Investigation Title: An Investigation into whether
gender affects the language used in Conservative Party
Leaders’ resignation speeches
Word Count: 2230
An Investigation into whether gender affects the language used in Conservative Party
Leaders’ resignation speeches
Introduction
I have chosen to investigate the resignation speeches of British party leaders as I am interested in
whether gender can affect language used by politicians. Politics is an ever-changing landscape, and I
am curious if even as views on gender evolve, discrepancies in language exist across male and
female politicians. I also believe it would be interesting to see if the gender ratio, with significantly
, fewer female party leaders would mean that there were fewer differences in language used in the
speeches as perhaps women in the male-dominated political profession feel pressure to use features
that are typically attributed to men’s language. Previous research on language and gender by
theorists such as Lakoff have suggested that women’s spoken language is weaker, though views have
changed, and it is important to recognise that language can vary but still be equally effective. I
intend to analyse four resignation speeches and investigate whether there is a correlation between
gender and differing language used within various frameworks, and what these differences are.
Methodology
I began by watching videos of party leader resignation speeches on YouTube as it is free and easily
accessible, and finding online transcripts of the speeches that I chose on various websites. These
were the speeches delivered by Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Theresa May and Boris Johnson
when they resigned as Conservative party leader. I ensured that I had two speeches from female
leaders and two from male leaders, all in their 50s-60s at the time of resignation, who have all led
the Conservative Party. This is so I can control other variables such as age and general beliefs, and
just focus on gender, though I was unable to control the effect of context on the sample. I also chose
two speeches from the 1990s and two from the past 3 years to investigate if any differences were
consistent across both time periods. I used speeches by British party leaders as they are most
relevant to me and have the greatest effect on my life directly, and I would therefore have a greater
understanding of the context.
I then analysed each speech and identified the frameworks that I thought would be most useful for
my investigation, which were semantics, lexis and grammar. I will have to take into account that
each speech would have been written before being delivered, so research into spontaneous speech
will be less relevant in my investigation. I expect to find research into political speeches and gender
useful specifically, as well as more recent research such as Hyde’s gender similarities hypothesis. I
colour-coded and identified different frameworks and specific linguistic features and I will further
explore whether there are differences between the language used by male and female politicians in
their resignation speeches within my investigation.
Analysis
Lexis
Adjectives
Within the resignation speeches delivered by May and Thatcher, significantly more nominative
adjectives are used which create a more positive or encouraging semantic field and tone; with the
former using such nominative adjectives in 5.2% of her speech and the latter in 1.6% of her speech.
These speeches utilise nominative adjectives such as “wonderful”, “tremendous” and “optimistic”
more frequently than in the speeches delivered by men, perhaps because they are more conscious
of the way they are perceived by their party and want to ensure the party is not disheartened. This
may relate to the theory that women are more empathetic, and could explain May and Thatcher’s
more frequent use of these adjectives with uplifting connotations. Contrastingly, Major and
Johnson’s speeches use nominative adjectives with a more accusatory tone such as “phoney” to
describe threats within Major’s own party and “eccentric” to describe the view of Johnson’s
colleagues that the government must change. The speeches by male politicians also contained
comparatively fewer nominative adjectives that Lakoff would call “empty adjectives”, ones that she
suggests are typical of women’s language. This could link back to the possibility that the female
politicians are trying to appeal to the party’s sense of pride, whilst the male politicians appear more
gender affects the language used in Conservative Party
Leaders’ resignation speeches
Word Count: 2230
An Investigation into whether gender affects the language used in Conservative Party
Leaders’ resignation speeches
Introduction
I have chosen to investigate the resignation speeches of British party leaders as I am interested in
whether gender can affect language used by politicians. Politics is an ever-changing landscape, and I
am curious if even as views on gender evolve, discrepancies in language exist across male and
female politicians. I also believe it would be interesting to see if the gender ratio, with significantly
, fewer female party leaders would mean that there were fewer differences in language used in the
speeches as perhaps women in the male-dominated political profession feel pressure to use features
that are typically attributed to men’s language. Previous research on language and gender by
theorists such as Lakoff have suggested that women’s spoken language is weaker, though views have
changed, and it is important to recognise that language can vary but still be equally effective. I
intend to analyse four resignation speeches and investigate whether there is a correlation between
gender and differing language used within various frameworks, and what these differences are.
Methodology
I began by watching videos of party leader resignation speeches on YouTube as it is free and easily
accessible, and finding online transcripts of the speeches that I chose on various websites. These
were the speeches delivered by Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Theresa May and Boris Johnson
when they resigned as Conservative party leader. I ensured that I had two speeches from female
leaders and two from male leaders, all in their 50s-60s at the time of resignation, who have all led
the Conservative Party. This is so I can control other variables such as age and general beliefs, and
just focus on gender, though I was unable to control the effect of context on the sample. I also chose
two speeches from the 1990s and two from the past 3 years to investigate if any differences were
consistent across both time periods. I used speeches by British party leaders as they are most
relevant to me and have the greatest effect on my life directly, and I would therefore have a greater
understanding of the context.
I then analysed each speech and identified the frameworks that I thought would be most useful for
my investigation, which were semantics, lexis and grammar. I will have to take into account that
each speech would have been written before being delivered, so research into spontaneous speech
will be less relevant in my investigation. I expect to find research into political speeches and gender
useful specifically, as well as more recent research such as Hyde’s gender similarities hypothesis. I
colour-coded and identified different frameworks and specific linguistic features and I will further
explore whether there are differences between the language used by male and female politicians in
their resignation speeches within my investigation.
Analysis
Lexis
Adjectives
Within the resignation speeches delivered by May and Thatcher, significantly more nominative
adjectives are used which create a more positive or encouraging semantic field and tone; with the
former using such nominative adjectives in 5.2% of her speech and the latter in 1.6% of her speech.
These speeches utilise nominative adjectives such as “wonderful”, “tremendous” and “optimistic”
more frequently than in the speeches delivered by men, perhaps because they are more conscious
of the way they are perceived by their party and want to ensure the party is not disheartened. This
may relate to the theory that women are more empathetic, and could explain May and Thatcher’s
more frequent use of these adjectives with uplifting connotations. Contrastingly, Major and
Johnson’s speeches use nominative adjectives with a more accusatory tone such as “phoney” to
describe threats within Major’s own party and “eccentric” to describe the view of Johnson’s
colleagues that the government must change. The speeches by male politicians also contained
comparatively fewer nominative adjectives that Lakoff would call “empty adjectives”, ones that she
suggests are typical of women’s language. This could link back to the possibility that the female
politicians are trying to appeal to the party’s sense of pride, whilst the male politicians appear more
