thatcher as "Margaret." Simply call her "Prime Minister Thatcher," just as you would write "President Reagan" to refer to him.

Sex versus gender

In many women's studies classes, one of the fundamental concepts students are expected to master is the difference feminists see between an individual's sex (which feminists understand as one's biological makeup—male, female, or intersexed) and that person's gender (a social construction based on sex—man/masculine or woman/feminine). Because this distinction is so fundamental to understanding much of the material in many Women's Studies courses, expressing the difference between sex and gender is an important element in many writing assignments given by women's studies instructors.

Essentially, all you need to express sex vs. gender distinctions accurately in your writing is a clear understanding of the difference between sex and gender. As you are writing, ask yourself whether what you're talking about is someone's biological makeup or something about the way that person has been socialized. If you're referring to biology, use "male" or "female," and if what you're talking about has to do with a behavior or social role someone has been taught because of her/his biology, use "woman" or "man."

Thinking about the different answers to these two questions might help clarify the distinction between sex and gender:

What does it mean to be male? What does it mean to be a man?

Checklist for gender revisions

• Have you used "man" or "men" or words containing one of them to refer to people who may be female? If so, consider substituting another word. For example, instead of "fireman," try "firefighter."
• If you have mentioned someone's gender, was it necessary to do so? If you identify someone as a female architect, for example, do you (or would you) refer to someone else as a "male architect"? And if you then note that the woman is an attractive blonde mother of two, do you mention that the man is a muscular, square-jawed father of three? Unless gender and related matters—looks, clothes, parenthood—are relevant to your point, leave them unmentioned.
• Do you use any occupational stereotypes? Watch for the use of female pronouns for elementary school teachers and male ones for scientists, for example.
• Do you use language that in any way shows a lack of respect for either sex?
• Have you used "he," "him," "his," or "himself" to refer to people who may be female?

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout's topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the  UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

Harris, Muriel. Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage. 3rd Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997.

Kleinman, Sherryl. (September, 2000). Why sexist language matters. The Center Line, a newsletter of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, pp. 6-7.

Kolln, Martha. Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects. 2nd Ed.

Lunsford, Andrea and Robert Connors. The St. Martin's Handbook. 3rd Ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.

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What does gender equality look like today?

Date: Wednesday, 6 October 2021

Progress towards gender equality is looking bleak. But it doesn’t need to.

A new global analysis of progress on gender equality and women’s rights shows women and girls remain disproportionately affected by the socioeconomic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, struggling with disproportionately high job and livelihood losses, education disruptions and increased burdens of unpaid care work. Women’s health services, poorly funded even before the pandemic, faced major disruptions, undermining women’s sexual and reproductive health. And despite women’s central role in responding to COVID-19, including as front-line health workers, they are still largely bypassed for leadership positions they deserve.

UN Women’s latest report, together with UN DESA, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2021 presents the latest data on gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The report highlights the progress made since 2015 but also the continued alarm over the COVID-19 pandemic, its immediate effect on women’s well-being and the threat it poses to future generations.

We’re breaking down some of the findings from the report, and calling for the action needed to accelerate progress.

The pandemic is making matters worse

One and a half years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, the toll on the poorest and most vulnerable people remains devastating and disproportionate. The combined impact of conflict, extreme weather events and COVID-19 has deprived women and girls of even basic needs such as food security. Without urgent action to stem rising poverty, hunger and inequality, especially in countries affected by conflict and other acute forms of crisis, millions will continue to suffer.

A global goal by global goal reality check:

Goal 1. Poverty

In 2021, extreme poverty is on the rise and progress towards its elimination has reversed. An estimated 435 million women and girls globally are living in extreme poverty.

And yet we can change this .

Over 150 million women and girls could emerge from poverty by 2030 if governments implement a comprehensive strategy to improve access to education and family planning, achieve equal wages and extend social transfers.

Goal 2. Zero hunger

The global gender gap in food security has risen dramatically during the pandemic, with more women and girls going hungry. Women’s food insecurity levels were 10 per cent higher than men’s in 2020, compared with 6 per cent higher in 2019.

This trend can be reversed , including by supporting women small-scale producers, who typically earn far less than men, through increased funding, training and land rights reforms.

Goal 3. Good health and well-being

Disruptions in essential health services due to COVID-19 are taking a tragic toll on women and girls. In the first year of the pandemic, there were an estimated 1.4 million additional unintended pregnancies in lower and middle-income countries.

We need to do better .

Response to the pandemic must include prioritizing sexual and reproductive health services, ensuring they continue to operate safely now and after the pandemic is long over. In addition, more support is needed to ensure life-saving personal protection equipment, tests, oxygen and especially vaccines are available in rich and poor countries alike as well as to vulnerable population within countries.

Goal 4. Quality education

A year and a half into the pandemic, schools remain partially or fully closed in 42 per cent of the world’s countries and territories. School closures spell lost opportunities for girls and an increased risk of violence, exploitation and early marriage .

Governments can do more to protect girls education .

Measures focused specifically on supporting girls returning to school are urgently needed, including measures focused on girls from marginalized communities who are most at risk.

Goal 5. Gender equality

The pandemic has tested and even reversed progress in expanding women’s rights and opportunities. Reports of violence against women and girls, a “shadow” pandemic to COVID-19, are increasing in many parts of the world. COVID-19 is also intensifying women’s workload at home, forcing many to leave the labour force altogether.

Building forward differently and better will hinge on placing women and girls at the centre of all aspects of response and recovery, including through gender-responsive laws, policies and budgeting.

Goal 6. Clean water and sanitation

In 2018, nearly 2.3 billion people lived in water-stressed countries. Without safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and menstrual hygiene facilities, women and girls find it harder to lead safe, productive and healthy lives.

Change is possible .

Involve those most impacted in water management processes, including women. Women’s voices are often missing in water management processes. 

Goal 7. Affordable and clean energy

Increased demand for clean energy and low-carbon solutions is driving an unprecedented transformation of the energy sector. But women are being left out. Women hold only 32 per cent of renewable energy jobs.

We can do better .

Expose girls early on to STEM education, provide training and support to women entering the energy field, close the pay gap and increase women’s leadership in the energy sector.

Goal 8. Decent work and economic growth

The number of employed women declined by 54 million in 2020 and 45 million women left the labour market altogether. Women have suffered steeper job losses than men, along with increased unpaid care burdens at home.

We must do more to support women in the workforce .

Guarantee decent work for all, introduce labour laws/reforms, removing legal barriers for married women entering the workforce, support access to affordable/quality childcare.

Goal 9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure

The COVID-19 crisis has spurred striking achievements in medical research and innovation. Women’s contribution has been profound. But still only a little over a third of graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics field are female.

We can take action today.

 Quotas mandating that a proportion of research grants are awarded to women-led teams or teams that include women is one concrete way to support women researchers. 

Goal 10. Reduced inequalities

Limited progress for women is being eroded by the pandemic. Women facing multiple forms of discrimination, including women and girls with disabilities, migrant women, women discriminated against because of their race/ethnicity are especially affected.

Commit to end racism and discrimination in all its forms, invest in inclusive, universal, gender responsive social protection systems that support all women. 

Goal 11. Sustainable cities and communities

Globally, more than 1 billion people live in informal settlements and slums. Women and girls, often overrepresented in these densely populated areas, suffer from lack of access to basic water and sanitation, health care and transportation.

The needs of urban poor women must be prioritized .

Increase the provision of durable and adequate housing and equitable access to land; included women in urban planning and development processes.

Goal 12. Sustainable consumption and production; Goal 13. Climate action; Goal 14. Life below water; and Goal 15. Life on land

Women activists, scientists and researchers are working hard to solve the climate crisis but often without the same platforms as men to share their knowledge and skills. Only 29 per cent of featured speakers at international ocean science conferences are women.

 And yet we can change this .

Ensure women activists, scientists and researchers have equal voice, representation and access to forums where these issues are being discussed and debated. 

Goal 16. Peace, justice and strong institutions

The lack of women in decision-making limits the reach and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergency recovery efforts. In conflict-affected countries, 18.9 per cent of parliamentary seats are held by women, much lower than the global average of 25.6 per cent.

This is unacceptable .

It's time for women to have an equal share of power and decision-making at all levels.

Goal 17. Global partnerships for the goals

There are just 9 years left to achieve the Global Goals by 2030, and gender equality cuts across all 17 of them. With COVID-19 slowing progress on women's rights, the time to act is now.

Looking ahead

As it stands today, only one indicator under the global goal for gender equality (SDG5) is ‘close to target’: proportion of seats held by women in local government. In other areas critical to women’s empowerment, equality in time spent on unpaid care and domestic work and decision making regarding sexual and reproductive health the world is far from target. Without a bold commitment to accelerate progress, the global community will fail to achieve gender equality. Building forward differently and better will require placing women and girls at the centre of all aspects of response and recovery, including through gender-responsive laws, policies and budgeting.

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Essay on Gender Sensitization

Students are often asked to write an essay on Gender Sensitization in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Gender Sensitization

Introduction.

Gender sensitization refers to the modification of behavior by raising awareness about gender equality concerns. This process encourages people to remove barriers that prevent individuals of both genders from enjoying equal rights.

In conclusion, gender sensitization is a powerful tool to establish gender equality. By fostering understanding and respect, we can create a world where everyone is treated fairly and equally.

250 Words Essay on Gender Sensitization

Gender sensitization refers to the modification of behavior by raising awareness about gender equality concerns and promoting empathy towards understanding the perspective of the opposite gender. It is an essential tool in the contemporary world to eradicate stereotypes and prejudices associated with gender.

Importance of Gender Sensitization

Gender sensitization in education.

Educational institutions play a pivotal role in gender sensitization. They have the power to shape young minds and instill values of equality and respect. Incorporating gender sensitization in the curriculum can help in dismantling gender stereotypes and promoting gender equality.

Challenges and Solutions

Despite its importance, gender sensitization faces challenges such as deeply ingrained societal norms and resistance to change. However, these can be overcome by consistent efforts to educate and raise awareness. The use of media, workshops, and seminars can be effective tools in promoting gender sensitization.

In conclusion, gender sensitization is a prerequisite for a balanced society. It is about understanding and acknowledging the equality and interdependence of the sexes. By promoting gender sensitization, we can hope to build a society free from gender bias and discrimination.

500 Words Essay on Gender Sensitization

Introduction to gender sensitization.

Gender sensitization refers to the modification of behavior by raising awareness about gender equality concerns. This process aims to counteract the systemic biases that exist in society due to gender stereotypes and roles. It is a fundamental tool in the quest for gender equality, encouraging individuals to challenge discriminatory attitudes and behaviors.

The Importance of Gender Sensitization

Gender sensitization is critical in today’s world, where gender-based discrimination and violence are prevalent. It helps individuals understand the harmful effects of gender stereotypes, which often perpetuate inequality and hinder societal progress. By fostering an environment of respect and equality, gender sensitization can contribute significantly to the development of a balanced society.

The Role of Education in Gender Sensitization

Gender sensitization in the workplace.

In the corporate world, gender sensitization is essential for maintaining a healthy work environment. It can help prevent workplace harassment, discrimination, and bias, fostering a culture of respect and equality. Gender sensitization training programs can equip employees with the knowledge and skills to treat all colleagues fairly, regardless of their gender.

Challenges in Gender Sensitization

Despite its importance, gender sensitization faces several challenges. Deep-rooted societal norms and beliefs often resist change, making it difficult to break free from traditional gender roles. Additionally, the lack of awareness and understanding about gender issues can hinder the process of gender sensitization.

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Gender awareness-raising

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Awareness raising is a process which helps to facilitate the exchange of ideas, improve mutual understanding and develop competencies and skills necessary for societal change.

What is gender awareness raising?

Gender awareness raising aims at increasing general sensitivity, understanding and knowledge about gender (in)equality.

Awareness raising is a process which helps to facilitate the exchange of ideas, improve mutual understanding and develop competencies and skills necessary for societal change [1]. Gender awareness raising means providing reliable and accessible information to build a better understanding of gender equality as a core value of democratic societies. As a gender-mainstreaming method, gender awareness raising is crucial for integrating a gender perspective into policies, programmes, projects and services that respond to the different needs of women and men.

Definition and purpose

Gender awareness raising aims to promote and encourage a general understanding of gender-related challenges, for instance, violence against women and the gender pay gap. It also aims to show how values and norms influence our reality, reinforce stereotypes and support the structures that produce inequalities [2].

Gender awareness raising plays an important role in informing women and men about gender equality, the benefits of a more gender-equal society and the consequences of gender inequality. For example, raising awareness about the proven economic benefits of advancing gender equality, such as the strong, positive impact on gross domestic product (GDP) and higher levels of employment [3], and about the profound negative impact of gender inequalities, for instance, the fact that women are at a higher risk of poverty because of lower employment prospects [4].

Gender awareness raising intends to change attitudes, behaviours and beliefs that reinforce inequalities between women and men. It is therefore crucial to develop awareness-raising methods that generate a favourable space for debate, promote political interest and encourage mobilisation [5]. In this way, they contribute to gaining broad support and political will for implementing gender mainstreaming and gender equality policies.

Gender awareness raising goes hand in hand with gender equality training as a way to transmit the necessary information and knowledge to take action. This is especially true for the actors involved in policy processes, as it enables them to create interventions that address women’s and men’s priorities and needs [6] (Read more on EIGE’s Gender Equality Training toolkit ).

The purpose of gender awareness raising is threefold:

• to provide basic facts, evidence and arguments on various topics relating to gender equality to increase awareness and knowledge about gender (in)equality;
• to foster communication and information exchange so as to improve mutual understanding and learning about gender (in)equality;
• to mobilise communities and society as  a  whole to bring about the necessary changes in attitudes, behaviours and beliefs about gender equality.

Providing information and raising awareness about gender equality does not, however, automatically lead to social change [9]. Gender awareness-raising initiatives may be met with obstacles and resistance that need to be carefully considered and overcome.

