As I was reading through some articles I realised some of the phrases that we use in our daily communication are quite sexist/gender biased in nature. We attribute certain personality qualities to gender and use that as a means to point out strength/weakness and even to take a dig at someone. Mostly these phrases end up stereotyping men to be all positive and women to be all negative. Below are a few sayings that make quite an interesting read with a common underlying, though a disturbing, message.
Of course the phrases depict the history of our society but as we are moving towards a more open and unbiased society, I feel we should be more conscious of the language that we use and the message that we are sending.
Some other good reads
http://www.shamelessmag.com/blog/2008/03/trendy-tomboys/
http://www.languageinindia.com/sep2001/genderandlang.html
http://www.languageinindia.com/jan2003/womeninindianlanguages.html
At the grossest level, gender-biased language implies that people are male unless 'proven' to be female. Female gender may be designated by either tagging on a feminine descriptor (e.g. lady professor, women doctor, female engineer) or by belonging to a stereotypically female group (e.g., kindergarten teacher, social worker).
(Janet B. Ruscher, Prejudiced Communication: A Social Psychological Perspective. Guilford, 2001)
