Abstract—Language reflects the speakers of a community. The characteristics and background of an individual or society are assessed through the spoken word and forms of language. There have been many studies conducted by scholars who study foreign languages (particularly English and European languages as spoken in the United States of America (USA), Germany and Norway). The Chinese language has also been assessed by a number of scholars. Many sexist elements have been found in the Chinese language (in particular, in older forms of the language.) Unfortunately, even many language users agree that male terms sometimes fail to be gender-neutral and may therefore be a cause of sex bias as well as a vestige of past inequality, few studies have been conducted that serve to highlight the sexist elements of the Malay language. In this paper, proverbs with sexist elements will be discussed to prove that the said elements do exist in Malay language. Index Terms—Gender-bias, malay language, malay proverbs, sexist. I. SEXIST LANGUAGE Anne Pauwels [1] defines sexist language as that which reflects a “biasness” or unbalanced attitude towards a particular gender. According to the author, this attitude usually leans towards unfair treatment of women and gives more prominence to men. In many international languages, men or maleness is assumed to be the norm for the human race. Male characteristics, actions, thoughts and beliefs are regarded as representative of all matters pertaining to humankind in general. This in turn has led to the “disappearance” of women in language. Whenever it occurs, their “appearance” is regarded as a deviation from the norm in which “men” are equated with the entire human race. Sexist elements in a language refers to those nouns, phrases, sentences or proverbs which hold negative or bad connotation for individuals of a particular gender, i.e men or women. The use of such language perpetuates negative stereotypes and social values which discredit or demean a particular gender. Pam Peters [2], defines sexist language as language which either disregards or disparages a particular gender. Based on social history, this commonly refers to a language which emphasises a male-dominated world, where men are considered the true being, and women are portrayed as impalpable entities. Due to the prevalence of such bias, the subsequent unfair treatment of women, and the different forms this discrimination has taken over the years, scholars have Manuscript received December 20, 2015; revised February 27, 2015. Roksana Bibi binte Abdullah is with the National Institute of Education, 1, Nanyang Walk, 637616, Singapore (e-mail: roksana.abdullah@nie.edu.sg). ascribed varying and definitions to sexist language. Kristen Gomard [3] for example, listed the attributes of sexist language as: 1) Language which treats or regards women and men as assymetrical. 2) Language that dismisses women. 3) Language that condemns or criticise women. 4) Language that stereotypes the female gender (as the weaker sex, as the group who is assigned to serve in the kitchen or as the home maker and the like). II. SEXIST ELEMENTS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (EL) Sexist elements are evident in several aspects of the English Language. In this section, sexist elements are apparent in each component of language A. Words Words which contain sexist elements and non- sexist alternatives: TABLE I: NON-SEXIST ALTERNATIVES Word Proposed Alternative Chairman chairperson businessman entrepreneur / executive founding fathers founders / pioneers forefathers ancestors / forebears cameraman camera operator workman worker mankind the human race / humanity man-made artificial/ manufactured manpower work force The use of adjectives differ for men and women. In such instances, it is common for the weaker form of an adjective and words that have a negative connotation to be attributed to women and those that carry more positive connotations to be ascribed to men. For example: TABLE II: ADJECTIVES FOR MALE AND FEMALE [4] Male Female forceful pushy strong domineering assertive aggressive expressive emotional angry hysterical firm stubborn cautious timid Further, there are also semantic indications of a lowering of status in the meaning of words that are typically used to refer to women. In contrast, the corresponding words for men retain their original meaning without inferring any negative connotation. For example, words such as master, mister and Gender Bias in Malay Language Roksana Bibi binte Abdullah International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 6, June 2016 456 DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2016.V6.690