When dealing with resistance, it must be borne in mind that resistance is part of any change process. Resistance can be used to promote change, and there are ways of dealing with it. Sometimes signs of resistance are not necessarily a reaction to the specific topic of gender equality or gender mainstreaming but they can be a reaction to change in general.

In order to overcome resistance, it is important to deal with it by inviting actors to an open dialogue and giving them an opportunity to articulate their concerns and objections. In such a dialogue, it is vital to focus on a common goal as well as on the benefits for everyone. Highlighting facts and figures and using scientific studies to back up arguments can also help to prevent the use of unsubstantiated arguments in debates.

EIGE’s toolkit on institutional transformation provides comprehensive resources, strategies and examples of how to deal with resistance to gender equality at individual, organisational and discursive levels.

How does gender awareness raising work?     

Gender awareness raising can be a part of internal awareness-raising processes in an organisation or institution and/ or it can be a part of planned external activities directed to the general public or a targeted group.

As a gender-mainstreaming method, raising awareness of gender equality can be considered to be a specific activity to be implemented within policies, programmes or projects. To be effective, the process of awareness raising must identify and meet the needs and interests of the actors involved [10]. This can be achieved by paying attention to the following key issues [11].

Who is the target group?

Before starting any gender awareness-raising initiatives, the socio-demographic characteristics (e.g. sex, age, ethnicity, level of education and any other relevant characteristics) of the target group should be considered in order to develop tailored awareness-raising initiatives. In addition, opinion leaders can also be selected as a sub-segment of the target audience because, as influential members of a group, they can promote societal change.

What is the content of the message?

The message communicated and the content of awareness-raising activities should be designed and framed around the specific gender equality topics under consideration. The way the message is conveyed and framed can influence how it is perceived and the overall effect it has. Framing factors include the choice of words and imagery, using emotions or facts and rational arguments, and presenting the consequences of (in)action as losses or gains. Importantly, the content of the message should be credible. It should communicate information that is accurate and is perceived as accurate, based on data with an acknowledgement of the source.

Gender inequalities are the result of a complex web of socially constructed roles and norms that are culturally and historically entrenched in societies. Attitudes towards gender equality, the roles of women and men and gender stereotypes involve feelings, beliefs and behaviours that are formed, nurtured and perpetuated by society, family, institutions, education and religion, among other factors. These attitudes are strongly influenced by social norms that form the basis of the perception of what is right or wrong and the way men and women relate to each other at home and in society [7].

Positive changes in attitudes towards gender equality require multidimensional and interlinked interventions. Hence, gender awareness-raising initiatives should be as targeted and as tailored as possible. As an illustration, raising awareness of the different forms of violence against women and how unequal gender relations perpetuate gender-based violence is an important element for prevention [8]. To see examples of successful, specifically targeted and tailored campaigns aimed at raising awareness to end violence against women, visit the European Women’s Lobby website .

Which gender awareness-raising measures should be used?

The type of awareness-raising measures selected will depend on the context and the identified aims in terms of policy, programme or project. An integrated communication programme, which combines different channels, is advisable to reinforce the message. This may include [12]:

• communication initiatives that aim to widely disseminate key messages, involving large-scale media such as television, newspapers, radio and websites;
• public events (e.g. concerts, information booths at festivals, etc.) to convey the message to a specific target group, such as young people;
• social media and social networks, which offer the possibility of interactivity and the potential for the viral dissemination of the message online;
• community-based initiatives in a local context to mobilise communities, empower women and promote community dialogue on gender equality, for example, through: public meetings, presentations, workshops, informal social events using interpersonal and participatory approaches;
• static and travelling exhibitions and displays;
• printed materials — for example brochures, billboards, cartoons, comics, pamphlets, posters, resource books and audio-visual resources;
• political advocacy and lobbying.

EIGE’s collection of good practices includes an example of an integrated communication programme which aimed to challenge traditional stereotypes, reduce the care gap and promote men’s active role in the family.

It is also important to develop specific initiatives targeting men and boys in recognition of the need to understand their role in achieving gender equality and to involve them in gender-equality efforts.

An example of a gender awareness-raising initiative targeting men and boys is the White Ribbon Campaign — a global movement of men and boys formed in 1991 working to end male violence against women and girls. Active in over 60 countries, the campaign aims to raise awareness about the prevalence of male violence against women and promote new values on masculinity and relationships between men and women [13].

Another example of awareness-raising measures specifically addressing men is a national awareness-raising campaign launched in Poland in 2012, Etat Tata. Lubię to! (Full-time dad — I like it!) . The main theme was to encourage fatherhood and active fathering through a campaign aimed at encouraging men to participate in childcare. The campaign was evaluated by researchers at the University of Warsaw and showed some changes in attitudes among respondents with regard to fathers’ and mothers’ roles in childcare and child raising, and the division of housework and childcare between parents.

The importance of using gender-sensitive language

Language plays an important role in how women’s and men’s positions in society are perceived and interpreted, which in turn influences the attitudes towards women and men. Certain words or use of the masculine form as the generic one (common in most languages) can overshadow women in the law, contribute to stereotypes (for instance, in professions), and make women’s roles and needs invisible, among other things. In this way, language contributes to, produces and reproduces sexist and biased thoughts, attitudes and behaviours [14].

While gender-neutral language is not gender-specific and makes no reference to women and men, gender-sensitive language is gender equality made manifest through language. In practice, using gender-sensitive language means:

• avoiding exclusionary terms and nouns  that  appear to refer only to men, for instance, ‘chairman’, ‘mankind’, ‘businessman’, etc.;
• avoiding gender-specific pronouns to refer to people who may be either female or male (use ‘he/she’, ‘him/ her’ or ‘they/them’ instead of ‘he/his’) [15];
• avoiding stereotypes, gendered adjectives, patronising and sexist terms and expressions (for instance, referring to women as ‘bossy’, or ‘the weaker sex’) and references to women’s marital status and titles.

In line with these guidelines, in 2009 the European Parliament adopted a series of recommendations on gender-neutral language to be used in parliamentary documents, which are intended to reflect two particular features of the European Parliament’s work: its multilingual working environment and its role as a European Union legislator [16].

With the aim of fostering a common understanding of gender equality terms across the EU and promoting gender-fair and inclusive language to improve equality between women and men, EIGE has developed a Gender Equality Glossary and Thesaurus , a specialised terminology tool focusing on the area of gender equality.

In 2019, EIGE will also release a toolkit on gender-sensitive language.

Pictures, graphics, video and audio materials are also powerful communication tools to influence perceptions, attitudes and social change. The principles of gender-sensitive language for written and oral communications must also be applied to audio and visual materials, i.e. videos, photographs and infographics [17].

These are key principles for gender-sensitive communication [18]:

• Ensuring that women and men are represented. Both women and men should be visible and treated equally in media products and messages. It is important to ensure that the voices of both women and men are included in press releases, news stories, broadcasts and other communications that are used by the media to inform the public and raise awareness. When preparing communication materials it is important to plan how women’s and men’s voices can be captured and ensure that women are also visually presented as equals in all areas of life.
• Challenging gender stereotypes. Gender-sensitive communications can contribute to challenging gender stereotypes through language and images. It is important to avoid using words and expressions that reinforce gender stereotypes as well as images that portray them and/or exert violence. It is important to choose images that portray a balanced representation of both genders and to ensure that they do not discriminate against or demean a person.

Further information

Download this page as a PDF publication

Sayers, R., Principles of awareness-raising for information literacy, a case study , Unesco, Bangkok, 2006.

Council of Europe, Gender mainstreaming — Conceptual framework, methodology and presentation of good practices — Final report of activities of the Group of Specialists on Mainstreaming(EG-S-MS) , Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law, Strasbourg, 2004.

European Institute for Gender Equality, Economic benefits of gender equality in the EU , 2017.

European Institute for Gender Equality, Poverty, gender and intersecting inequalities in the EU — Review of the implementation of area A: women and poverty of the Beijing Platform for Action , Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2016.

World Bank, Executive education program for professional parliamentary staff, Unit 8: Changing attitudes for gender equality.

Council of Europe, Raising awareness of violence against women: Article 13 of the Istanbul convention — A collection of papers on the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence , 2014.

Tufte, T. and Mefalopulos, P., Participatory communication — A practical guide, Working Paper No 170 , The World Bank, Washington DC, 2009.

Ibid. and Sayers, R., Principles of awareness-raising for information literacy, a case study , Unesco, Bangkok, 2006.

White Ribbon Campaign website .

Menegatti, M. and Rubini, M., ‘ Gender bias and sexism in language ’, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication.

European Commission, Interinstitutional style guide, Section  10.6  ‘Gender-neutral language’.

European Parliament, Gender-neutral language in the European Parliament , 2009.

United Nations Development Programme, Principles of gender-sensitive communication , UNDP Gender Equality Seal Initiative, n.d.

European Institute for Gender Equality, Institutional transformation — Gender mainstreaming toolkit .

Haider, H., Changing attitudes and behaviours in relation to gender equality, GSDRC Publications, 2012.

Sibbons, M., ‘ Approaches to gender-awareness raising: experiences in a government education project in Nepal ’, Gender and Development, Vol. 6, No 2 (Education and Training), July 1998, pp. 35-43.

Unesco, Gender sensitivity —  A training manual , 2002.

United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Gender stereotypes and stereotyping and women’s rights , 2014.

Image copyright: GlynnisJones/Shutterstock.com

Gender equality through school: providing a safe and inclusive learning environment

Credit: Khumais

Boys and girls must feel welcome in a safe and secure learning environment. Governments, schools, teachers and students all have a part to play in ensuring that schools are free of violence and discrimination and provide a gender-sensitive, good-quality education (Figure 16). To achieve this, governments can develop nondiscriminatory curricula, facilitate teacher education and make sure sanitation facilities are adequate. Schools are responsible for addressing school-related violence and providing comprehensive health education. Teachers should follow professional norms regarding appropriate disciplinary practices and provide unbiased instruction. And students must behave in a non-violent, inclusive way.

FIGURE 16: Who is responsible for what in ensuring gender equality through school

NATIONAL AND SCHOOL POLICIES SHOULD TARGET SCHOOL-RELATED VIOLENCE

School-related violence is a pervasive issue in some countries. Violence can be physical, psychological or sexual; it can occur on school grounds, in transit or in cyberspace; and it may include bullying, corporal punishment, verbal and emotional abuse, intimidation, sexual harassment and assault, gang activity and the presence of weapons among students. It is often perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes and enforced by unequal power dynamics. It was estimated that, globally, approximately 246 million girls and boys experienced some form of school-related violence in 2014 (UNGEI, 2017).

While the vast majority of teachers are caring professionals who put the best interest of their students first, some abuse their position of power. In West and Central African countries, sexual abuse and exploitation by teachers, school staff and others in position of authority is common practice (Antonowicz, 2010). Sexual violence happens frequently in many schools in South Africa but crimes are rarely investigated and prosecution rates are low (HRW, 2016). In the United Republic of Tanzania, over half of girls and boys who had experienced physical abuse identified a teacher as an abuser (HakiElimu, 2017). In Samoa, 41% of children surveyed in 2013 indicated that they had experienced violence at the hands of their teacher (Office of the Ombudsman and NHRI Samoa, 2015).

Some countries, including Chile, Fiji, Finland, Peru, the Republic of Korea and Sweden, have passed legislation on violence in educational institutions (UNESCO, 2015c, 2017b). The 2013 Anti-Bullying Act in the Philippines requires all schools to adopt policies to prevent and address acts of bullying. It explicitly refers to gender-based bullying, which is described as any act that humiliates or excludes a person on the basis of perceived or actual sexual orientation and gender identity. Yet in the following year just 38% of schools had adopted child protection or anti-bullying policies. The low rate highlighted a lack of communication and a weak monitoring framework.

The Department of Education responded by issuing a memorandum to clarify submission requirements and is working to build implementation capacity (UNESCO, 2015c). Teacher education and codes of conduct can help change teacher attitudes and behaviours. In South Sudan, the UNICEF Communities Care programme engaged with teachers to challenge norms that enable sexual violence and brought about some shifts in teacher attitudes and behaviours (UNGEI, 2017). The Doorways programme in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Malawi trained upper primary and lower secondary school teachers on children’s rights and responsibilities, alternative teaching practices, basic counselling and listening skills, awareness of sexual harassment at school and teacher code of conduct (DevTech Systems, 2008; Queen et al., 2015). The Communication for Change project trained teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo to act as first responders when they witnessed school-related gender-based violence. The share of participating teachers who were aware of how to prevent gender-based violence in school increased from 56% to 95% after the intervention (C-Change, 2013). Teacher codes of conduct are generally written by teacher unions to guide their members. They promote professional accountability by giving peers a way to hold each other to account for adhering to norms (Poisson, 2009). A recent survey by Education International found that teacher codes of conduct were present in 26 of 50 countries surveyed (EI, 2017). A separate review of 24 countries found that over half of teachers believed the code of conduct had a very significant impact in reducing misconduct (McKelvie-Sebileau, 2011).

Teacher codes of conduct can be effective in reducing school-related gender-based violence if they explicitly refer to violence and abuse and include clear breach reporting and enforcement protocols. Mongolia’s Teachers Code of Ethics for General Education Schools and Kindergartens contains a section on teacher ethical norms, which specifies that teachers should protect student’s health and well-being, including from sexual abuse, and should ensure equal participation without discrimination, including on the basis of sex (Steiner-Khamsi and Batjargal, 2017). Kenya has a range of penalties for breach of professional conduct, including suspension and interdiction. Teachers convicted of sexual offences against students are deregistered (Kenya Teachers Service Commission, 2013). However, even when they exist, these codes are not always successfully disseminated.

The implementation of Ethiopia’s Code of Conduct on Prevention of School-Related Gender-Based Violence in Schools has been patchy. Some school staff reportedly lacked commitment to or a sense of ownership of the code (Parkes et al., 2017). Students are also responsible for ensuring their behaviour does not impinge on others’ right to education (UNICEF and UNESCO, 2007). Schools are increasingly implementing prevention-oriented models to teach students acceptable strategies for interacting with their peers (Horner et al., 2010). These models set clear guidelines for students and define consistent instruction, record-keeping and follow-up procedures for teachers and other adults, such as administrative and custodial staff, playground supervisors, cafeteria workers and parent and community volunteers (Lewis et al., 2014).

