Language and Gender Article Links

A summary:

Students are being banned from using words and phrases such as "man up" and teachers aren't allowed to call students "cupcake".
Teachers are being urged to treat sexist language as seriously as racist language.
Some schools now have squads of girls who report any sexist comments to teachers.
Some schools now have teachers called 'Gender Champions' who encourage boys to take traditionally 'female' subjects and girls to take stereotypical 'male' subjects.
Stereotypes are believed to stem from the gender divide in specific subjects.
The gender divide could have stemmed from the pay difference between men and women - the more 'girly' subjects are believed to lead to bad paying jobs and the 'manlier' subjects are believed to lead to good paying jobs.

A summary:

Hamleys has changed the layout of its stores. There is no longer a girl's floor and a boy's floor; they now have signs stating the types of toys rather than who should play with them.
It is believed that the reason behind it is because of a campaign on Twitter by a neuroscientist who believed that children's development can be 'limited' if they play with only one kind of toy.
Some studies show that women tend to identify redder colours as their favourite, which could mean that they prefer pink. However, in the early 20th century, pink was seen as a 'stronger colour' so was associated with boys and blue was seen as 'dainty' and pretty so was associated with girls.
Another piece of research showed that when you ask children under the age of two, there is no colour preference - both sexes prefer pinker tones. This suggests that the 'pink vs blue' idea comes from nurture rather than nature.
When it comes to dolls and cars, there is evidence to show that it is more likely for a girl to play with a doll than a toy car, and that it is more likely for a boy to play with a toy car than a doll. This is also seen in breeds of monkey.
However, some research has discovered that, before the age of 12 months, both genders are likely to be more interested in the doll. It is only when they get older that boys turn more to cars.
UNFINISHED

A summary:

Waterstones has backed the campaign 'Let Books Be Books', which is aiming to take the labels 'boys' and 'girls' off of different types of books.
They feel that children should be able to choose which types of book interest them without them being aimed towards one gender.
Putting genders onto books will and has limited what children read and can mean that the opposite gender will not read them.
"Good books are not pink or blue,"
It has also been pointed out that some of the most popular children's books like the Harry Potter series and the Narnia stories have not been marked by gender, so appeal to both boys and girls. Perhaps that is why they are so successful.

A summary:

Education secretary Nicky Morgan and energy secretary Amber Rudd were walking down the street when a photographer greeted them by saying "Morning, girls!"
Morgan is 42 and Rudd is 51, which means that they are women. Not girls.
The article explains how the term 'girl' should refer to females who are not adults and who do not take responsibility for themselves, which isn't the case for Morgan and Rudd.
They also argue that the term 'girls' is undermining and patronising, especially in the workplace.
When there is a group of men, they are rarely referred to as being 'boys', but it is not uncommon for women to be addressed in that way.
There is also an argument that the term can also be quite sexual due to the idea that some men say phrases such as "pulling girls" when they talk about romantically or sexually meeting women.
However, the article does state that it supports the idea of women using the term 'girls' towards other women as it isn't usually used in a derogatory way or in a way that looks down upon the other women.

A summary:

Most brands try to use emojis in order to reach younger members of the audience.
However, Always' 'Like a Girl' campaign feels as though the images of women in emojis are "woefully stereotypical"

Kelsey's English Language Blog