浅析英语中的性别歧视现象

　　Firstly, don’t introduce some female through her husband, e.g.

　　Jim Green and his wife Helen; Chairman's wife Daisy Brown.

　　Secondly, don’t use terms which belittle women as wives orotherwise, e.g. the better half, the little woman, the weakersex, the fair sex, dumb blondes, (woman's) libber, and so on.

　　And the traditional expressions with prejudice such asambitious men and aggressive women, cautious men and timidwomen should try to be avoided.

　　Thirdly, try not to use the traditional form of address suchas Dear Sir, Dear Gentleman, Dear Madam when writing tosomeone of unknown sex. The following may be useful.

　　Dear friends of the library Dear Madams and SirsDear Personnel Officer Dear Committee MemberDear Citizen Dear CustomerDear Councilor Dear Agent4.5 The social change of attitude toward womenAs I have said, language is something that society creates andcan also be seen as a mirror of society. If women and men arestill unequal in society then just changing the language willnot really grant equality or make things much better. Languageis not in and of itself a sexist thing. The users of alanguage grant it practical meaning depending on how they viewsociety and according to their values and beliefs.

　　Both historically and presently marriage status is moreimportant to women than to men because marriage virtuallydetermines how well a woman could live. In the past, women hadlittle opportunities to work outside the home. Furthermore,working out of the home was often considered inappropriate orpresented poor options. As they were unable to supportthemselves, their marriage basically determined how well theywould live. This was demonstrated in Jane Austin’s novel Prideand Prejudice where women dressed up and learned to sing anddance in order to impress a man and find an eligible husband.