Students are more likely to show positive social behaviours and reduce negative behaviours after the implementation of such programmes (Durlak et al., 2011). There is also increasing evidence linking improved social skills to academic achievement (Horner et al., 2010). While these codes of conduct are mostly used in Europe and North America (Sklad et al., 2012), Asian countries such as Singapore have also begun adopting them (Durlak et al., 2011).

GENDER-SENSITIVE FACILITIES CAN INCREASE THE TIME GIRLS SPEND IN SCHOOL

Inadequate sanitation facilities for girls during menstruation can have a negative effect on school attendance. Among 145 countries with data, primary school access to basic sanitation facilities was below 50% in 28 countries, 17 of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Only limited data are available on whether girls have separate facilities, let alone whether the facilities are functional or well maintained. In only 9 of 44 countries did more than 75% of primary schools have single-sex facilities; in Benin and Comoros, under 5% of schools had single-sex facilities. An estimated one in ten African girls miss school during menstruation (HRW, 2016).

Regulations requiring separate toilet facilities for boys and girls can help. Yet analysis of regulations in 71 education systems by the GEM Report team shows that only 61% required sex-separate facilities for public schools and 66% for private schools (UNESCO, 2017a). Regulations alone are not sufficient to ensure facilities are available. Although separate sanitation facilities are mandated by regulations in Bangladesh, a survey found that in 2014 only 12% of girls reported access to female-only toilets with water and soap available. Combined with a lack of waste bins, the poor facilities contributed to girls missing school during menstruation. Two in five girls were absent during menstruation for an average of three days during each cycle (Alam et al., 2014). Girls in Haiti have reported having to go home to change the materials they use to manage their menstruation, resulting in lost instructional time (HRW, 2016).

School inspections play a key role in ensuring that schools adhere to regulations. However, inspections do not always take gender issues into account. In Sweden, the school inspectorate takes gender equality into consideration (Heikkilä, 2016) and in the United Kingdom inspectors evaluate equal opportunities in the classroom and whether the school provides an inclusive environment for boys and girls (Rogers, 2014). By contrast, gender issues are rarely included in inspections in Bangladesh, with sex-separate sanitation facilities only occasionally observed (Chatterley et al., 2014). In any case, inspectorates are severely constrained by human resource shortages in many poor countries. For instance, in Mvomero district, United Republic of Tanzania, although 80% of schools are supposed to be inspected annually, only one in five schools were inspected in 2013 (Holvoet, 2015).

GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATION REQUIRES UNBIASED CURRICULA AND TEXTBOOKS

To facilitate gender-responsive instruction, curricula and textbooks should be free from gender bias and promote equality in gender relations. How students perceive themselves and how they project their role in society is shaped to some extent by what they experience at school, including by how they are represented in textbooks.

Comprehensive sexuality education

School-based comprehensive sexuality education programmes equip children and young people with empowering knowledge, skills and attitudes. In many contexts, programmes focus almost exclusively on HIV as a motivator to encourage students to delay sexual activity and have fewer sexual partners and less frequent sexual contacts (Fonner et al., 2014). However, international guidelines and standards, along with emerging evidence about factors influencing programme effectiveness, increasingly stress the value of a comprehensive approach centred on gender and human rights (Ketting and Winkelmann, 2013). A review of 22 studies showed that comprehensive sexuality education programmes that addressed gender power relations were five times more likely to be effective in reducing rates of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy than those that did not (Haberland, 2015).

In 2009, UNESCO and other UN agencies published the revised International Technical Guidance on Sexual Education to provide an evidence-based, age-appropriate set of topics and learning objectives for comprehensive sexuality education programmes for students aged 5 to 18 (UNESCO, 2009). In 2010, the International Planned Parenthood Federation adopted a rights-based approach in its Framework for Comprehensive Sexuality Education, and the WHO Regional Office for Europe produced Standards for Sexuality Education in Europe as a framework for policy-makers and education and health authorities (WHO Regional Office for Europe and BZgA, 2010). Nearly ten years after the original report, UNESCO’s revised guidance expands coverage to both school-based and out-of-school programmes with a strong focus on human rights, gender equality and skills building. The guidance can act as both an advocacy and accountability tool for programme implementers, NGOs, and youth (UNESCO, 2018).

A 2015 review of the status of comprehensive sexuality education in 48 countries found that almost 80% had supportive policies or strategies. Despite this political will, a significant gap remained between policies and implementation (UNESCO, 2015b). In western and central Africa, UNESCO’s Sexuality Education Review and Assessment Tool was used to assess 10 out of 13 national sexuality education programmes. Fewer than half the curricula met global standards for required content for all age groups, with gender and social norms identified as the weakest areas (Herat et al., 2014; UNESCO and UNFPA, 2012).

Recent studies in Ghana and Kenya provided evidence of gaps in content and delivery. The Kenya study covered 78 public and private secondary schools. While 75% of teachers reported teaching all topics of a comprehensive sexuality education programme, only 2% of students reported learning all topics. Only 20% learned about types of contraceptive methods, and even fewer learned how to use and where to get them (Figure 17). In some cases, incomplete and sometimes inaccurate information was taught. Almost 60% of teachers incorrectly taught that condoms alone were not effective in pregnancy prevention (Sidze et al., 2017). Moreover, 71% of teachers emphasized abstinence as the best or only method to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, and most depicted sex as dangerous or immoral for young people.

FIGURE 17: In Kenya, only one in five students reported learning about contraceptive methods

Barriers to effective implementation of comprehensive programmes include lack of well-trained teachers, poor support of schools, weak regulation and supervision of policy implementation, opposition from religious and conservative groups, and culturally imposed silence about sexuality. In the Ghana study, 77% of teachers reported lacking resources or teaching materials. A smaller share reported conflicts, embarrassment or opposition from the community or students on moral or religious grounds (Awusabo-Asare et al., 2017).

Textbooks increasingly cover gender issues but progress is insufficient

Self-reporting from governments in Cuba, Estonia, Finland, Mexico, Nicaragua, Slovenia and Spain indicates that gender equality is integrated into national school curricula (UN Human Rights Council, 2017). The Ministry of Education, Culture, Science equality as one of the key values in its new core curriculum (Steiner-Khamsi and Batjargal, 2017).

Over the past 50 years, mentions of women and women’s rights in textbooks have increased (Bromley et al., 2016; Nakagawa and Wotipka, 2016). Nevertheless, in many countries women remain under-represented or, when included, are relegated to traditional roles such as housework and childcare (UNESCO, 2016a). Women accounted for only 37% of images in primary and secondary school textbooks in the Islamic Republic of

Iran in 2006–2007 (Paivandi, 2008) and across nine Jordanian secondary school history books only 21% of images were female. From Sweden to the Syrian Arab Republic, despite governments explicitly identifying the importance of gender equality in textbooks, women and men were still routinely portrayed in a stereotypical manner (Bromley et al., 2016).

Both governments and civil society can act to reduce textbook biases. The Human Rights Council has made it clear that ‘states have an obligation to periodically review and revise curricula, textbooks, programmes and teaching methods to ensure that they do not perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes’ (UN Human Rights Council, 2017). Some states include an explicit gender analysis as part of their textbook and review process. In Viet Nam, the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2011–2020 specifies that textbook content should be reviewed for gender stereotypes (UNESCO, 2016c). In Ghana, the Textbook Development and Distribution Policy for Pre-tertiary Education included gender sensitivity as one of the main criteria for evaluating textbook proposals (Ghana MOE, 2001). By contrast, the Pakistan National Textbook and Learning Materials Policy and Plan of Action does not mention gender as a criterion of textbook review, referring instead to ‘quality of content, presentation, language and specific provincial coverage’ (Pakistan MOE, 2007).

Textbook monitoring by parents and civil society can be effective. In South Africa, a parent’s question posted on Facebook in July 2016 inspired a petition that ultimately led the textbook publisher to amend and issue an apology for content that promoted blaming the victim for sexual assault (Davies, 2016).

TEACHER EDUCATION CAN HELP ADDRESS UNDERLYING GENDER BIASES

Aside from the influence of official curricula and textbooks, teacher practice in the classroom is partly shaped by their assumptions and stereotypes about gender, which in turn affects students’ beliefs and learning. In Australia, female teachers felt particularly responsible for boys’ underachievement relative to male teachers (Hodgetts, 2010). In the United States, anxiety expressed by female mathematics teachers was associated with female students’ belief in the stereotype that boys are better at mathematics (Beilock et al., 2010).

Teacher education can assist teachers to reflect on and overcome their biases. Formal initiatives in teacher education with a focus on gender have taken place in Italy, the Republic of Moldova and Sudan (OHCHR, 2015). In Spain, the University of Oviedo requires teacher candidates to complete a mandatory course on gender and education (Bourn et al., 2017). In Ankara, Turkey preservice teachers that took a semester long course on gender equity in education developed more gender sensitive attitudes (Erden, 2009).

In low and middle income countries, teacher education programmes are often externally funded. The UNESCO Regional Bureau in Bangkok has recently funded a five-year project, Enhancing Girls’ and Women’s Right to Quality Education through Gender Sensitive Policy Making, Teacher Development and Pedagogy, which focuses on training participants from Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan to conduct gender assessments in teacher education (UNESCO, 2016b).

In Karamoja region, Uganda, the UNICEF Gender Socialization in Schools programme trained over 1,000 primary school teachers to enhance their knowledge, attitudes and practices related to gender equality promotion and conflict resolution. The initial training lasted for two days and was followed by two refresher training sessions. A subset of teachers received reinforcing text messages reminding them of examples of good practice. However, while the programme improved teachers’ knowledge and attitudes on gender equality, classroom practices did not become more gender-responsive (American Institutes for Research and UNICEF, 2016; El-Bushra and Smith, 2016).

Nigeria updated its teacher education curriculum in 2012, in part to address gender issues (Unterhalter et al., 2015). While a policy is in place to ensure minimum standards on gender equality, a survey of 4,500 student teachers in 2014 showed that very few had an in-depth understanding of what gender equality in education might mean, while many were hostile to women’s participation in public life and any form of social engagement. Among respondents employed following graduation, teachers reported receiving no professional development on gender, a point echoed by other colleagues at the schools where they taught. Teachers who had the most egalitarian ideas about gender reported themselves the most frustrated of respondents and said that they were unable to put their ideas into practice (Unterhalter et al., 2017).

The examples from Uganda and Nigeria highlight some of the challenges in changing teacher practices. To be effective, teacher education and training need to be continuous to recognize the time it takes for such practices to change. They also need to incorporate other stakeholders to help build a more supportive environment.

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Global Perspectives on Gender Sensitivity and Economic Benefits

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• First Online: 05 June 2020
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• Emerson Abraham Jackson 7 , 8 &
• Judith Jackson 9  

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

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Gender equality ; Gender equity ; Gender mainstreaming ; Gender sensitization ; Women’s empowerment

Definitions

According to Sharma ( 2014 ), the word gender sensitivity, also synonymous with gender sensitization, is the modification of behavior through awareness of gender equality concerns. Such an approach seems to have made topical headline in the global community, which is said to be achieved through various sensitization endeavors like campaigns, trainings, and workshops led by both national and international institutions across the world.

Kutateladze ( 2015 ) provided a linguistic approach to the concept to mean the examination of the language and selection of forms, which are unbiased and neutral. This has thrown a more sensitive approach to the political correctness of the word, particularly in the public domain, where the presence of left-wingers/heterodox thinkers like feminists has sought to make their presence in ensuring empowerment toward gender equality is made a...

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Jackson, E.A., Jackson, J. (2020). Global Perspectives on Gender Sensitivity and Economic Benefits. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Gender Equality. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_61-1

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• IAS Preparation
• UPSC Preparation Strategy
• Gender Sensitization

Gender sensitization is the process of creating awareness regarding gender equality issues and modifying the behaviour and views that people hold about themselves and other genders. This process helps in examining people’s “personal attitudes and beliefs and questioning the ‘realities’ they thought they know.”

This topic is important for Essay and GS papers of the Main IAS Exam . Aspirants preparing for the UPSC Main examination should have a good understanding of topics related to women empowerment, patriarchy, gender equality, safety of women etc.

Need for Gender Sensitization

Gender sensitization is very important in these changing times. Women and men both play a key role at home, office and in society. Therefore, it is important that both feel valued in society and lead a dignified life. Gender insensitivity and inequality in terms of difference in salary/wages, organisational culture, etc., are major factors that lead to a decline in productivity and increase absenteeism and staff turnover rate in an organisation. When both genders feel empathetic towards each other, it creates a positive culture at home, workplace and in society. Gender sensitization can lead to gender justice, equality and inclusion.

Gender Related Terminologies

In order to sensitise individuals regarding gender issues, it is important to first understand the difference between certain gender related terms like gender identity, gender stereotypes etc. 

Gender: According to the World Health Organisation, gender refers “to the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed .  This includes norms, behaviours and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy, as well as relationships with each other. As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time.”

Sex: As per WHO, the term sex refers to “the different biological and physiological characteristics of females, males and intersex persons, such as chromosomes, hormones and reproductive organs.”

Gender Identity: Gender identity refers “to a person’s deeply felt, internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s physiology or designated sex at birth.”

Gender Role: These are “sets of behaviour, roles and responsibilities attributed to women and men that the

culture defines it as appropriate for men and women.”

Gender Stereotypes: These are “ideas that people have on masculinity and femininity: such as what men and women of all generations should be like and are capable of doing.” For example: Male stereotypes include considering men as providers and protectors while women stereotypes include considering women as the main caregiver in the family, restricting her to household chores etc.

