Female Language in Popular Science

Fewer women than men are involved in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields and one of the reasons might be a lack of exposure to familiar linguistic structures in reading materials designed to spark interest and to recruit new scientists. Popular science, as a multifaceted genre, creates an accessible kind of exposure to the scientific world that can potentially lead to a career in that field. Considering this potential of the genre and keeping in mind that most popular science is written by men, the present study examined fifteen articles (five written by men, five by women, and five co-written by authors of both genders) for the presence of female language. Female language was differentiated from gendered language (which is tied to female stereotypes) and identified based on the frequency of certain linguistic markers found in texts produced by women. The results demonstrate that women and teams of authors that include women write differently than men do, thus confirming previous investigations into differences in linguistic production between men and women. The study suggests that exposing young women considering a career in science to popular science written by females might be beneficial in cementing their aspirations, as language has a strong connection to self-perceived gender identity.