Gendered Language Prevail

Sabir Khan

Peshawar: Language is the most powerful and important tool of communication and expression. It has deep social, political, cultural and economic impacts.

How can such an important feature of human be biased toward half of humanity?

Patriarchy is the basic problem which has gendered language. Patriarchy is the past, present and probably the future of humanity.

Any invention or creation is first a need or desire. Due to dominance, men needed to create languages for their proper interaction.

As women have been dependent on men for every aspect of their lives, they played almost no role in the creation or advancement of any language. The social, political and economic dominance of men made languages their creation and tool to interact with.

Gestural Theory regarding the origin of languages asserts that before the creation of language, humans were communicating through their physical and facial gestures.

With the passage of time these facial and physical gestures were converted into different sounds which became verbal expressions. The verbal expressions were easy, fast and a better way of communication. This job was mainly done by men.

Thus, language became men centric and gendered.

When the phrases of a language ascribe a specific gender or its inclination is towards a specific sex then the language is gendered.

Almost all the languages of the world are gendered and biased toward women. They describe everything through the gendered lens. Their literatures are developed by men who left no room for women.

Though, Finnish and Swahili languages have no gender issues while Italian and Spanish languages are highly gendered. All the nouns and pronouns related to aggression, bravery, determination, strength, intellectual endeavors and prestigious professions are masculine.

A prominent feminist Kate Swift argues, “When the names of professions are gendered, it means that men are doing these jobs.” While all the nouns which show weakness, obedience and passiveness are feminine.

Take for instance Pashto language which is one of the gendered languages. It is due to the strict patriarchal hierarchy in the society. In Pashto language all the nouns which show strength, courage, firmness, aggression and intellect are masculine such as namar(sun), Jang (war), Zor (strength), Zrha (heart), Maghaz (brain), Gham (agony), Siyasat (politics), Mazhab (religion), sarhitob (gentleness), nartob (bravery), Karobar (business), isteqamat (determination) and many others.

While feminine nouns are related to weakness, dependence and obedience such spoqmai (moon), Rarha (light), Khwashi (happiness), Khkula (beauty), kamzori (weakness), bimari (illness) etc.

Moreover, the Pashto language lacks some important relative nouns. Such as when the son of a woman dies, she is called ‘boora’.  When the husband of a woman dies, she is called ‘kwnda’.

When the brother of a woman dies, she is called ‘wrara/meeratha’.

Similarly, when a woman remains unmarried, she is called ‘bakra’. These nouns show extreme dependence of women on men. But there are no such nouns for men to describe them when their mothers, sisters and wives die or remain unmarried.

Furthermore, Pashto language contains some extremely gendered phrases. These phrases show women and their tools as a sign of weakness and timidity. Such as, ka da kar me wa naka bia matha khaze pa shan bangrhi wa chawa (if did not complete this job then put bangles in my hands like a woman), Ta kho khaze pa shan jarhe (you are crying like a woman), de khazo kar de karhe de (you showed timidity like woman/ you did a shameful job). Similarly, Pashto poetry is also gendered, especially Tappa. Such as follow:

Ka da zalmayo pora na shwa

Grana watana jinakai ba de gatina

Oh! Motherland if you were not protected by young men, you would be protected by young women. It means that the protection of the motherland is the job of men. Women are second class citizens.

 However, historical evidences show that Pashtun society was not as gendered as it is now. The status of women was quite powerful. But the Patriarchy held the ground with the passage of time. Pashto literature has some feminine nouns which are quite prestigious like Jarga(arbitration council), toora(bravery), Cheegha (the call of duty), Shamla(turban) and others.

But unfortunately, Pashtuns have been attacked by almost all the powerful cultures of their time. It distorted their culture and literature as well.

The sword of war hangs constantly over the neck of Pashtun society. It deteriorated the status of women in the society.

To fight and retreat these attacks Pashtuns need to cling to the codes of Pashtunwali. It gives importance to men as well as to women. It is an uphill task but not impossible. Education and the recognition of Pashto as an official language and the medium of education can prove very effective.

It will give space to women to express themselves and contribute to the mother language. However, it needs the recognition of women as equal human beings to provide them equal opportunities in politics, economy and education.

Sabir Khan serves as a lecturer in political science at GPGC Bannu and can be contacted through: Sabirwaxir007@gmail.com. 

The article is the writer’s opinion, it may or may not adhere to the organization’s editorial policy.