Types of Gender Bias and Inequality

Gender bias can take different forms. Some of the forms of gender biases that are visible in the society are given below:

• Difference in wages or salary of men and women
• Colours used to decorate the room, type of toys and clothing styles for boys and girls
• Most of the time school textbooks show pictures of women doing household chores
• Advertisements and films featuring women taking care of children whereas men going out to work.
• Women should have long hair and men should have short hair
• Women are emotional and men are rational
• Boys and men should not cry

These are some of the examples of gender bias and inequality that are followed in various societies and communities.

India and the Gender Gap Index Report 2021

As per the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021 , India slipped 28 places to rank 140th among 156 countries. In 2020, India had ranked 112th among 153 countries. As per the report, India has closed 62.5% of its gender gap till date. The report evaluates gender-based gaps based on four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment . In addition, it examines the factors that drive gender gaps and outlines the policies and practices that are required for a gender-inclusive recovery. 

Constitution of India and Gender Equality

The Constitution of India contains provisions that aim to create gender justice and equality. Some of the important Articles that ensure that all individuals are treated equally and with dignity are:

• Article 14: Equality before law- The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth
• Article 15:   Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth
• Article 19: (1)(g) ‘To practice any profession or to carry out any occupation, trade or business’.
• Article 21: Protection of life and personal liberty- No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law
• Article 42: Provision for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief – The State shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.
• Article 51A:   It shall be the duty of every citizen of India: (e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women
• Article 32: Remedies for enforcement of rights conferred by this Part: 

(1) The right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this Part is guaranteed

(2) The Supreme Court shall have power to issue directions or orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, whichever may be appropriate, for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by this Part.

Supreme Court Judgements

The Supreme Court of India through its various judgements has upheld gender equality and justice time and again. Some of the important judgements delivered by the Supreme Court of India are given below:

• Vishaka and Ors. v State of Rajasthan (1997)

The case deals with various aspects of Sexual Harassment of a women at her workplace. The Supreme Court of India put together the very famous Vishaka guidelines, which made it mandatory for both private and public sectors to set up mechanisms to redress sexual harassment complaints.

• Vineeta Sharma v Rakesh Sharma 

Supreme Court of India’s judgement in the case of Vineeta Sharma v Rakesh Sharma took a step towards gender equality. In August, 2020, the Supreme Court passed a landmark judgement stating that the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 will have a retrospective effect. The 2005 Amendment modified  Section 6 of the Act in order to align with the constitutional belief of gender equality.

• Joseph Shine v. Union of India

“The five-judge bench unanimously struck down Section 497 IPC saying that it was unconstitutional since the very basis for criminalising adultery was the assumption that a woman is considered as the property of the husband and cannot have relations outside the marriage. The said section violated the right to privacy as well as the liberty of women by discriminating against married women and perpetuating gender stereotypes.”

• The Secretary, Ministry of Defence v. Babita Puniya & Ors. (2020)

“ Permanent Commission should be granted to women in the army regardless of their service, in all the ten streams where the Union Government has already taken a decision to grant the Short Service Commission for women.”

• Kakali Ghosh v. Chief Secy. A&NAdministration (2014)

“Central Government employee who is a woman and having a minor child could avail a maximum period of 730 days during the entire service period for taking care of her children.”

• Shayara Bano vs Union Of India (2017)

It is better known as the ‘Triple Talaq Case’ , which declared the practice of Triple Talaq to be unconstitutional. 

Laws in India that Help in Gender Sensitization

The Government of India has taken several steps by passing various Acts to create gender equality and teach gender sensitivity. A list of important Acts passed by the parliament are given below: 

• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (POSH Act)
• The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
• The Hindu Succession Act, 1956
• The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 (Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 was amended)
• The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
• The Criminal Law Amendment Act,  2013

Government Policies and Schemes

The Government of India has introduced various schemes and policies for the development and empowerment of women, which will help in creating awareness about gender equality and inclusion are given below:

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP): It focuses on the protection, survival and education of the girl child.
• Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK): It aims to empower rural women with opportunities for skill development and employment.
• The Working Women Hostel (WWH): It aims to provide a safe and secure place for working women.
• Scheme for Adolescent Girls: Focuses on empowerment of girls in the age group 11-18 and also improve their social status through nutrition, life skills, home skills and vocational training
• The National Crèche Scheme: It aims to ensure that women take up gainful employment by providing a safe, secure and stimulating environment to the children.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandna Yojna: It focuses on providing maternity benefit to pregnant and lactating mothers.
• Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana: It aims to provide housing under the name of the woman also.
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY):  It aims to enable a large number of Indian youth including women to take up industry-relevant skill training in securing a better livelihood.
• Deen Dayal Upadhyay National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM): It aims to create opportunities for women in skill development, leading to market-based employment.
• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: Its aim is to empower women and protect their health by providing LPG cylinders free of cost.
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna (SSY): Under this scheme girls have been economically empowered by opening their bank accounts.
• Skill Upgradation & Mahila Coir Yojana : It is an exclusive training programme of MSME aimed at skill development of women artisans engaged in the coir Industry.
• Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP): It is a major credit- linked subsidy programme, which aims to generate self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector
• National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW): It aims to strengthen the overall processes that promote all-round Development of Women
• Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers (including single mothers): It provides day care facilities for running a crèche of 25 children in the age group 0-6 years from families having monthly income of less than Rs 12,000.
• Female Entrepreneurship : In order to promote female entrepreneurship, the Government of India has initiated programmes like Stand-Up India and Mahila e-Haat (online marketing platform to support women entrepreneurs/ SHGs/NGOs), Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme (ESSDP) etc. Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) provides access to institutional finance to micro/small businesses.
• Several steps and initiatives have been taken up in the school education system such as National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 and flagship programmes like Samagra Shiksha and the subsequent Right to Education Act (RTE) . Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) have been opened in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs). Gender sensitisation is also done which includes gender sensitization Module – part of in-service training, construction of toilets for girls, construction of residential quarters for female teachers and curriculum reforms.
• In order to bring women in the mainstream of political leadership at the grass root level, the government has reserved 33% of the seats in Panchayati Raj Institutions for women . Capacity Building of Panchayat Stakeholders including Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj is conducted with a view to empower women to participate effectively in the governance processes.
• Gender Budget has been made a part of the Union Budget of India since 2005 that entails fund allocation towards programmes/schemes dedicated to women. 

With the help of these programmes and efforts, the Government of India is continuously encouraging gender parity/equality with a focus on alleviating the gender gap in all sectors and at all levels of governance. 

Benefits of Gender Sensitization

Gender sensitization can help in the following ways:

• Develops mutual respect and empathy towards the opposite gender
• Can help in decreasing violence and crimes against men, women, transgenders and other marginalised communities
• Helps in changing the attitude and mindset of individuals
• Boosts morale of employees in a workspace (especially women).
• Removes gender biases
• It will advance gender equality
• Improves women’s job market participation rate
• Create a more inclusive society
• Will give better decision-making power to women
• Helps in improving the mental health of individuals

How to teach gender sensitivity and inclusion?

Gender sensitization should take place from a young age. Parents and Teachers should pay special attention to ensure that children do not follow the gender biases that are generally followed in the community or society. Gender sensitivity and inclusion can be taught in the following ways:

• Conducting gender sensitisation sessions and workshops at schools, colleges, workplace etc
• Making topics related to gender equality and sensitisation part of the school and college curriculum
• Using gender neutral language at home, school/college, workplace etc
• Training parents and teachers (school and college) about what they should teach children directly and indirectly
• School and college textbooks should be free from gender biases
• To educate and empower both women and men to become more inclusive and empathetic towards each other by making them aware of how to tackle stereotyping and unconscious biases, gender inclusion in the workplace and even aspects of the POSH Act.
• Making use of gender neutral terms or variable or non-binary pronouns like ‘they’ at college, workspace etc. This not only helps in unboxing gender identity but also encourages empathy and makes colleagues non-judgemental.
• Setting up Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee (GSICC) at workplace, colleges etc
• Laying down policy to prevent gender discrimination and sexual harassment of any individual.

Gender sensitization is a need of the hour. With the changing times and changing gender roles, it is important to spread awareness about gender issues and take effective steps to create an enabling environment that is considerate towards the sentiments and choices of all human beings. Breaking gender stereotypes will help both men and women to live a dignified life. Gender inequalities are learned from a young age and that too at various levels i.e. at school, home/family, community etc. Therefore, gender sensitization cannot take place in a day and is a long term process, which requires consistent efforts. Education can play an important role in gender sensitization. Parents and teachers both have to play a key role in making children gender sensitive from a very young age.

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• Gender-sensitive policy design and implementation

Social protection programmes that mainstream the inclusion of women require policy makers  to assess the underlying causes of exclusion, and take deliberate measures to address women’s gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities. For example, States must pay particular attention to eligibility criteria and targeting methods used to ensure that the programme does not exclude or disadvantage women. For example, a common problem in non-contributory pension systems is using household targeting methods; as these can put women at a disadvantage by ignoring the fact that women, in particular older women and girls, often receive fewer resources than men and boys regardless of household income.

States must acknowledge that the impacts of social protection programmes are not gender neutral, and accordingly should:

• Design and implement social protection strategies which recognize the multiple forms of discrimination that women experience, and ensure that programmes address women’s specific needs throughout their life cycle. To this end, before designing a social protection programme, policy makers must conduct a comprehensive and disaggregated gender analysis that assesses the vulnerabilities of both genders as potential beneficiaries.
• Ensure that social protection programmes respect and acknowledge the role of women as care providers without reinforcing patterns of discrimination and negative stereotyping.
• Establish accessible, gender-sensitive good quality social services which take into account the obstacles faced by women in accessing such services. At minimum, this requires investment in public services and training for public service providers on culturally appropriate practices and on the specific needs and vulnerabilities of women.
• Ensure that all social protection programmes are subject to gender-sensitive eligibility criteria which take into account intra-household dynamics and distribution of resources and do not impose requirements that disproportionately disadvantage women.
• Take all measures necessary to ensure that the social protection interventions mitigate gendered power relations and address the unequal roles both within the household and in the community. Policy makers should ensure the effective participation of women in the administration of social protection programmes by, for example, establishing sex quotas in the governance structures of programmes and ensuring a gender balance at all levels of social protection programmes.
• Ensure that participation and accountability mechanisms are designed and implemented with gendered power relations in mind in order to facilitate the meaningful participation of women in all programme stages.
• Programmes should take every opportunity to promote gender equality and facilitate the mobilization of women. Policy makers should invest in capacity-building to ensure that those designing and implementing social programmes at both the national and local levels are aware of gender issues.

Photo credit: “Samburu tribe family, near Maralal” by www.j-pics.info (CCBY 2.0 via Flickr).

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Gender Sensitivity and Its Relation to Gender Equality

2020, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Related Papers

Springer, Cham

EMERSON A JACKSON

According to Sharma (2014), the word gender sensitivity, also synonymous with gender sensitization, is the modification of behavior through awareness of gender equality concerns. Such an approach seems to have made topical headline in the global community, which is said to be achieved through various sensitization endeavors like campaigns, trainings, and workshops led by both national and international institutions across the world. Kutateladze (2015) provided a linguistic approach to the concept to mean the examination of the language and selection of forms, which are unbiased and neutral. This has thrown a more sensitive approach to the political correctness of the word, particularly in the public domain, where the presence of left-wingers/heterodox thinkers like feminists has sought to make their presence in ensuring empowerment toward gender equality is made a global concern. Reeves and Baden (2000: pp 2 and 10), on the other hand, provided a dichotomy between the two synonymously used words gender equity and gender equality; in their definitions, gender equity signifies the equivalence in life outcomes for women and men, recognizing their different needs and interests and requiring a redistribution of power and resources, while, on the other hand, gender equality means women availing equal opportunities in life as men, including the ability to participate in public fora. In these definitions, a dichotomy seems to have been drawn between the two concepts, thereby reflecting differing contemplation of gender issues, which thereby makes it possible for addressing appropriate strategies as a way of addressing issues associated with SDG16.

Ariel Ramos

Development

Joan French

isara solutions

International Res Jour Managt Socio Human

Gender sensitization presides over gender sensitivity which refers to the modification of behavior by raising awareness of gender equality concerns. Gender sensitization may be seen as “the awareness informed disposition or propensity to behave in a manner which is sensitive to gender justice and gender equality issues. This paper attempts to explain the parameters of Gender Equity and Equality through consideration of which levels of Gender Sensitization and its interlinkage with sustainable development for a society can be reached. First conceptualization of Gender Sensitization and Sustainable Development is emphasized and mentioned and further explained how these are complementary and inseparable to each other. A basic preview of Gender Biasness and its factors along with stereotypes responsible for its presence are mentioned. Development as a process of transformation exemplifies world over the significance of Gender Sensitization and takes us to conclusion that fruits of development cannot ripen unless equal status to half of the population comprising females is granted on the one hand and without Development , particularly Social which generally succeeds Economic Development , Gender Sensitization seems hard on the other hand. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of gender sensitization to attain considerable levels of Development and the Issues and Challenges confronting to reach such equitable world of Humanities.

Leah Esguerra

Tendai Nyamadzao

isst-india.org

Ratna Sudarshan

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ALL RESEARCH EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC METHODS

Sumbul Khalil

Gender sensitisation and inclusion is an important subject from educational and social point of view. This paper seeks to provide innovative strategies for gender sensitisation at three places-home, educational institutions and workplace. Data was collected through a questionnaire having 4 open ended questions. In this qualitative study, 27 participants had participated who were selected through purposeful sampling. The study is based on the premise that people from different cultures experience gender issues like gender biasness, gender discrimination, gender stereotyping, gender inclusion etc. differently. Therefore, the strategies suggested by the participants stem from their experience and observations in real life. The data was corroborated with findings from previously published studies. Some of the strategies suggested include-use of gender-neutral language, adequate representation in both pictorial and texts in books, provision of child care leave for both parents, financial education for women among many others. It was also observed that participants had treated gender as binary despite a lot of awareness about LGBTQ community. Most strategies aimed at bringing equity to the feminine gender.

