A new look at gender inequality in Chinese: A study of Chinese speakers' perception of gender-based characters

Rong Ju Cherng; Chu Lin Chang; Jenn Yeu Chen

doi:10.1007/s11199-009-9639-z

A new look at gender inequality in Chinese: A study of Chinese speakers' perception of gender-based characters

Rong Ju Cherng, Chu Lin Chang, Jenn Yeu Chen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

It has been claimed that Chinese characters containing a woman radical (e.g., jian1 'adultery') tend to reflect negatively on women. We investigated this claim by asking Taiwan college students (24 men and 19 women) to rate the valence (1, 0, or -1) of 323 gender-based characters and their dictionary definitions. For men and women alike, characters with the son radical (k = 22) were rated more positively than characters with the woman radical (k = 103), although the latter also received a positive rating. Characters with the human radical (k = 198) were neutral. We conclude that gender inequality does not find itself in the gender-based characters. Whether it may be observed in other linguistic expressions of Chinese needs to be addressed with care.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	427-433
Number of pages	7
Journal	Sex Roles
Volume	61
Issue number	5-6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9639-z
Publication status	Published - 2009
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Chinese characters
Gender inequality
Linguistic relativity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Gender Studies
Social Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1007/s11199-009-9639-z

Cite this

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title = "A new look at gender inequality in Chinese: A study of Chinese speakers' perception of gender-based characters",

abstract = "It has been claimed that Chinese characters containing a woman radical (e.g., jian1 'adultery') tend to reflect negatively on women. We investigated this claim by asking Taiwan college students (24 men and 19 women) to rate the valence (1, 0, or -1) of 323 gender-based characters and their dictionary definitions. For men and women alike, characters with the son radical (k = 22) were rated more positively than characters with the woman radical (k = 103), although the latter also received a positive rating. Characters with the human radical (k = 198) were neutral. We conclude that gender inequality does not find itself in the gender-based characters. Whether it may be observed in other linguistic expressions of Chinese needs to be addressed with care.",

keywords = "Chinese characters, Gender inequality, Linguistic relativity",

author = "Cherng, {Rong Ju} and Chang, {Chu Lin} and Chen, {Jenn Yeu}",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgments The work reported here was supported by the NSC-96-2752-H-006-001-PAE grant awarded to Jenn-Yeu Chen by the National Science Council of Taiwan, the Republic of China. We are indebted to the reviewers and the editor for many useful suggestions for revising the paper.",

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doi = "10.1007/s11199-009-9639-z",

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AU - Cherng, Rong Ju

AU - Chang, Chu Lin

AU - Chen, Jenn Yeu

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments The work reported here was supported by the NSC-96-2752-H-006-001-PAE grant awarded to Jenn-Yeu Chen by the National Science Council of Taiwan, the Republic of China. We are indebted to the reviewers and the editor for many useful suggestions for revising the paper.

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - It has been claimed that Chinese characters containing a woman radical (e.g., jian1 'adultery') tend to reflect negatively on women. We investigated this claim by asking Taiwan college students (24 men and 19 women) to rate the valence (1, 0, or -1) of 323 gender-based characters and their dictionary definitions. For men and women alike, characters with the son radical (k = 22) were rated more positively than characters with the woman radical (k = 103), although the latter also received a positive rating. Characters with the human radical (k = 198) were neutral. We conclude that gender inequality does not find itself in the gender-based characters. Whether it may be observed in other linguistic expressions of Chinese needs to be addressed with care.

AB - It has been claimed that Chinese characters containing a woman radical (e.g., jian1 'adultery') tend to reflect negatively on women. We investigated this claim by asking Taiwan college students (24 men and 19 women) to rate the valence (1, 0, or -1) of 323 gender-based characters and their dictionary definitions. For men and women alike, characters with the son radical (k = 22) were rated more positively than characters with the woman radical (k = 103), although the latter also received a positive rating. Characters with the human radical (k = 198) were neutral. We conclude that gender inequality does not find itself in the gender-based characters. Whether it may be observed in other linguistic expressions of Chinese needs to be addressed with care.

KW - Chinese characters

KW - Gender inequality

KW - Linguistic relativity

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A new look at gender inequality in Chinese: A study of Chinese speakers' perception of gender-based characters

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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