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Occupational gender segregation and gendered language in a language without gender: trends, variations, implications for social development in China

Author

Listed:
  • Qi Su

    (Peking University)

  • Pengyuan Liu

    (Beijing Language and Culture University)

  • Wei Wei

    (Peking University)

  • Shucheng Zhu

    (Beijing Language and Culture University)

  • Chu-Ren Huang

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

Abstract

This paper proposes a textual analytics approach to the discovery of trends and variations in social development. Specifically, we have designed a linguistic index that measures the marked usage of gendered modifiers in the Chinese language; this predicts the degree of occupational gender segregation by identifying the unbalanced distribution of males and females across occupations. The effectiveness of the linguistic index in modelling occupational gender segregation was confirmed through survey responses from 244 participants, covering 63 occupations listed in the Holland Occupational Codes. The index was then applied to explore the trends and variations of gender equality in occupation, drawing on an extensive digital collection of materials published by the largest newspaper group in China for both longitudinal (from 1946 to 2018) and synchronic (from 31 provincial-level administrative divisions) data. This quantitative study shows that (1) the use of gendered language has weakened over time, indicating a decline in occupational gender stereotyping; (2) conservative genres have shown higher degrees of gendered language use; (3) culturally conservative, demographically stable, or geographically remote regions have higher degrees of gendered language use. These findings are discussed with consideration of historical, cultural, social, psychological, and geographical factors. While the existing literature on gendered language has been an important and useful tool for reading a text in the context of digital humanities, an innovative textual analytics approach, as shown in this paper, can prove to be a crucial indicator of historical trends and variations in social development.

Suggested Citation

  • Qi Su & Pengyuan Liu & Wei Wei & Shucheng Zhu & Chu-Ren Huang, 2021. "Occupational gender segregation and gendered language in a language without gender: trends, variations, implications for social development in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:8:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-021-00799-6
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-021-00799-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Martin Watts, 1995. "Divergent Trends in Gender Segregation by Occupation in the United States: 1970-92," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., vol. 17(3), pages 357-379, April.
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    6. Martin Watts, 1995. "Divergent Trends in Gender Segregation by Occupation in the United States: 1970–92," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 357-378, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Renkui Hou & Chu-Ren Huang & Kathleen Ahrens, 2022. "Regional varieties and diachronic changes in Chinese political discourse," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.

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