MOST.REZOANA AKTER

Health promotion international

Jennifer Hatfield

Gender analysis methodology is increasingly being considered as essential to health research because 'women's social, economic and political status undermine their ability to protect and promote their own physical, emotional and mental health, including their effective use of health information and services' {World Health Organization [Gender Analysis in Health: a review of selected tools. 2003; www.who.int/gender/documents/en/Gender. pdf (20 February 2008, date last accessed)]}. By examining gendered roles, responsibilities and norms through the lens of gender analysis, we can develop an in-depth understanding of social power differentials, and be better able to address gender inequalities and inequities within institutions and between men and women. When conducting gender analysis, tools and frameworks may help to aid community engagement and to provide a framework to ensure that relevant gendered nuances are assessed. The capacities and vulnerabilities approach (CVA) ...

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Why gender sensitivity trainings are important?

Gender sensitivity training can make a huge impact. We know it because we can see the difference in language and attitudes before and after the workshop.

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Teaching Your Child Gender Sensitivity

What’s the difference between boys and girls? Ask a group of children this question and you’ll get a wide variety of answers. Children are well aware of the differences between the genders and, intentionally or not, this affects the way they interact with each other. If you’ve ever heard your child say, “Boys are stupid” or “He throws like a girl,” you’ll know that they’ve already formed certain ideas about the opposite gender. And these thoughts don’t exist in a vacuum; they are shaped by societal messaging and can lead to hurtful speech and behaviour. This is why it’s important that we teach our children about gender sensitivity right from a young age.

First, what is gender sensitivity?

Simply put, gender sensitivity is behaviour that avoids discrimination by understanding and accepting the multiple differences between men and women. It is a way of thinking that fosters respect and compassion for others — regardless of these differences. Gender sensitisation among children teaches them to rely less on subconscious assumptions and generalisations and more on individual personality traits. And like most lessons, gender sensitivity starts at home. There are some simple things that any parent can do to instil this conscientiousness, and here are just a few:

Be a role model.

Children tend to mirror the attitudes and actions of their parents, so the easiest first step is to lead by example. Something as simple as taking turns with your partner to do different chores can break the stereotype that certain activities are for a particular gender. In addition, taking time to understand the impact of your words is equally important. What kind of message do you imply when you say “boys will be boys”? How will that affect your child in the long run? By being conscious of your own language, you’re indirectly teaching your child to avoid generalisation and to think about others before acting.

Keep communication lines open.

Children ask a lot of questions. A large step towards gender sensitivity is answering these without hesitation — including the ones that we’d rather avoid. Anger, laughter and avoidance make kids associate these topics with shame, so ignore your first instinct; be open and honest. Keep the conversation straightforward and use simple, age-appropriate language. With just a quick conversation, you can teach both boys and girls to be more understanding of others’ interests, and guide them to think before making hurtful comments based on preconceptions.

Let them do what they enjoy.

When it comes to hobbies and extracurriculars, we may be tempted to push our children in a certain direction. Instead, let them explore the things that interest them and expose them to role models of both genders within these fields. Your son’s interest in dance may be fleeting, or it may be something he becomes truly passionate about in the long run. Either way, your encouragement will teach him not to be ashamed of his interests. The same holds true with toys. A doll and an action figure are, in essence, the same toy with the same functions. They both serve to enrich the imagination, no matter who is playing with them. Encouraging your child to play and enjoy themselves, whether it’s with a football or a kitchen set, simply allows them to push the boundaries of their imagination.

Allow them to express themselves.

How many times have we heard the phrase, “Boys don’t cry” or “It’s not ladylike to shout”? At some point we seem to have assigned ‘appropriate’ emotions to different genders. For this reason, it is important to keep children from internalizing their negative emotions. Teach your child to talk through what they’re feeling and encourage them to come to you with their problems. Something as simple as providing a sincere, listening ear can teach them not to bottle up their feelings. Working with your child to help them express their emotions in a healthy manner can help them feel more secure in their identity and, in turn, help them empathise with their peers.

Read the literature.

When you’re looking to broach topics such as sexuality and gender with your children, you may find yourself at a loss. Whether you feel you don’t know enough to give them the best understanding of the topic or you just don’t know where to start, the key is to stay informed. Websites such as Young Women’s Health and its counterpart, Young Men’s Health, can answer your questions in a clear and straightforward manner. TARSHI Publications also has books — for both adults and children — that cover these topics in a clinical manner. TARSHI’s ‘Yellow Book’ is especially helpful for parents as it is filled with tips, tools and advice on starting a conversation with a young audience. Even a simple Google search will yield blogs and testimonials from other parents that will help you inculcate gender sensitivity in your child.

Every parent wants their child to grow into a compassionate adult. The first step in that direction is teaching them gender sensitivity. By creating an environment of respect and understanding, your child will learn that the differences between themselves and their peers will only enrich their friendships. Discouraging gender-based stereotyping creates new parameters for your child to excel, without being held back by expectations. This lack of expectation will also extend to their peers as they start to see achievements and failures on an individual level, rather than an indication of the group. And, ultimately, you will foster open-mindedness and empathy in your child’s day to day life.

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Research Article

Effects of gender sensitive language in job listings: A study on real-life user interaction

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Institute of German Studies and Media Cultures, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Sachsen, Germany

Affiliation Department of German Studies, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

• Dominik Hetjens, 
• Stefan Hartmann

• Published: August 14, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308072
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

The possible impact of gender-sensitive language on readers is among the most controversially debated issues in linguistics and beyond. Previous studies have suggested that there is an effect of gender-sensitive language on mental representations, based on data gathered in laboratory settings with small groups of participants. We add a new perspective by examining correlations of authentic language use with authentic user interaction on a recruitment website. Drawing upon a large dataset provided by the recruitment platform StepStone, we evaluate whether job advertisements using certain kinds of gender-sensitive language in their titles correlate with higher proportions of views by female users. Our results indicate that there are differing effects depending on the type of gender-sensitive language that is used. Overall, the strongest correlation can be found with terms that include the feminine suffix -in .

Citation: Hetjens D, Hartmann S (2024) Effects of gender sensitive language in job listings: A study on real-life user interaction. PLoS ONE 19(8): e0308072. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308072

Editor: Montserrat Comesaña Vila, University of Minho School of Psychology: Universidade do Minho Escola de Psicologia, PORTUGAL

Received: February 6, 2024; Accepted: July 16, 2024; Published: August 14, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Hetjens, Hartmann. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: The data can be found in a sheet here: https://uni-duesseldorf.sciebo.de/s/pKu2B1Np4wf1yqw .

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

1. Introduction

Gender-sensitive language has become a controversial topic across many different languages and cultures [ 1 , 2 ]. It has been introduced with the intention to reduce stereotyping and discrimination. A prominent example is the push to replace certain job titles in English, e.g. police offer instead of policeman or fire fighter instead of fireman [ 2 p2].

This can be seen as a response to the observation that certain types of gender asymmetry that can be observed in society are reflected in language. Research has indeed shown that a male bias, i.e. “an implicit assumption that an undefined person is a man” [ 3 p110], is pervasive across languages. In English, to mention a prominent example, attempts to reduce this bias have led to an increase in the use of singular they instead of the masculine pronoun as an ‘unmarked’ default form [ 4 ], sparking language-ideological debates that share similarities with those in the German-speaking world that will be the focus of the present paper [ 5 ].

Here, the issue is more complex, since German belongs to a group of languages called ‘gender languages’. In the case of nouns referring to animates, especially persons [ 6 pp5–6], these languages show a correspondence between ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ grammatical gender on the one hand and biological and/or social gender on the other. As a result, some have argued that sexist ideologies are deeply ingrained in the grammars of languages, especially in their grammatical gender systems [ 7 ]. Hence, the proposed gender-sensitive forms in German are not limited to a small number of specific job titles as in the case of policeman or fireman , but affect the majority of person nouns, among them most job titles. The use of these forms, referred to in German as gendern ‘gendering’, is the topic of passionate debates and political campaigns [ 8 p210, 9 ]. Both sides of the debate appeal to linguistics to substantiate their claims. While some of these claims are based on moral or political ideas, others are rooted in linguistic concepts [ 9 p106]. Positions of linguists on the topic vary greatly, depending not only on their specific area of expertise, but also on certain basic assumptions about (German) grammar, the role of linguistics in society, and their views regarding the validity of the research methods typically used in empirical approaches to gender-sensitive language.

When it comes to the question of whether the use of gender-sensitive language has a real, measurable effect, the study of job listings can be considered of particular relevance, as the positions that are advertised relate to social and economic hierarchies. As such, online job listings, and data about how users interact with them, can be a promising resource for investigating whether and how the use of gender-sensitive language might impact potentially far-reaching professional decisions, especially when combined with demographic metadata. This is why this paper sets out to explore how different types of gender-sensitive language used in the titles of online job advertisements correlate with the relative numbers of views by female users. In doing so, we present, to the best of our knowledge, the first study on this topic that draws on a large-scale analysis of authentic user interaction data, rather than on data obtained in laboratory settings. We argue that this can offer new perspectives on the topic and help to address some of the issues that have been raised with regard to previous empirical research on gender-sensitive language.

In section 2, we will provide a brief overview of grammatical genders in German and the use of masculine forms for mixed groups and abstract entities (the so-called generic masculine form), which is at the centre of the criticism put forward by feminist linguistics. We will then summarise the current state of the art, roughly categorising previous empirical research on gender-sensitive language into corpus-based and experimental approaches. We will particularly focus on previous research not only in linguistics but also in the social sciences that addresses the effects of different types of gender-sensitive language on the perception of job listings (section 3). We then turn to our own case study, in which we analyse user interaction data provided by the online recruitment agency StepStone (section 4). In section 5, we offer an in-depth discussion of the results; section 6 summarises and concludes the paper.

Before we begin, several terminological notes are in order: Firstly, in analogy to the German term gendern , we will use the term gendering in this paper to refer to the use of gender-sensitive language. Likewise, we also use the verb to gender in the sense of ‘using gender-sensitive variants of a specific term’. Secondly, we use the widespread term generic masculine (German: generisches Maskulinum , sometimes also referred to as masculine generic , see e.g. [ 10 ]) to refer to uses of masculine nouns that include both male and female referents, as in alle Nobelpreisträger ‘all Nobel laureates’. Kotthoff and Nübling [ 11 ] point out that the use of the term generic in this context deviates from its use in other domains of linguistics, which is why some researchers speak of the ‘so-called’ generic masculine instead [ 11 p91], or use other terms such as “geschlechtsübergreifendes Maskulinum” (roughly: ‘gender-spanning masculine’, see e.g. [ 12 ]). While the latter term is arguably the most accurate one, there seems to be no fully adequate English equivalent, which is why we stick with generic masculine for the remainder of this paper. Lastly, we will use the term gender-sensitive language , not the possibly more common gender-fair language , to avoid any inherent evaluation with regard to the moral or functional quality of the linguistic forms referred to.

2. Overview of grammatical genders and the ‘generic masculine’ form

In German, each noun belongs to one of three classes (grammatical genders): Der Mond ‘the moon’ (masculine), die Sonne ‘the sun’ (feminine), das Boot ‘the boat’ (neuter). When it comes to nouns referring to persons, it is common in the German-language literature to distinguish between Genus , i.e. grammatical gender, on the one hand, and Sexus , i.e. biological sex and/or social gender, on the other [e.g. 13 ]. Hellinger and Bußmann [ 6 pp6-8] make a more fine-grained distinction between grammatical gender , lexical gender and referential gender . Grammatical gender refers to an inherent property of nouns that is, in principle, independent of the actual gender of the referent, e.g. German der Mond ‘the moon’ (masculine), French la lune ‘the moon’ (feminine). Lexical gender (also called semantic gender) refers to semantic properties like [male] or [female] that are present in some nouns (e.g. aunt [f.] vs. uncle [m.]), while referential gender is conceived of as an extra-linguistic phenomenon based on social or biological categorisations. We will adopt these terms here, especially because semantic gender seems much more appropriate a term than sexus , as the latter strongly evokes the notion of biological sex, while gender as a social construct is at least as important to the questions at hand as biological features [ 6 ].

As mentioned before, there is considerable correspondence between grammatical and referential gender in nouns referring to persons [ 6 p7], especially in the singular, e.g. der Mann ‘the man’, die Frau ‘the woman’. Importantly, most role nouns, which are by default masculine in German, can be turned to feminine nouns by adding the female suffix -in , e.g. Linguist ‘linguist’ > Linguistin ‘female linguist’. This is especially relevant in the case of job titles, which are the main topic of the present study. Role nouns usually exist in pairs [e.g. 14 p291], with the female form being marked by the suffix -in . In addition, many of them are agent nouns with the agentive suffix -er , resulting in the stereotypical pattern der Lehrer ‘the teacher (m.)’– die Lehrerin ‘the teacher’ (f.), with the plural forms being die Lehrer and die Lehrerinnen [ 14 p293].

Thus, in many cases when referring to groups of mixed genders or abstract entities (e.g. ‘a teacher per se ’), there is no (grammatically) ‘neutral’ way to do so. The traditional use of the male version ( die Lehrer ), the so-called generic masculine form (subsequently referred to as GM ), has been criticised since the advent of feminist linguistics in the 1970s. It was argued that German tends to make women ‘invisible’, which could potentially entail social consequences [ 2 , 15 ]. On this view, there is a link between grammatical and semantic gender, rooted in the concepts elicited by a word, especially if the word in the singular is commonly used to refer to a certain referential gender (also see [ 16 ] for an overview): for instance, if Anwalt ‘lawyer’ or its plural form Anwälte ‘lawyers’ are frequently used to refer to male individuals, the term will gradually become associated with male practitioners of this profession. For this reason, many alternatives to the masculine form have been suggested over the last decades. Different types of ‘gendering’ have become common in German, including the use of both the masculine and the feminine form ( Linguistinnen und Linguisten ) and the combination of male and female forms using various types of morpheme separators (often pronounced as a glottal stop in spoken language) such as Linguist*innen , Linguist_innen , Linguist : innen , or using the capital I as in LinguistInnen [ 16 p119].

