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Gendered Language

Author

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  • Jakiela, Pamela

    (Williams College)

  • Ozier, Owen

    (Williams College)

Abstract

Languages use different systems for classifying nouns. Gender languages assign nouns to distinct sex-based categories, masculine and feminine. We construct a new data set, documenting the presence or absence of grammatical gender in more than 4,000 languages which together account for more than 99% of the world's population. We find a robust negative cross-country relationship between prevalence of gender languages and women's labor force participation and educational attainment. We replicate these associations in four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and in India, showing that educational attainment and female labor force participation are lower among those whose native languages use grammatical gender.

Suggested Citation

  • Jakiela, Pamela & Ozier, Owen, 2020. "Gendered Language," IZA Discussion Papers 13126, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13126
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    Cited by:

    1. Francis Osei‐Tutu & Laurent Weill, 2021. "Sex, language and financial inclusion," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 369-403, July.
    2. repec:zbw:bofitp:2020_009 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    grammatical gender; language; gender; linguistic determinism; labor force participation; educational attainment; gender gaps;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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