Gender Bias in the Dictionary (for Kids!)

Gender bias is just about everywhere. Children encounter gender stereotypes in books, television, movies, and even in parenting. Whether we know it or not, gender bias infuses the words we use for discipline, attending to a scraped knee, and even in how parents allocate an allowance and assign chores. 

Gender bias shows up in education, also. In math problems, expectations for children’s behavior and aptitude, nicknames, classroom roles, and more. 

It can also pop up in unlikely places. As I recently discovered, there’s even gender bias in the dictionary!

GENDER BIAS IN THE DICTIONARY 

My 8 year-old child came home with a Student Dictionary, generously gifted to each 3rd grader by a local service organization. We flipped through the pages and landed in the “Ps.” The word “punk” jumped out at me. 

“A rude and violent young man.”

Wait. Why just a young man? Can a young woman be rude and violent?  This is yet another example of society’s expectations for boys’ lack of rule-following or respect for authority. They’re simply wired to subvert the system, right? It inches into “boys will be boys” territory.

So what would you call a girl who’s a punk? Is there a separate word? Does she even get to be a punk? Socially, we don’t expect or desire girls to rebel or be counter-cultural. We expect good behavior, maturity, and rule-following. 

WHAT THE DICTIONARY SAYS ABOUT WOMEN: SHRILL SHREWS

Tentatively, I flipped to the “S” words, landing upon shrew. 

“shrew n  1: a small mouse-like animal with long pointed snout and tiny eyes that lives mostly on insects and worms 2: an unpleasant bad-tempered woman.”

Hmm. Yes, this word has typically applied to women over time. But what would we call an unpleasant bad-tempered man? (Deletes joke about male politicians.)

The Cambridge Dictionary links the negativity-laden word “shrill” to women in its descriptive sentences, also.

“She had a shrill, high-pitched voice.”

“The terrified woman shrilly ordered the goat out of her kitchen.” 

Ah, yes. Women are shrill. Nags. Always whining when the housework isn’t done, right?  

I was pleased to see that Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary has attempted to shed some outdated sexism by referencing a whistle instead of a woman. “The shrill sound of a policeman’s whistle.” 

But wait. They forgot to update “policeman.” So close! If only they’d realized that the terms police officers, flight attendants, firefighters and postal workers have largely replaced the outdated words: policemen, stewardess, fireman, and mailman. Thankfully, Grammar Girl covers this thoroughly in a podcast episode.

TEACHING KIDS THAT GIRLS ARE DITZY

Sadly, the Cambridge Dictionary retains an unapologetically sexist definition of “ditzy.” 

Definition: “A ditzy person, especially a woman, is silly.” 

Example sentence: “She played the role of a ditzy blonde.” 

Not only have they tied ditziness directly to women, but perpetuated that women with blonde hair are less intelligent. My, how far we’ve come.

The Oxford English Dictionary is at least attempting to evolve. Under a search for ditzy, I found: “OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.” Here’s hoping they will modernize this one.

And, thankfully, my daughter’s Dictionary for Students omitted the word “ditzy” altogether.

THE ROLE OF THE DICTIONARY IN SHAPING OUR CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE

So, what kind of responsibility to dictionaries have to weed out gender bias? Do dictionaries tell us what words mean? Or do they simply reflect current day usage?

Many scholars have argued that dictionaries simply reflect customs and share how words are currently used, rather than directions for HOW to use them. 

But fortunately, we’ve begun to see more intentional progress about the role of dictionaries in gender bias, sexism, and word usage. Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, delivered nuance on this question. 

“Dictionary makers have an important role to play in providing broader evidence-based context around the words we all use. In capturing sexist terms, it is imperative we identify them as such. This goes beyond simply labeling them as “offensive,” “obscene,” or “derogatory.” They often need to include clear and concise usage notes on where the words come from, the biases they carry, and the available alternatives.”

When a dictionary provides a sample sentence to show how a word is used, we must remember that there are real humans who create those definitions. Humans socialized (unintentionally or not) with gender bias that is inextricably linked with their perspective on word usage, no matter their gender.  

It’s too simplified to claim that dictionaries are simply a reflection of current society. 

Grathwohl continues:

“[D]ictionary makers have to be more aware of the implicit messages in some of our example sentences and of our own unconscious bias – we needn’t select example sentences that perpetuate negative stereotypes of women when appropriate alternatives are readily available. 

There are literally millions of sample sentences accompanying our dictionary definitions, but the size of this task should not stop us from striving to offer a non-gender biased experience for our users.”

WHY DOES GENDER BIAS MATTER FOR KIDS?

Does it even matter? Is this simply a hyped-up, “rabid feminist” rant? (In case you missed it, dictionaries used “rabid” to describe feminists not long ago.) 

The girls-can-be-anything culture misleadingly proclaims that there’s an equal playing field for everyone, despite the fact that only 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women (many appointed in the past year) and women make up 28% of U.S. Congress. While both of these figures ARE record highs, they trail miles behind women’s actual share of the population.

The truth is that progress is slow for women’s representation in leadership because public opinion is slow to change, too. 

Gender stereotypes start young, even before birth, and use colors, animals, tone, and culture wars to reinforce old ideas that girls are sweet, demure, natural caregivers prized for beauty while boys are active powerhouses destined for leadership and bread-winning. The impacts are tangible, and striking.

If dictionaries simply reflect back to us the current usage of words, they will also reflect back to children the gender bias woven into the fabric of our collective upbringings.

Children quietly internalize rules about how the world works and their opportunities in life, especially from reputable sources like teachers, parents, and dictionaries. Let’s be more intentional to removing barriers to children realizing their full potential in life.

As Grathwohl says, this process “takes constant attention and vigilance, but the more we all work to stamp out the subtly oppressive words that demean women the less our language stands as a barrier to gender equality.”

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Where else is your gender bias hiding? Grab our free guide for parents, caregivers, and educators to spot their unconscious bias & make easy tweaks today, to support gender equality and kids to thrive as individuals.