3. State of the art: Corpus-based and experimental approaches to generic masculines and alternative forms in German

Current research on whether and to what extent women are represented in the GM shows no consensus. Some of the controversy in the literature is based on differences in the methods and fundamental assumptions of different linguistic approaches. Among linguists who study the language system mostly independent from language use, there is a tendency to argue that Genus (grammatical gender) and Sexus (biological sex or social gender) are largely independent categories, to the extent that it has been suggested to rename grammatical genders ‘noun classes’ to avoid any association with biological or social gender [ 17 p41]. It has also been argued that generic masculine forms are a case of ’auto-hyponymy,’ where a grammatically masculine noun like Bäcker ‘baker’ is a hyperonym of both Bäcker ‘male baker’ and Bäckerin ‘female baker’ [ 18 p73]. While this approach features prominently in public discourse, it has been criticised for its neglect of empirical evidence, which is gathered mostly in the context of corpus-based and experimental approaches. We will describe these empirical approaches more thoroughly, as they are central for our own study.

Corpus-based approaches have focused on three issues: the diachronic frequency development of GM forms and their alternatives, the sociolinguistic implications of gender-sensitive forms, and their semantics as gauged via distributional methods. Starting with the first-mentioned line of research, corpus studies have clearly shown a general increase in the use of alternatives to the GM, indicating a rising need for, and acceptance of, these forms [ 16 p138, 19 p11]. However, the GM still appears to be by far the most widely-used form to refer to groups of mixed genders, except in specific academic and administrative texts, in which different types of gender-sensitive language are applied [ 8 p216, 16 p139]. As for the question of how old the GM actually is, there are conflicting results. In response to Diewald’s [ 14 ] claim that the GM is a fairly young convention, Trutkowski and Weiß [ 20 p35], based on an analysis of historical corpus data, argue that the GM “has always been part of German grammar” [ 20 p35]. In a study of the historical and synchronic use of generic masculines in predicative constructions, Kopf [ 21 ], by contrast, shows that generic uses of masculine nouns are the exception.

While the question of whether or not the GM is a long-established convention plays a considerable role in public discourse, its relevance for understanding the use and processing of masculine forms in present-day language is arguably negligible. What is more relevant are the sociolinguistic and semantic implications of the forms under scrutiny. As mentioned above, there are numerous alternatives to GMs [ 19 ], but one of them, the asterisk form as in Linguist*innen , tends to be singled out in public discourse. Focusing on this form, Sökefeld [ 16 ] shows that there is considerable variation in the use of the GM and alternative forms within and between texts, and argues that the asterisk serves the purpose of signaling a metalinguistic awareness and a feminist position. This is in line with Kotthoff’s [ 9 pp105,116] assumption that the asterisk is used to connect its users to a particular “socio-symbolic cosmos”. We will return to these ideas in the discussion of our own findings (section 5).

Turning to the semantics of GM and alternative forms, Schmitz et al. [ 10 ] use distributional semantics to investigate the meaning of (supposedly) generic masculines, explicit masculine forms, and explicit feminine forms. They use a semantic vector-space approach, which gauges semantic similarities and differences between words by comparing the contexts in which they occur in a quantitative way. Their results show that masculine generic and specific forms behave very similarly both in the singular and in the plural, while explicitly feminine forms are found to be significantly different to both generic and explicit masculines, which leads the authors to the conclusion that there is “no genericity in sight”.

These diverging conclusions show that while corpus-based approaches are important for gauging the extent to which generic masculines as well as different types of gender-sensitive language occur in actual language use, they face various challenges. Most importantly, it is often not possible to disentangle semantic and referential gender, which is why much research on the question of how the GM is actually understood in present-day language draws on behavioural experiments instead.

Beginning in the late 1980s, researchers have made efforts to find out how the GM is understood by readers and which associations it may evoke. Kotthoff and Nübling [ 11 p99] argue that this is crucial in evaluating whether the GM might be problematic, as argued for in feminist linguistics, because successful communication is based more on recipients’ actual understanding of messages than on the expressed intention of authors. This is why different recipient-centered experiments have been conducted, using reaction time tests, blank-filling exercises, eye tracking and acceptability tests, among other methods (for an overview see [ 11 p115, 22 – 26 ]). While individual findings vary to some extent, all studies suggest that the masculine form is more likely to elicit mental representations of men than of women, creating a male bias [ 24 p553].

In a much-cited study, Gygax et al. [ 25 ] have combined reaction time testing and acceptability testing, comparing the understanding of role nouns like spies or football players in German, French and English. The participants’ task in the German and French tests was to judge whether a sentence using an anaphoric NP identifying the group as male or female was an acceptable continuation of a preceding sentence using a (generically intended) form, which was grammatically masculine in the German and French stimuli. For example, the participants should judge whether the sentence The social workers were walking through the station . could be sensibly continued with Since sunny weather was forecast several of the women/the men weren’t wearing a coat [ 25 p472]. Their results show that in German and French, continuations with ‘the men’ are both deemed more acceptable than with ‘the women’ and lead to significantly lower reaction times. Thus, they conclude that their results indicate a “very strong effect […], biasing the participants’ mental gender representation towards a male representation” [ 25 p478].

Schunack and Binanzer [ 27 ] take the same approach but extend the study design by taking newer, non-binary forms such as Lehrer*innen into account. Interestingly, their results show that the capital I form LehrerInnen leads to higher estimates for the proportion of women in inherently female-biased nouns, while the asterisk form shows the biggest increase in women estimates for male-biased nouns and a much smaller increase for neutral and female-biased nouns.

However, some of these experimental studies have been criticised for their small sample size, theoretical assumptions, and overall design [ 11 p108, 20 p15]. Trutkowski and Weiß argue that the effects observed in all these studies are largely syntactic in nature [ 20 p15], and they suggest that the perceived mismatch is less likely to be rooted in actual mental representations of participants, but rather in incongruent syntactic components. More generally, Trutkowski and Weiß also argue against the “psychologistic” concept of meaning that, in their view, underlies these studies: According to them, the associations that these experiments tap into are “subjective, private and eventually irrelevant to the meaning of a word”. This shows strikingly that linguists’ positions on the topic of gender-sensitive language depend to a considerable extent on certain basic assumptions that tend to differ among linguistic sub-disciplines (for an overview and a characterisation of some of these basic assumptions, see [ 11 pp99,115]).

Regardless of whether and in what sense the extent to which a person noun evokes female representations can be considered part of its meaning, a crucial question that goes beyond a purely linguistic perspective is whether and how the use of the GM vs. alternative forms may entail actual social consequences. This is why several studies have set out to explore how the wording of job advertisements might influence interest in positions by potential female applicants. In a publication summarising three smaller experiments among psychology students, Gaucher et al. [ 1 ] conclude that women report less interest in a job position after reading English job advertisements including words that had been found to be commonly associated with male stereotypes, e.g. determined , individualistic , superior . When it comes specifically to gender-sensitive variants in German and job positions, there are only a few relevant studies. Horvath and Sczesny [ 28 ] conducted a hiring simulation experiment, showing potential employers a text advertising a position as well as CVs of potential candidates. Their results suggest that women who apply for a job are less likely to be perceived as fitting a position if the text advertising the position uses the GM.

While this might give some insight into how the GM could have an influence in the hiring process, it does not tell us much about the effect on applicants or other readers of advertisements. This is what has been tested in a comparatively large experiment (N = 591) with primary school students [ 29 , 30 ]. This study found that girls were less likely to state that they felt competent to do a specific job if the job description used only the masculine form.

While Horvath & Sczesny’s study compares the use of the GM to explicit mentions of both masculine and feminine forms, more recent studies also take other gendering types into account. As Körner et al. [ 24 ] mention, the asterisk (as in Lehrer*innen ) has become the most common form of gendering using morpheme-separating symbols. In an experiment based on Gygax et al. [ 25 ], they compare the effects of the asterisk to that of the GM. They conclude that the use of the “gender star” results in a female bias that is measurable in acceptability tasks, whereas the GM results in a stronger male bias, even though the generic intention was communicated explicitly in the experiment.

However, all these studies are based on experimental settings and relatively small groups of participants. One exception to this is a data-driven analysis focussing on the effect of gendered wording on the overall popularity of job advertisements by the Swiss job agency Jobchannel [ 31 ]. However, this study does not account for the gender of users, which is why it does not make any statements about whether women might be more likely to apply for a job if the job title avoids the use of the GM. This distinction is important, because any observed effect on the views of job advertisements might be caused by a number of extralinguistic factors not connected to the gender of the recipients. Still, the study yielded a striking result: Among 280,000 job titles, those using gender-sensitive language were viewed considerably more frequently in total than those that didn’t. Among them, the most successful ones were job titles that used a slash separating the suffix indicating the female gender: Lehrer/in ‘teacher’. Almost as successful, according to this study, were forms including the asterisk or the colon: Lehrer*in or Lehrer : in , whereas the GM appears to consistently deliver below-average results. Another finding of the study is that the effect varies between different job sectors, which is why the authors recommend that employers should use different types of gendering, depending on the respective job sectors [ 31 p18]. However, the study does not seem to account for individual job positions that might have a strong influence on the dataset for each job sector, e.g. predominant jobs in a sector for which there is a typical term that is not specified in regard to its semantic gender (see the discussion in section 5 below).

The observed effects can be linked to a variety of possible factors. As Kotthoff [ 9 p106] suggests, gendering might be used to form a group identity around the usage of a certain type of language. Drawing on concepts from interactional sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics, she describes different styles of gendering in their relation to practices of metapragmatic positioning [ 9 p121]. In this light, it seems reasonable to assume that effects of gendering in job titles might, at least in part, be caused not by grammatical genders evoking certain mental representations, but by assumptions about the ideological character of the respective companies and their will to position themselves by using a certain type of language.

Summing up the findings from corpus-based and experimental approaches, the question of whether masculine nouns can be interpreted in a generic sense has been addressed from a variety of perspectives, some of which differ quite drastically regarding their underlying assumptions. The more theoretically-oriented systemic-linguistic approach argues that masculine person nouns have both a generic and a specific reading, the former including referents of all genders, the latter only referring to male persons. It is an empirical fact that masculine nouns can be and are being used for referring to persons of all genders, as corpus-based approaches have shown. It is therefore arguably an exaggeration to call the generic masculine a “fiction” (e.g. [ 13 p44, 15]). However, there is ample evidence both from corpus linguistics and from experimental approaches that generic masculines are much less common in actual language use, both synchronically and historically, than assumed by some proponents of the systemic approach, and that GM forms tend to evoke male-biased representations.

Importantly, the different empirical approaches that have been used to address these questions all come with their own problems and limitations. And given the complexity of the issues at hand, it would in virtually all cases be too simplistic to postulate a direct monocausal relationship between the use of the GM or certain gendering types on the one hand and the behavioural observations obtained in the different studies on the other. As such, we can, in most if not all cases, conceive of possible alternative scenarios unrelated to mental representations that can explain (some of) the effects observed in the studies reviewed above. For one thing, we have seen that in corpus-based studies it is not always possible to tell semantic and referential gender apart. In a similar vein, grammatical and semantic factors cannot always be clearly told apart in experimental studies, which is why e.g. the mismatch between nouns and anaphoric pronouns in Gygax et al.’s [ 25 ] stimuli sentences could be interpreted as having to do more with grammatical agreement than with semantic factors. Furthermore, we cannot fully exclude the possibility that in experimental settings, participants are biased in one way or another. For example, when asked to estimate the proportion of women in a group, participants might guess the goal of the study, which in turn might influence their responses. Another closely related issue is that the samples of participants that experimental studies draw on are often small and non-representative, mostly consisting of students, who can be expected to be highly aware of the meta-linguistic and socio-political discussions about language and gender.

Drawing on authentic user interaction data arguably eliminates some of these problems and offers a more direct window to behavioural correlates of different types of gendering, which ideally allows for drawing more reliable conclusions about how language users interpret nouns that use either a generically masculine form or different types of gendering. This is the research gap that we would like to fill with the case study to which we now turn.

4. Case study

4.1 aim, data and methods.

Analysing user interaction on websites allows for combining the advantages of corpus-based and experimental approaches, while avoiding some of the specific disadvantages associated with laboratory settings. Unlike the stimuli that have been used in behavioural experiments, our approach draws on authentic texts, i.e. examples of real-world language, and the recorded user interactions are interactions that happened on the website, outside of any experimental context.

We draw on a dataset provided by the recruitment platform StepStone. On their website, users can search for specific jobs, which yields a list of job titles. By clicking on the respective title, users can view the full job advertisement. Our main goal is to see whether specific gendering types in job listings correlate with a higher number of views by users who identify as female. We draw on a dataset containing German-language job listings from the years 2020 to 2022. Job listings with less than 100 views were excluded to make sure that the mean proportions are not biased by individual data points with a very low number of views (for example, the extreme case of a job listing with 1 male view and 0 female views, which would enter the analysis on a par with a listing with, say, 100 male and 0 female views). After filtering out all job listings with less than 100 views, our dataset contained 256,934 job listings that were viewed 47,937,792 times altogether (mean = 186.6, sd = 208.3). We did not consider any views by non-registered users of the platform, as we do not have any information about their gender identities. Also, views by registered users identifying as non-binary were not taken into account for the present study, as there are very few of them according to StepStone.

The data collection process was conducted by StepStone according to their rigorous code of conduct, and in compliance with GDPR requirements. It was approved by the company’s legal team. The anonymity of all data points was maintained rigorously. To ensure maximum anonymity, the dataset provided to the authors of the present paper only contains aggregated data: We have no information about individual viewers but only the raw numbers of users that have viewed a specific job ad, along with their gender. Where available, the gender identity given in the individual user profile was taken into account; in all other cases, a gender guesser algorithm was used to gauge the user’s gender. Importantly, this was done by StepStone using in-house solutions; no personal data (such as first names) were disclosed to the authors of the present paper. The methodological consequences and the limitations that this entails will be discussed in more detail below.

