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Chinese female college teachers' construction of gender roles : an interactional analysis
Author
Li, Jia
Supervisor
Weninger, Csilla
Abstract
The field of gender and language is a contentious and fruitful one which echoes the changes of the concept “gender” from male/female dichotomy to diversity. Recent research on language and gender has taken a discursive turn and examined the interactional accomplishment and negotiation of gender. In spite of the wide range of contexts in which research is done, gender and language is under-researched in Asian countries, especially China, which has a long tradition of patriarchy and is undergoing great social changes to promote gender equality.
The current study, therefore, is aimed to fill the gap by investigating how Chinese female college teachers construct representations of gender roles in their interactions. Three focus groups were conducted and audio-taped as well as video-taped. Data were then analyzed in terms of stance taking. The findings point to their gender roles construction exhibiting mixed and even conflicting ideologies. On the one hand, they constructed a rather modern “womanhood” as comprising “wisdom” and “work”; on the other hand, they showed great orientation to traditional gender ideologies in China and emphasized beauty and kindness and placed great values on marriage and family. Significantly, they considered an ideal family relationship as one in which women are inferior to men. Besides, they constructed a gender stereotype of “emotional, faithful women vs. rational, sexually-driven men”.
The study contributes to the literature of gender and language in a Chinese context and reveals social norms exhibited and reproduced in all-female face-to-face interactions.
The current study, therefore, is aimed to fill the gap by investigating how Chinese female college teachers construct representations of gender roles in their interactions. Three focus groups were conducted and audio-taped as well as video-taped. Data were then analyzed in terms of stance taking. The findings point to their gender roles construction exhibiting mixed and even conflicting ideologies. On the one hand, they constructed a rather modern “womanhood” as comprising “wisdom” and “work”; on the other hand, they showed great orientation to traditional gender ideologies in China and emphasized beauty and kindness and placed great values on marriage and family. Significantly, they considered an ideal family relationship as one in which women are inferior to men. Besides, they constructed a gender stereotype of “emotional, faithful women vs. rational, sexually-driven men”.
The study contributes to the literature of gender and language in a Chinese context and reveals social norms exhibited and reproduced in all-female face-to-face interactions.
Date Issued
2015
Call Number
LB2332.3 Li
Date Submitted
2015