Call me a woman or a PhD, why a woman PhD? An exploration of gender-biased and gender-inclusive language in Chinese.

This thesis investigates asymmetrical representations of women in Chinese. It examines attitudes toward sexist and nonsexist language, and perceptions of gender-neutral versus gender-marked representations of social roles. Focusing on default and female-marked representations of women, the research targets young adults born after China’s Reform and Opening-up (1980–2004) and living in mainland China. Study 1 presents the first empirical data on attitudes toward sexist and inclusive language in Mainland China. Using an adapted Chinese version of the Inventory of Attitudes Toward Sexist/Nonsexist Language – General. It also explores how age, sex, and gender beliefs influence these attitudes. Findings show younger participants in this study favouring language reform and gender-inclusive language more strongly. Women generally hold more positive attitudes than men, likely driven by different motivations in adopting or resisting gender-inclusive language. Study 2 examines perceptions of redundant gender-marked nouns when referent sex is explicitly shown. A sentence-rating experiment tested acceptability across conditions, analysing how noun stereotypes and participants’ gender beliefs shape evaluations. Female-marked nouns were generally more accepted than male-marked ones, with only male-marked forms influenced by stereotypes. Participants with stronger egalitarian beliefs preferred gender-neutral forms, linking asymmetrical acceptance to both stereotypes and social attitudes. Study 3 explores how gender-neutral and female-marked terms shape perceptions of women in male-dominated professions. A between-participant experiment measured recall accuracy, achievement evaluations, and expectations for women and self. Results highlight the benefits of female-marked forms in increasing visibility and expectations, while revealing complex effects of short-term and long-term exposure to counter-stereotypical women, participants’ sex, and gender beliefs on perceptions of gender representations. Collectively, this thesis bridges sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, offering foundational insights into how gender and social beliefs shape language perceptions in Chinese.