Investigating Gender Discrimination in Job Titles:

A Corpus-Based Critical Analysis

Keywords:

Job title; Pronoun; Sketch Engine; British National Corpus; discrimination; Furlough’s three-dimensional model

Abstract

In Pakistan, gender discrimination is widespread due to insufficient legislation, cultural barriers and masculine interpretation of religion. The discrimination is also present at workplace and job titles. This study attempts to, using Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, identify the implicit ideologies and gendered pronouns in the use of job titles. Following a mixed-method approach, this research-study employs British National Corpus (BNC) and aims to identify and analyze the use of male-representing, female-representing, and neutral job titles and the use of pronouns in job titles. A total of 15 job titles are selected including only those job titles for which female-representing and neutral job titles are available and that are frequently used by people. Sketch Engine is used to know the frequencies of these job titles.  The frequencies are, in turn, compared to know what type of job titles are used more in the BNC. The study reveals that there is a significant difference between the frequencies of male-representing and female-representing job titles. Further, the frequency of male-specific pronouns is more than female-specific pronouns when used after male-oriented and female-oriented job titles, leading to discrimination against the female gender. The study recommends measures for creating awareness about the gendered titles and their appropriate use to prevent discriminatory practices.

Published

2021-03-30

How to Cite

1.
Investigating Gender Discrimination in Job Titles: : A Corpus-Based Critical Analysis. Corporum [Internet]. 2021Mar.30 [cited 2024Mar.29];3(2):73-91. Available from: https://journals.au.edu.pk/ojscrc/index.php/crc/article/view/104