As the dataset is too large for hand coding the individual listings, they were grouped automatically according to the type of gender-sensitive phrasing that they use (called “gendering type” in the remainder of this paper, see Footnote 2). The most common variant is the GM in combination with an addition like (m/w/d) to indicate that the job position is open for people of male (m), female (w) or diverse (d) gender. The use of (m/w/d) is the de-facto standard since January 2019, when the German Civil Status Act ( Personenstandsgesetz ) was changed to allow for the gender entry divers ‘diverse’ in response to a verdict of the Federal Constitutional Court ( Gesetz zur Änderung der in das Geburtenregister einzutragenden Angaben , last checked 27/06/2024). The other categories, listed in (2) to (8) below, were identified on the basis of a simple search for the relevant strings. If a job listing neither contained (m/w/d) nor any of the other relevant strings (such as the suffix <-in> or the asterisk <*>), it was not taken into account in our analysis as in such cases, we cannot be entirely sure whether it is a GM or a gender-neutral form that was not explicitly searched for.

The gendering types can be clustered into these groups:

• Addition: GM combined with an orthographically accepted addition in the form of a phrase or abbreviations, mostly (m/w/d) , but other additions like gn (for gender-neutral ) are possible: Lehrer (m/w/d) , Lehrer (all genders) , Lehrer (gn)
• Single asterisk: a symbol that is not part of traditional orthography, serving the explicit purpose of including all genders, without adding the female suffix -in : Lehrer*
• Neutral form with -kraft or participle: compounds with the last constituent -kraft (roughly: ‘staff member’) alternative forms to the GM that are not regarded as specified in respect to their semantic gender. In the case of participles, this only applies to plural forms: Lehrende (literally: ‘teaching (persons)’) is gender-neutral, Lehrender ‘teaching (person) (m.)’ is not.: Lehrkraft , Lehrende
• Slash: a slash used between the stem and the female suffix as an orthographically accepted way of indicating both genders: Lehrer/in , Lehrer/innen
• Capital I: use of a word-internal capital letter I to indicate that both men and women are included: LehrerIn , LehrerInnen
• Morpheme separators: a symbol used between the stem and the female suffix: Lehrer*in , Lehrer_in , Lehrer : in
• Both forms: use of both the male and the female form: Lehrerin oder Lehrer ‘teacher-f. or teacher-m.’, Lehrerinnen und Lehrer ‘teachers-f. and teachers-m.’
• Only feminine form: Lehrerin , Lehrerinnen

Note that the groups differ in the extent to which they are seen as compatible with German orthographic conventions: gendering types using morpheme separators (such as Lehrer*innen , Lehrer : innen ) or sentence-internal majuscules ( LehrerInnen ) have caused the most controversy in public debates and parts of the academic literature, and they have been described as impractical and ideologically motivated. This is partly because the use of symbols like the underscore or the asterisk has been introduced with the intention of including non-binary individuals. Kotthoff [ 9 p107] therefore argues that their use indexes a specific ideological position.

Given that there are still many differences in the representation of women across different branches, we can expect the proportion of female views to be lower in traditionally male-dominated sectors. We have therefore divided the job listings into eight groups according to their affiliation with large job sectors, making use of the categories that StepStone uses for classifying their listings. In some cases, a job listing is associated with more than one sector. For the present analysis, we omit these cases in order to ensure that the influence of this variable can be factored in as reliably as possible. This leaves 685,583 listings that were taken into account in our analysis. Table 1 gives an overview of the total number of job titles viewed at least 100 times in each sector, along with the gendering type being used. Some of the job titles use multiple forms, e.g. Lehrer*in (m/w/d) . In such cases, the first instance is taken into account, but we also annotated whether multiple forms were used. This means that Lehrer (m/w/d) would be counted as an instance of (1) addition (m/w/d) and tagged as using a single gendering type, while Lehrer*innen oder Dozierende (m/w/d) (roghly: ‘teachers or docents (m/w/d)’) would be counted as an instance of (6) morpheme separator and tagged as using multiple gendering types. To disentangle the influence of gendering type and discipline, a generalised linear model was fit to the data using the package lme4 [ 32 ] for R [ 33 ]. The counts of female and male listing views were used as the response variable, and gendering type, discipline, as well as single vs. multiple occurrence of gendered forms were used as predictor variables.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308072.t001

4.2 Results

Fig 1 shows the relative proportion of female users in the total number of views of job listings in a specific discipline, broken down by gendering type. First of all, it immediately becomes clear that there are considerable differences between the different disciplines. As could probably be expected given traditional gender stereotypes, job listings in traditionally “male” fields of occupation such as the construction industry or IT and engineering are viewed more rarely by female users than listings in domains like administration and bookkeeping or the health sector. More relevant for our purposes, however, are the differences between gendering types. As mentioned above, the use of additions is by far the most frequent gendering type in our data. Hence, it is not surprising that the mean proportion of female views in this gendering type coincides almost perfectly with the mean proportion of overall female views in the respective sector, as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig 1 . Interestingly, however, listings that make use of one of the other options, with a few exceptions, tend to show a higher proportion of female views. While caution is advised in the interpretation of the results (see section 4 below), there is an overall tendency for forms that make the female form explicit (using both forms, only the feminine form, or a morpheme separator between the stem and the suffix) to entail a higher proportion of female views, even though this effect is rather subtle in most cases. As we will discuss below, this effect becomes more pronounced when accounting for certain extralinguistic factors and taking a more detailed look into the data.

In each panel, the dashed blue line indicates the mean proportion of female views in the respective discipline, while the dotted red line indicates the overall mean proportion of female views across all disciplines. The bars indicate the standard error of the mean.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308072.g001

The coefficients of the generalised linear model are given in Table 2 . All variance inflation factors are below 5, suggesting that the model does not suffer from multicollinearity. McFadden’s R 2 is 0.46, indicating excellent model fit [ 34 ]. However, an important limitation of the model has to be mentioned: As mentioned in section 3, for privacy reasons, we do not have any data about individual usage profiles–in other words, we do not know which of the views that entered the model go back to the same individual. Thus, we do not know to what extent the data points are independent from one another, and we were unable to work with individual-specific random intercepts. However, given the large amount of data, we assume that the results of a mixed model with random effects for individuals would not have differed very strongly from the present one. An ANOVA comparing a null model with the full model shows that all three predictors emerge as highly significant. The effects plot in Fig 2 shows the model’s predictions for the individual categories.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308072.g002

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308072.t002

5. Discussion

Both the overview in Fig 1 and the results of the regression model reveal a number of interesting trends. However, we should first emphasise that all results have to be handled with caution as there are a number of extralinguistic factors that could not be taken into account, as we will explain in more detail below. Despite those limitations, the data show some tendencies indicating that the use of gendered forms does make a difference when it comes to attracting the attention of female users. First of all, the use of certain gendered forms is correlated with a higher proportion of female views in the majority of job sectors. Although there is considerable variation in the effect of different gendering types across different disciplines, as Fig 1 shows, the overall tendency is fairly clear: Variants that make the female form explicit on the linguistic surface are correlated with the highest proportion of female views, while the addition of (m/w/d) as in Lehrer (m/w/d) or the mere addition of an asterisk ( Lehrer* ) without adding a female suffix leads to the smallest proportion of female views.

The overall results are consistent with many of the findings obtained in the previous literature. For one thing, it is striking that the use of only male forms, even if combined with (m/w/d) or a single asterisk, is fairly consistently correlated with a lower proportion in female views compared to other gendering types. This suggests that it is particularly the explicit female form with the feminine suffix -in that makes a difference here. To some extent, this is not surprising, as it does exactly what ‘gendering’ is supposed to do from the perspective of feminist linguistics, viz. making women visible in language [ 35 p82]. There are several possible explanations for the effect we observe: Women could be more inclined to view job listings that use these gendering types because they feel more targeted as the explicit use of the female form triggers a stronger mental representation of female persons, but it is also possible that they show a higher degree of user interaction because they feel addressed more directly by a job listing that explicitly uses female forms. In the latter case, it would primarily be metalinguistic factors that drive the behavioural observations, while it would be primarily linguistic (more precisely: semantic) ones in the former. However, it is also possible that when advertising job types more targeted at women (perhaps because of gender stereotypes), companies might be more prone to use progressive types of gendering–for instance, using only the female form for a stereotypically female occupation like Sekretärin ‘secretary (f.)’ but gendered forms for less stereotypically gender-specific occupations like Buchhalter*in ‘bookkeeper’. In this case, the effects we observe would have been brought about largely by extra-linguistic factors. While we cannot fully exclude this possibility because we work with aggregate data and do not have access to the individual job listings, it seems unlikely that this is the main factor influencing the results (we will discuss this possibility in more detail below). Instead, the most likely explanation is probably a combination of linguistic, meta-linguistic, and extra-linguistic factors that interact in intricate ways.

As such, it is no surprise that the results are not fully straightforward. In some sectors, the overall pattern is much less clear than in others. In the health sector, for instance, listings that use capital I for gendering as well as listings mentioning only the female form show a below-average proportion of female views. This is one of the cases where the aforementioned influence of extralinguistic factors plays an important role. More specifically, these observations can probably be explained by the types of jobs the different listing titles refer to, the current gender ratios in these jobs, and specific naming conventions for these jobs. For instance, there is a neutral term for nurses, Pflegekraft . We can expect that terms like Pflegekraft or Pflegefachkraft (lit. ‘nursing specialist’) make up a large proportion of the neutral terms in this category. Indeed, a search for listings in the health sector with titles containing the string <pflege> or <Pflege> reveals that most nursing positions are gendered using - kraft (1320 out of 2208 jobs in the health sector containing the string <pflege> or <Pflege>). Thus, the observation that neutral forms are correlated with a particularly high proportion of female views in the health sector can probably be explained by the fact that most of them are nursing positions, which still is a strongly female-dominated occupation. There is no established neutral term for physicians, by contrast, who are called Arzt (male) or Ärztin (female). Thus, we can expect that job listings for other, less female-dominated jobs make use of other gendering types.

This is consistent with other sectors in which certain positions can be gendered in a similar way, indicating that employers tend to use neutral forms when possible, rather than controversial gendering types (such as gendering with asterisk or colon, which are at the center of the heated public discussion about gender-sensitive language) or gender-specific traditional forms (like Krankenschwester , which used to be, and to some extent still is, the conventional term for nurses in German). Similar observations can be made in the logistics sector, in which the majority of jobs positions available are called Fachkraft (e.g. Fachkraft für Lageristik instead of the more traditional male form Lagerist ). In contrast to the health sector, these jobs are traditionally occupied by men, leading to the opposite correlation: The neutral form correlates with the smallest proportion of female views.

To minimise similar extralinguistic effects, we have inspected the different gendering types in job titles for a single profession, comparing only job listings for nurses. Doing so may account for the effect observed above, revealing a pattern that is very similar to the overall tendencies mentioned: The neutral form ( Pflegekraft ) correlates with the smallest number of female views, while other, more explicit gendering types correlate with larger proportions, as can be seen in Fig 3 . This suggests that even in a strongly female-dominated field like nursing, using gender-sensitive language in job listings can have an effect on potential applicants.

The dashed blue line shows the overall mean proportion of female viewers across all listings starting with <Pflege-/pflege->.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308072.g003

In general, there are relatively strong differences between the individual gendering types. Even the forms using morpheme separators differ to a considerable extent. As mentioned above, the ones that appear to attract the largest female viewership in one way or another all include the feminine suffix -in . Interestingly, the use of a single asterisk, as in Lehrer* ‘teacher*’, does not tend to lead to an increase in the proportion of female views. This is interesting in the light of the question of how effective different gendering types are, especially given that the asterisk has become the epitome of gender-sensitive language in the public debate [ 36 ]. Kotthoff [ 9 p116] states that the asterisk is intentionally used to signal the producers’ position on certain social and moral issues and to place them in a certain socio-political group. Given the broad public discussion, we can assume that language users are metalinguistically aware of this type of signalling. Still, this presumed metalinguistic awareness does not translate into a higher proportion of female views. A possible explanation for this finding is that the intended meaning of the asterisk does not override the male associations of the stem form. If this interpretation is correct, it lends further support to previous findings in psycholinguistic research suggesting that masculine forms are strongly associated with male representations.

This is relevant to the question of whether our results can partly be attributed to some of the extralinguistic factors that have been used to question the conclusions of previous studies in the existing literature. At the end of section 3, we have mentioned what can be seen as major potential problems of previous empirical approaches. Our study of real-life user interactions arguably escapes some of them: Firstly, our study does not face the problem that its results could be explained by the effects of mismatching relative pronouns or other syntactic aspects. The titles of job listings usually consist of simple noun phrases, which means that no larger syntactic structures can be found that could influence the results. Secondly, experimental approaches often suffer from the fact that participants can be biased in one way or another due to the laboratory setting. This is not the case here as we have used real-life data that represent genuine reactions to real-life language in a relevant social context. Thirdly, experimental studies often draw on small, non-representative samples. Our study has a very large sample size, although it is limited to registered users of the job platform StepStone. Nevertheless, there are important limitations that need to be acknowledged. Apart from the fact that StepStone users may not be a fully representative sample, we have to draw on aggregated data, which means that we do not have access to potentially relevant information such as the exact wording of the job titles. The reasons why users do or do not interact with a job listing are complex and manifold, and so are the reasons why employers choose specific forms of gender-sensitive language–as mentioned above, we therefore have to be very careful with any causal interpretation of the results of the present study, and more detailed follow-up studies are necessary to back up our tentative conclusions. In section 6, we discuss some possibilities for future avenues of research.

6. Conclusion and outlook

Drawing on data of real-life interaction with job listings, we have investigated the effects of different types of gender-sensitive language (“gendering”). Our results show that across different job sectors, some types of gender-sensitive language correlate with higher proportions of views by female users of the platform. This is true for individual jobs as well, as the comparison of different job titles for nursing positions has shown: Even in a single strongly female-dominated profession, gendering job titles in a specific fashion appears to attract more female viewers.

