Sweden’s Gender-Neutral Pronoun “Hen”
Females are steadily approaching males in equality, with clear-cut illustrations in Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Finland. These countries have the least gender gap in the world, which is a result of continuous modernization to the countries’ infrastructure (Global Gender Gap Report 2013). Sweden’s new gender neutral pronoun “hen,” is added to the National Encyclopedia to allow the country to continue progressively moving towards a gender-neutral society. This word eliminates some of the preliminary obstacles in language such as the automatic distinction of one’s gender and promotes gender equity by abolishing society’s stereotypes between males and females. Sweden is similar to English in …show more content…
The innovations are being seen within all aspects of life, clothing stores have removed specific male and female sections, the Swedish bowling association is planning to remove gender differentiated tournaments, and certain schools are designed with the removal of distinct gender differences (Matthews 2012). Schools provide children with the opportunity to learn to communicate and when the root cause of gender-inequality is based in the language, “gender-linked pronouns are linked to global sexism” (Pappas 2012), then a gender-neutral pronoun, “hen,” can solve the problem while it is still young. However, with every change there is mixed feelings, and many critics are blaming “feminist activities who wish to destroy our language,” as they fail to realize why a gender-neutral pronoun is needed when the country is taking so many steps to ensure gender equality (Matthews 2012). Without “hen” the Swedish would rely on using traditional “he or she” pronouns or none at all and society often automatically associates unspecified references as male (Pappas 2012). The aspect of life where women are dramatically affected by gender-equality actions continues to be the workplace, as that’s the area where male dominance is frequently …show more content…
Sweden is able to have “the highest population of working women” (Matthews 2012), with support from the Swedish government by creating the Discrimination Act, which requires employers to promote gender equality and obliges employers to investigate and pursue any harassment towards employees (Gender Equality in Sweden 2014). Men often obtain a false idea in the office/workplace of having power over women, since men dominate high-ranking positions, even in Sweden (Women and Men in Sweden 2014). In stereotypical portrayals, females are referred to as being inferior to males, because of their feminine attributes. With the addition of a gender-neutral word, women will have the opportunity to be referred to as a neutral gender, relieving them of their stereotypical identities. When regarding post-secondary education despite females having a greater amount of post-secondary entrants, males have a larger acceptance percentage (Women and Men in Sweden 2014). This can imply gender-inequality and the fact that universities are more prone to accepting males. With gender-equality on the rise along with gender-neutral references such as “han,” universities and employers will fail to separate the genders, allowing females the same opportunity as
Females are steadily approaching males in equality, with clear-cut illustrations in Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Finland. These countries have the least gender gap in the world, which is a result of continuous modernization to the countries’ infrastructure (Global Gender Gap Report 2013). Sweden’s new gender neutral pronoun “hen,” is added to the National Encyclopedia to allow the country to continue progressively moving towards a gender-neutral society. This word eliminates some of the preliminary obstacles in language such as the automatic distinction of one’s gender and promotes gender equity by abolishing society’s stereotypes between males and females. Sweden is similar to English in …show more content…
The innovations are being seen within all aspects of life, clothing stores have removed specific male and female sections, the Swedish bowling association is planning to remove gender differentiated tournaments, and certain schools are designed with the removal of distinct gender differences (Matthews 2012). Schools provide children with the opportunity to learn to communicate and when the root cause of gender-inequality is based in the language, “gender-linked pronouns are linked to global sexism” (Pappas 2012), then a gender-neutral pronoun, “hen,” can solve the problem while it is still young. However, with every change there is mixed feelings, and many critics are blaming “feminist activities who wish to destroy our language,” as they fail to realize why a gender-neutral pronoun is needed when the country is taking so many steps to ensure gender equality (Matthews 2012). Without “hen” the Swedish would rely on using traditional “he or she” pronouns or none at all and society often automatically associates unspecified references as male (Pappas 2012). The aspect of life where women are dramatically affected by gender-equality actions continues to be the workplace, as that’s the area where male dominance is frequently …show more content…
Sweden is able to have “the highest population of working women” (Matthews 2012), with support from the Swedish government by creating the Discrimination Act, which requires employers to promote gender equality and obliges employers to investigate and pursue any harassment towards employees (Gender Equality in Sweden 2014). Men often obtain a false idea in the office/workplace of having power over women, since men dominate high-ranking positions, even in Sweden (Women and Men in Sweden 2014). In stereotypical portrayals, females are referred to as being inferior to males, because of their feminine attributes. With the addition of a gender-neutral word, women will have the opportunity to be referred to as a neutral gender, relieving them of their stereotypical identities. When regarding post-secondary education despite females having a greater amount of post-secondary entrants, males have a larger acceptance percentage (Women and Men in Sweden 2014). This can imply gender-inequality and the fact that universities are more prone to accepting males. With gender-equality on the rise along with gender-neutral references such as “han,” universities and employers will fail to separate the genders, allowing females the same opportunity as