Gendered Language in English Job Advertisements and the Perception of Potential Applicants within Electrical and Electronic Engineering in Sweden

Sammanfattning: This mixed-method study investigates the use of masculine and feminine-coded words (i.e., words associated with gender stereotypes) in English job advertisements in Sweden, focusing on the male-dominated Electronic and Electric engineering field in Sweden (SCB, 2022). As such, job advertisements in this field provide a productive case study for a discussion of gender appeal in the language of the advertisements. The study is divided into two parts: The first part presents a quantitative analysis of 30 job advertisements using a web tool called the “gender decoder” to determine whether the advertisements are mainly feminine-coded or masculine-coded. The second part of the study combines quantitative and qualitative analyses by exploring in depth 22 potential applicants’ perceptions of job advertisements in terms of language use and gender. It involves a web-based questionnaire focusing on two job advertisements (one feminine-coded and one masculine-coded) selected from the first part of the analysis. The questionnaire includes both Likert-scale and open-ended questions, and the participants consist of electrical and electronic engineering students from five universities in Sweden. Both parts of the study are furthermore analyzed thematically. The findings illustrate that there were more feminine-coded job advertisements among the selected advertisements, with one-third exhibiting masculine-coding. Additionally, the study shows that the participants were more likely to apply for the feminine-coded job advertisement, consistent with prior research. These results suggest the need for further efforts to create a more equal and non-gender-biased work environment, considering that most participants felt more connected to the feminine-coded job advertisement, whereas, still, a third of the job advertisements were masculine-coded.