Thursday, August 31, 2006
Labor Day Linguistics and Gender Neutrality
Of course, there is always labor (or labour). For example, women's work is never done -- someone has got to put that traditional Labor Day picnic together and wash all the dishes.
(That will be me.)
And someone will take the day off fix the garage door opener and prep the storm windows for autumnal installation.
(That will be someone else. Someone who is a man.)
And isn't that what Labor Day is all about? A mix of home labor disguised as leisure? And a nod to the gender division of labor?
Actually, not. Samuel Gompers waxes poetic on the real meaning of Labor Day at the US Department of Labor website. A very manly citation -- Gompers uses "man" three times in his short quote. Indeed, the DOL website notes that the first Labor Day is called a "workingmen's holiday".
Go and read the DOL Labor Day History page...it starts out all manly, then suddenly, it becomes gender neutral. "The working man" suddenly became "the American worker". Oddly, the DOL Labor Day history page does not mention why, how, or when Labor language became neutered.
According to the DOL Labor Day page, we are all gender neutral workers.
Makes us sound like ants.
I was surprised that the words on the DOL page became neutral without even a passing nod to the contribution of women to the workforce. It is a history page, after all.
Labor Day Linguistics. So listen carefully to your Labor Day addresses and speeches this weekend. Politicians are usually very crafty and correct, using gender neutral terms to refer to workers. After all, they have polished speech writers.
But others frequently slip and use the male-centric language of the pre-1970's era when referring to laborers.
I even heard a young, 30-something woman refer to "Workman's Compensation" earlier this month. I thought the DOL started calling it "Worker's Compensation" back in the 1970's...but old vocal patterns die hard.
Have fun listening to Labor Day Linguistics. And enjoy the holiday! ¶ 8/31/2006 03:01:00 PM
Of course, there is always labor (or labour). For example, women's work is never done -- someone has got to put that traditional Labor Day picnic together and wash all the dishes.
(That will be me.)
And someone will take the day off fix the garage door opener and prep the storm windows for autumnal installation.
(That will be someone else. Someone who is a man.)
And isn't that what Labor Day is all about? A mix of home labor disguised as leisure? And a nod to the gender division of labor?
Actually, not. Samuel Gompers waxes poetic on the real meaning of Labor Day at the US Department of Labor website. A very manly citation -- Gompers uses "man" three times in his short quote. Indeed, the DOL website notes that the first Labor Day is called a "workingmen's holiday".
Go and read the DOL Labor Day History page...it starts out all manly, then suddenly, it becomes gender neutral. "The working man" suddenly became "the American worker". Oddly, the DOL Labor Day history page does not mention why, how, or when Labor language became neutered.
According to the DOL Labor Day page, we are all gender neutral workers.
Makes us sound like ants.
I was surprised that the words on the DOL page became neutral without even a passing nod to the contribution of women to the workforce. It is a history page, after all.
Labor Day Linguistics. So listen carefully to your Labor Day addresses and speeches this weekend. Politicians are usually very crafty and correct, using gender neutral terms to refer to workers. After all, they have polished speech writers.
But others frequently slip and use the male-centric language of the pre-1970's era when referring to laborers.
I even heard a young, 30-something woman refer to "Workman's Compensation" earlier this month. I thought the DOL started calling it "Worker's Compensation" back in the 1970's...but old vocal patterns die hard.
Have fun listening to Labor Day Linguistics. And enjoy the holiday! ¶ 8/31/2006 03:01:00 PM
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