4.1 Analysis of the Causes from Social Perspective

Society just has different social expectations toward men and women, and this has been deep rooted in the history. According to Philip, M. Smith (1985), Women are not accorded the same social status as men, in spite of laws designed to prevent sex-biased discrimination. Men are seen to have more social power than women, power that is believed to derive from physical, personal and interpersonal sources. Women are encouraged to be responsible for the integrity of the domestic sphere of life, including working at home, caring for children, since most of this activity is devoted to maintaining the nuclear family, women are not as easily thought of as active participants in the sphere of public debate and political decision-making. Men, on the other hand, work away from home, where they can easily associate with other men for the purpose of debating and defining everything from the policy from the `common good' to the `meaning of life'.

It is quite common and usual now for a woman to stay at home as a housewife, however, a man will suffer from great social pressure to be a `househusband'. Thus it is not surprising any more that a male nurse and a woman chief executive officer will attract great curiosity from the society. This is just from the social role-related expectations. “Men are seen to be dominant; women are perceived to be muted. Men are the namers, women, and the named." (See Spender, 1980) Women were generally viewed to be nurturers of children; whole men have been perceived to be hunters, or providers of food. Both men and women will find it difficult to gain acceptance when they do not follow this social expectations.

4.2 Analysis of the Causes from Historical Perspective

To search for the cause of English sexism, we must look back to the history. This is maybe the origin why English is like what it is today. Back in the ancient world, the idea that men should be involved in more important matters and that women should just be in the shadows was rooted in our minds. Because of this, the idea that women were lesser was passed down from generation to generation. Once a bad thing has started, it is harder to stop. It has been imprinted in us ever since then that a female should not be involved as much as men. A female has long been considered as frail and because of this, she should not do hard work, A man's job was to work and the female's duty was to stay at home and take care of the children.

One important theory of sexism proposes that originally economic factors led to sex discrimination. The origins of sexism can be traced to the sex roles that man and woman occupy in prehistoric times. At that time, the society was very backward and people mainly lived on hunting. Because men were more muscular than women and did not bear children, they took the role of hunters. Women were involved in food gathering and caring for the children and the home. Although they played totally different roles, one was not valued over the other.

With agricultural development, animals were domesticated; men took the role of animal herders and women that of farmers. But after the invention of the ox-drawn plow, men, the caretakers of animals, were more involved in agriculture. The status of women declined as their roles of food providers diminished.

In many European and other societies based on agriculture, land came to be the measure of wealth. With the development of trade and towns in medieval Europe, the bourgeoisie emerged as a major new class, along with city-states and monarchies supported largely by the wealth of the bourgeoisie was based on capital (money and goods) rather than on land. Middle-class women became active in the commercial economy and acquired an enhanced.

It is until the 19th century that the major breakthrough for women occurred, under the impact of the industrial Revolution. The development of industrial capitalism created the need for large numbers of workers in the newly established industries. Because women could work in factories and help their husbands accumulate capital, their status was somehow improved. Gradually, over a period extending well into the 20th century, women were permitted to make contracts, to buy and sell property, to vote and hold political office, to acquire the same education as men, and to put their education to practical use. But despite these advances, the second-class status of women had become ingrained in society that justifications continued.

Traditionally, it was supported that women, by their nature, could not take care of themselves and had to be protected by men. Women who did not need to gain an income were relegated to keeping house and raising children----functions that were not regarded as `work'. A woman's most important role was thought to be the moral development of her children. Although more women were being educated and entering professions, they were employed primarily as teachers, nurses, dressmakers, waitresses and laundry workers, etc. It may be noted how similar these occupations are to the functions performed by homemakers.

Although women continued to enter the labor force in increasing numbers during the first three decades of the 20th century, public opinions still remained strongly in favor of their staying at home with their families. In the modern society, female wage or salary earners were discriminated against in pay, promotion opportunities, and professional training. Discrimination against women in employment was not prohibited until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Despite this law, the situation for female workers has not markedly improved.

Thus, this explanation of the present sexism proposes that it has its origins in a long history of discrimination against women. Women continue to be treated poorly because of customs, mores and social norms that developed over many centuries. As the tool of human communications, language was unavoidably affected by the historical discrimination against women. As a reverse, language reinforced the idea of female's inferiority and subordination to men.

4.3 Analysis of the Causes from Cultural Perspective

The sexist language question, seeming at first to represent a practical agenda, is a point of entry into the broader study of women and men as speakers, creators and bearers of meaning within society and culture. There is a no denying fact that Bible has greatly influenced the people's worldview of those English-speaking countries. It is evidenced as following:

To start with, we may look at the excerpt from the Genesis about how man and woman are created by God:

And the Lord God said; it is not good that the man should be alone; 1 will make him a help meet for him.

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name of thereof.

And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he and closed up the flesh instead thereof.

And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my fleshes: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

(Holy Bible, 1978.2:18-24)

From above, the superiority of men and inferiority of women is clearly seen. It was man who came to the world first, and woman was just created from man to accompany him, and to meet the satisfaction of man. From some extent, Bible reinforced the idea that women were subordinate to man and inferior to man. And woman is the weaker sex. The woman was made of the rib of man and therefore it was destined that she will be the appendage of man. And according to Bible, the name of woman simply means `she was taken out of man.'

Besides in the Bible, almost all the influential figures are men. The most powerful one, the God, is called father. Then comes his son Jesus Christ. We may list some other prominent ones: Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt; Abraham, the ancestor of the Jews, who answered God's call and went to settle in Hara; the thirteen disciples of Jesus are unanimously men.

In the Bible, there are many stories about sons getting heritages from their fathers. Neither the mothers nor the daughters were considered eligible to have access to the property. In accounting for a man's life, what he did, how many sons he had, what the names were and what they did were often made very clear, even if they were not so excellent. For sons were regarded as responsible for carrying on the family line. Few women could have their names recorded among them, some are famous for their sons, like Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ; Elizabeth, the mother of John. Still others were mentioned because of their evil deeds such as Herodias and her daughter, who were responsible for John the Baptist's death; or Wily Laban, who together with her younger son Jacob, deprived her firstborn Esau of his rights for their inheritance. Among the lucky women who left their names, very few were noted for their own achievements. They were confined at home, doing chores and giving birth to children.

The holy Bible is actually a book of men. As Christianity is such a powerful religion in Western countries, it is unreasonable to deny this help to set and consolidate the inferior position of women.