Many of the effects that we have observed can be accounted for by extralinguistic factors, some of which we have discussed above. Future studies using similar approaches will have to try to account for as many of these extralinguistic factors as possible. Intriguingly, when taking those extralinguistic effects into account, the overall effect seems to become even clearer, as we can easily explain outliers such as the comparatively low proportion of female viewers for job listings using a capital I or only the feminine form in the health sector.

Probably the most relevant result of our study is that the proportion of female viewers (with very few exceptions that can likely be explained by extralinguistic factors) is consistently higher when types of gender-sensitive language are used that explicitly mention the feminine form with the suffix -in . This aligns well with some findings of experimental studies, as well as with ideas common in parts of the feminist-linguistic literature aiming at making women ‘visible’ on the linguistic surface. The use of so-called generic masculine forms with an addition like (m/w/d) correlates with the smallest proportion of views by users who identify as female. A very similar observation can be made with respect to neutral forms and the masculine form accompanied by a single asterisk (even though the so-called gender star <*> is described as a prominent symbol of gender-sensitive language and feminism in corpus-based studies, which is why one could expect readers to associate it with gender diversity).

The specific limitations and advantages of our approach differ from those of previous studies on the subject. The analysis of online interaction avoids some of the disadvantages of corpus-based and experimental approaches by analysing real-life reactions to real-life language, which is why our approach offers a more direct window to the behavioural correlates of different gendering types. At the same time, it only allows for conclusions regarding mental representations or semantics of the expressions in question to a limited extent, because there are a number of important extralinguistic factors at play.

For a more detailed explanation of the observed patterns, big-data approaches like ours need to be complemented by others, particularly experimental ones. While our results are compatible with previous research suggesting that the so-called generic masculine is not consistently interpreted in a gender-neutral way, further research on the topic is needed, not only to better explain our results and those of previous small-scale studies, but also to find ways of reconciling different methodologies. For example, following up on the small case study zooming in on job titles in the health sector presented in section 5, it would be worthwhile to investigate specific job titles in more detail, taking the exact wordings of the relevant titles into account. Also, it would be interesting to conduct an experimental study in which participants see different versions of the same job title with different gendering types.

Gender-sensitive language is a complex issue, not only in linguistics, but also in the political sphere, where a variety of social, political and ethical factors have to be taken into account. Linguistic research like ours can only answer some of the many questions relevant to decisions on gender-sensitive language, which is why we refrain from discussing any potential implications of our results for linguistic policies (e.g., guidelines for gender-sensitive language).

All in all, we hope to have shown that the analysis of online user interaction data can contribute valuable insights to the study of gender-sensitive language, and we believe that this approach also has much potential for addressing follow-up questions in future research.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to StepStone for providing the data for the present analysis, and particularly to Tanja Winkler and Timm Lochmann for the good and constructive collaboration and for their enthusiasm for this project. We extend our gratitude to Marlene Rummel, who has provided us with invaluable expertise and assistance, and to the anonymous reviewers for their feedback that has helped to make the paper more focused.

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Yemen was already a hard place to raise an autistic daughter. Then war started

By Haitham Alqaoud , for CNN  

Editor’s note: This story is part of As Equals , CNN’s ongoing series on gender inequality. For information about how the series is funded and more, check out our FAQs .

Sanaa, Yemen — In his house on the outskirts of Yemen’s capital Sanaa, Mothafar squats on the floor, proudly displaying the pencil sketches made by his 21-year-old daughter, Emtenan, who sits silently beside him, dressed fully in black.

The drawings speak volumes. One shows a child curled up into a ball inside a deep hole in the ground, a lush tree sprouting out of them. Another depicts a man pulling a young girl away from a school building, to which she looks back with a devastated look on her face.

Emtenan has autism and finds it challenging to interact with others socially and typically avoids eye contact, her father explains. A therapist has been working closely with her to help her use sketches to express herself.

“Look at these drawings,” Mothafar said proudly. “She has so much talent and I’m sure there is so much more she can do. But given the situation we’re in… there is only so much I can give her,” the widower and father of five told CNN. He asked that he and his daughter be referred to only by their first names, because of the ignorance and stigma associated with autism in Yemen.

Emtenan, 21, who is autistic and largely non-verbal, works with a therapist who helps her use her drawings to communicate. Courtesy Emtenan

As a farmer with no formal education, Mothafar says he knew little about autism until he had Emtenan, and says he feels guilty for not spotting early signs of the condition.

“I thought she was only being a silly child,” he says, recalling her screaming fits, repetitive movements and inability to play with other children by the age of 4. “I didn’t know [what the condition was], and neither did anyone we knew.”

Being a woman with autism, Emtenan belongs to two marginalized groups in a country that has long ranked​​ among the lowest globally for gender equality.

“Yemen’s society still regards women as objects that must be concealed and hidden,” said Afrah Nasser , Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch. ​They​ face cultural and social barriers, such as restrictions on their movement​, marriage choices​ and access to education. They are also subject to gender-based violence.

Women with autism face even greater challenges, due to the stigma and lack of awareness that persist around the condition. “By virtue of women facing more hardships than men in the various aspects of life, the plights of autistic women are multiple that of a man,” Nasser told CNN.

This pencil drawing shows a man pulling a young girl away from a school building, as tears roll down her face. Due to her autism, Emtenan struggled to settle down in school. Courtesy Emtenan

Autism spectrum disorder refers to “a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills… and communication, repetitive behaviors, resistance to changes in routine, or restricted interests,” according to Dr. Daniel Geschwind, professor of human genetics, neurology and psychiatry at UCLA.

There is wide variation in the type and severity of symptoms people experience and so therapies and interventions also vary and should be based on an individual’s needs. Early diagnosis enables early intervention and behavioral adjustment, which helps improve an autistic person’s condition and quality of life.

But in Yemen, spotting the signs of autism in a child is the family’s responsibility, Dr. Tameem Al-Basha, professor of special education at the Ibb University, told CNN, because the health sector has been destroyed by a civil war, which is entering its tenth year. The devastation has caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and stripped many people with autism of the opportunity for diagnosis or treatment.

Rising costs in wartime a huge barrier to care

It was not until she turned 6 that Emtenan was diagnosed with autism. She spoke only a few words, had frequent tantrums, was hyperactive and would break things, Mothafar explained. School was also a struggle as she couldn’t settle well in class or follow simple instructions.

“No one advised us to visit a specialist. I would’ve done something [earlier],” added the 54-year-old, who says he now does everything he can to support his daughter.

But the treatment facilities closest to them charged exorbitant fees, he said, and the one he could afford was 22-km from their home. The journey there cost $8, triple what it did before the war. “Now, just thinking​ ​of the cost of transportation to make these trips, is exhausting,” he said.

Ultimately, Mothafar said he could not keep up. “After the war [began], things worsened greatly as the economic and security situation meant that I was less and less capable of giving her the care she needed,” he said. But his daughter’s behavior had been improving so their medical visits went down to twice a month, then monthly, and eventually stopped when Emtenan was 13. At that time, the war was already underway.

Conflict affected not just prices but also Emtenan’s temperament: “The sound of bombs and shelling also added to her agitation,” Mothafar told CNN.

Children look on as smoke billows above the residential area following airstrikes of the Saudi-led coalition targeting Houthi-held military positions on March 07, 2021 in Sanaa, Yemen. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images

These days, a therapist visits Emtenan for a full day each month. At 5,000 Yemeni rials ($20 USD) a visit, that is all her father can afford, telling CNN he earns approximately 50,000 rials ($95) a month growing tomatoes, though his brother in Saudi Arabia sends about $50 a month to help.

“During these visits, she’s taught how to express and take care of herself, she’s also encouraged to do house chores and interact with others, and her surroundings. She’s responding well,” Mothafar said, though she still speaks in short sentences and doesn’t engage with her surroundings with ease.

A healthcare system itself on life support

The number of facilities still able to offer treatment is unknown, says Abdullah Bunyan, head of the independent National Union of Yemeni Disabled Associations. There were 118 organizations registered with the union before the war, but “we are unable to define the exact number of entities still able to offer support and treatment, due to the economic and security situation in Yemen,” he told CNN.

Nouriya Mishlen is the head of the independent People of Determination Foundation for Special Education in Sanaa, a center providing treatment and rehabilitation for people with special needs. As an independent entity, the center relies on donations, which dropped significantly when the war began. The four-room facility is run down; the furniture appears worn and in disrepair. In some classrooms, carpets and curtains are absent, and even some bathrooms lack functioning water pumps. The small garden outside is overgrown.

“In the past, our operating costs were affordable, including rent, electricity, water, and psychologist salaries,” Mishlen told CNN. “However, inflation and war have doubled the prices, and we are barely able to cover our operational costs.”

Human resources are equally low. According to 2016 figures from the World Health Organization, there are just 0.2 psychiatrists and 0.4 psychologists per 100,000 people in Yemen; in the US, this figure is 10.5 psychiatrists and 29.8 psychologists per 100,000 people.

Mothafar is grateful he’s found a reliable female therapist to assist Emtenan. “To have her taken care of here at home is ideal. I feel reassured that she’s safe, with another woman,” he explained. But having access to a carer doesn’t offer protection from society’s judgement.

"If she was a boy, it wouldn’t have been an issue. But she’s a girl​.​ Her behavior has brought us scandal and shame" Adel al-Yazidi, father of an autistic teenager

Multiple studies show that families often suffer from negative societal responses to children with autism, especially when they exhibit socially inappropriate behaviors in public. For girls, this would include speaking loudly, yelling or screaming, aggressiveness, defiance and stubbornness, especially toward cultural norms like modest clothing or being quiet among men they are not familiar with.

“Some kids might face abuse, especially these days,” with the war and living conditions at their worst, said Fayad al-Derwish . The architect, who was born in 1990, grew up with autism in Yemen and faced bullying as a child.

According to al-Derwish, Oxfam’s Water and Sanitation Lead in Yemen, it is common for people in rural areas, home to around two-thirds of Yemen’s estimated 34 million people, to see the onset of autism as possession by a djinn, or devil. “If you have any health issue or psychological issue, the first thing the sheikh [local religious leader] in the village does is he brings a piece of steel, burns it with fire, and puts it on your stomach. If you go to a swimming pool in Yemen, you’ll see this mark on peoples’ stomachs,” said al-Derwish.

Dr. Sahar Taresh, senior lecturer at Malaysia’s Lincoln University College, researches awareness levels of autism in her home country of Yemen. Taresh said that while autistic people of both genders are subjected to abuse based on the belief their condition is caused by an evil spirit, “women are more prone to such treatment as a result of fear of being ‘loved by a djinn,’ and the possibility of her tarnishing her family’s reputation, or bringing them shame by her actions.”

Women have long faced discrimination and hostility in Yemen, which in turn affects their access to resources. For most years between 1998 and 2022, Yemen performed the worst on the United Nations’ Development Programme’s gender inequality index. ​This means that while, theoretically, both men and women have equal access to the same therapy opportunities for autism, family and society choose to “prioritize males over females,” said​ Adila Al-Khader, secretary-general of ​the ​ Yemeni​​ Women​’s​ Union ​.​

This gender inequality deepened, and the discrimination of Yemeni women worsened , as a result of the conflict. Destitution and displacement added to the many layers of vulnerability for girls and women, exposing them to more gender-based violence, particularly those with disabilities.

A Yemeni woman prepares food for her family outside a shelter at a makeshift camp for Internally Displaced Persons in Sanaa, Yemen, on August 22, 2023. Yahya Arhab/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

‘Protecting her from herself’

Adel al-Yazidi’s 16-year-old daughter was diagnosed with autism and severe ADHD at the age of 5​ and has trouble communicating and concentrating. ​While living in Saudi Arabia in 2020 she wandered out of her house and fell victim to a group of ​young men ​who ​sexually ​abused her.

Adel al-Yazidi, ​said he and his wife ​now chain the teen’s legs to her bed for most of the day to keep her at home, safe from sexual abuse. In a visit with a journalist, the girl showed no sign of upset over her restricted movement, cheerfully bouncing and interacting with her father.

“It’s to protect her from herself. I have no other choice,” said the father of three during a video call from Cairo, where the family is currently based. ​Her mother ​explained that they​ struggle to stop her ​daughter ​from wandering off.​

​​​​​“If she was a boy, it wouldn’t have been an issue. It wouldn’t have mattered what he does or does not do. He’d be able to fend for himself. But she’s a girl​,” al-Yazidi said. “H​er every action matters. And her behavior has brought us scandals and shame,” ​he added.​

Khader​, of​​ the Yemeni Women’s Union, explained that ​​​many Yemeni families hide their autistic daughters because they know they won’t be embraced by society, or accepted as wives. “They are looked down upon and disrespected, and are therefore mistreated by their own families,” both verbally and physically,​ she said.​

"I wish I could give her more. I want her to lead a life as normal as can be… I’ll do my best to help her achieve it" Mothafar, whose daughter, Emtenan, is severely autistic

A therapist in Sanaa, who asked not to be named due to the stigma associated with caring for women with autism, told CNN she’s seen marks of what she believed was beating and torture on a 16-year-old girl with autism. She added that such girls are often kept out of sight, and sometimes get married to grooms who aren’t told the truth about their condition, and are then left to their own fates, which could include marital abuse or divorce.

Khader, of the Yemeni Women’s Union, says that the biggest problem in Yemen lies with families’ lack of understanding of how to deal with girls growing up with autism. But she adds that increasing community awareness about this disorder will greatly contribute to reducing bullying and increasing the integration of this group into society and in their families.

“Training and qualifying women specialists in the field of autism spectrum, as well as creating specialized and free centers, will also [help] significantly.”

​​In the meantime, Mothafar refuses to give up on his daughter. ​They interact mostly with close friends and family who treat Emtenan’s condition with respect to avoid her facing any harassment or mistreatment, and Mothafar is careful to keep it that way. ​​“It’s something I can’t tolerate if anyone refers to her condition in a mocking or bullying way,” he said. ​​​​ ​​​​​ ​​“I wish I could give her more. I want her to lead a life as normal as can be, where she interacts with the world in a normal way, establishes relationships and completes her education… I’ll do my best to help her achieve it.”