Gender bias in linguistics textbooks: Has anything changed since Macaulay & Brice 1997?

Abstract

Macaulay and Brice (1997:798) surveyed example sentences in eleven syntax textbooks published from 1969-1994 and found that virtually all of the authors 'favor male-gendered NPs as subjects and agents, and regularly stereotype both genders'. In this article, we address the question of whether constructed example sentences in more recent textbooks show similar gender bias. We present an analysis of six syntax textbooks published from 2005-2017, from which we randomly sampled 200 example sentences each. We find that the gender skew and stereotypes reported in 1997 are still present today. Male-gendered arguments are almost twice as frequent as female-gendered ones, and more likely to occur as subjects and agents. In addition, example sentences often perpetuate gender stereotypes. We discuss some broader implications and potential interventions to prevent the implicit perpetuation of gender biases in linguistic materials.*

The Diverse Names Generator: An app for decreasing bias and promoting inclusion

“…Little has improved in the decades since Macaulay & Brice's 1997survey. Pabst et al (2018 -findings later published in Cépeda et al (2021) -found that textbooks published between 2005 and 2017 continued the same trends of privileging male arguments and promoting gender stereotypes. In the six textbooks surveyed, male arguments were almost twice as frequent as female ones and were much more likely to appear as subjects, agents, and experiencers.…”

“…

It has been well established that example sentences in linguistics use a remarkably non-diverse set of proper names in terms of gender, culture, and ethnicity (e.g., Macaulay & Brice 1997, Cépeda et al 2021). Here, we introduce a new resource, the Diverse Names Generator (DNG), which provides randomly selected proper names with IPA transcriptions from a user-contributed, linguist-curated database of names from a wide range of languages and cultures.

…”

“…The linguistics community has become increasingly cognizant of the influence of unconscious biases in language use, particularly in example sentences. Recent studies examining the names used in example sentences over the last two decades have found that example sentences tend to display heteronormative gender roles and primarily feature Western characters, such as "John" and "Mary," reflecting the dominant white culture to a greater extent than minority races and ethnicities (Pabst et al 2018, Cépeda et al 2021.…”

“…The issues discussed by Macaulay & Brice (1997), Pabst et al (2018), andCépeda et al (2021) extend beyond the realm of textbooks. Kotek et al (2021) examined 25,106 third-person arguments across 22,954 example sentences in 927 articles published in three major linguistics journals over the course of twenty years and found the same patterns present in textbooks.…”

“…In addition to the persistent gender imbalances and stereotypes, these studies have also re-vealed a striking pattern of overrepresentation of specific proper names in educational materials. Cépeda et al (2021) and Kotek et al (2021) both highlight that the usage of two names in particular, "John" and "Mary," eclipsed the usage of all others. Cépeda et al's analysis of textbooks revealed that "Mary" constituted 39% of the 241 female-gendered proper names, a usage rate nine times higher than the next most commonly used female name.…”