Why some jobs just ‘sound’ male: the Arabic language effect

Abstract

This study examines how language systems and school textbooks influence L1 Arabicstudents’ perceptions of professional and political job roles. A custom-designed surveywas used to assess how students associate jobs with gender when explicit grammat-ical markers are removed. Job titles were extracted from widely used Arabic languagetextbooks and reformulated into passive-structured sentences that avoided direct mor-phological gender cues. Sixty-two students from a public elementary school in Riyadhparticipated, selecting either the masculine or feminine form of job titles presented inthe questionnaire. The findings indicate that while masculine job terms in educationalmaterials contribute to gender associations, the broader Arabic language system has astronger influence. However, exposure to gendered terms in textbooks reinforcesthese associations. This is the first study to investigate the effect of gendered suffixeson job-related linguistic cues among L1 Arabic students. The findings highlight theimportance of gender-inclusive language in educational content to promote a morebalanced perception of professional roles.