Gender, Language, and Society: Saudi Female University Students’ Perception of the Category of Professions

Abstract

This study concerns itself with the prevalence of gender stereotypes and classification of professions in Saudi Arabia. A survey and follow-up interview were administered to 80 female university students to determine whether young Saudi females' classification of professions carries evaluative connotations related to gender. The results show that the subjects associate higher status (or skilled) professions with males and lower status professions with females despite the following facts: (i) Saudi women work in almost all professions, due to the rule of gender segregation and (ii) the image of women as professionals forms part of the participants' knowledge about Islam in which women are not stereotyped. The research highlights how the social experience of gender stereotyping plays a more important role than any other kind of experience in the hierarchical organization of the category of professions.Keywords: gender and language; gender and identity; women's education in Saudi Arabia, gender stereotypes and classification; Saudi women ResumenEste estudio se centra en la prevalencia de los estereotipos de género y la clasificación de las profesiones en Arabia Saudí. Una encuesta y entrevistas de seguimiento fueron realizadas a 80 estudiantes universitarias para determinar si la clasificación de las profesiones de las mujeres jóvenes saudíes conlleva connotaciones evaluativas relacionadas con el género. Los resultados muestran que las sujetos asocian mayor estatus (o especialización) a profesiones con hombres y mejor estatus a profesiones con mujeres, a pesar de los siguientes factores: (i) Las mujeres Saudíes trabajan en casi todas las profesiones, debido a la regla de segregación de género y (ii) la imagen de las mujeres como profesionales forma parte del conocimiento de las participantes sobre el Islam en que las mujeres no son estereotipadas. La investigación pone de relieve cómo la experiencia social de los estereotipos de género juega un papel más importante que cualquier otro tipo de experiencia en la organización jerárquica de la categorización de profesiones.Palabras clave: género y lenguaje, género e identidad, educación de las mujeres en Arabia Saudí, estereotipos de género y clasificación, mujer Saudí GÉNEROS -Multidisciplinary Journal of Gender Studies, 4(2) 668he view that women are inferior to men in terms of knowledge and capabilities appears to permeate many institutions within all societies. One consequence of this, as shown in this study, is that men are given more status than women, even by women. Another consequence is the association of higher status jobs, particularly those that require a high level of knowledge or power, with men and lower status jobs with women. Eckert & McConnell-Ginet (1992;2003) pointed out that in all societies professions are classified in terms of gender specialization, which is viewed to carry the evaluation that men's enterprises are generally better than women's, although the classification itself has no such evaluative connotation. However, as argued i...

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