Sex-Biased Language and the Technical-Writing Teacher's Responsibility

Abstract

Our survey of women who graduated in engineering from Kansas State University indicates that sexist language persists in the workplace, that women react to it in various ways, and that such language can engender sexist attitudes which often have deleterious effects on the company and its employees. We believe technical-writing teachers have some of the responsibility to sensitize students to exclusionary language. We show how that language violates professional ethical practices, demonstrate that some technical-writing texts trivialize the issue of sexist language, and suggest methods and resources for teachers to use in the classroom.