Women as translators,as translation trainers,and as translation scholars
Christina Schaeffner
School of Languages and Social Sciences,Aston University,Aston Triangle,Birmingham B47ET,United Kingdom
a r t i c l e i n f o s y n o p s i s
Available online 2July 2013
Over the centuries,women have always played a significant part in translation practice,training,and theoretical reflection.In fact,translation (and interpreting)have often been characterized as a feminine occupation.This chapter looks at these three aspects predominantly from a quantitative perspective.In terms of the profession,it investigates the distribution of male and female translators and interpreters in the United Kingdom and the subject areas they are working in.For women's contribution to the academic discipline of Translation Studies,it investigates the amount of female authors who contribute
d to the discipline with their publications and asks whether female scholars focus on specific topics.Finally,it investigates leadership roles of women in professional associations.The paper concludes by reflecting on the potential significance of such studies.
©2013Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.
Introduction
In contrast to some other professions,in which women had to fight to be accepted as equals by their male colleagues,translating has always been an activity in which women were actively engaged.Some of these female translators are portrayed in the book Portraits de traductrices by Delisle (2002),the companion volume to Delisle and Woodsworth's Translators through History (1995).Dow's (2007)book Translators ,Interpreters ,Mediators .Women Writers 1700-1900focuses on a specific historical period,illustrating how women writers as translators mediated across cultural boundaries,thus both breaking new ground and often acquiring a central position in the literary polysystem.
Within Translation Studies,research conducted from the perspective of feminist translation theories has highlighted the previously dominant metaphorical view of translations a ‘defective females ’(e.g.in the tradition of the ‘Belles Infidèles ’)and as being subordinate,second best to the original text.It has equall
y exposed a male bias in translation strategies,and,most importantly,by raising awareness of such perceptions and practices,it has inspired a counter-movement to give more visibility to female translators,and to their contribution to translation theory and practice (e.g.Chamberlain,2004;Flotow,
1997,2011;Godard,1990;Simon,1996).It is also interesting to notice that women translators are given attention in disciplines outside Translation Studies.For example,the 23rd International Congress of History of Science and Technology with the main theme Ideas and Instruments in Social Context ,held from 28July till 2August 2009in Budapest,Hungary,included a symposium on Mediators of Sciences.Women Translators of Scientific Texts 1600–1850.The initial call for papers listed the following among the issues to be addressed at the symposium:Who were these women?Why did they devote themselves to translation?How was their work received and used by the (almost exclusively)male scientific community?How deep did their translation reshape the original text?Was translation a means through which women could find a way to make their voice heard in the masculine Republique des lettres?These questions are very similar to those asked within feminist translation studies.
Such an increased research interest can also be interpreted as recognition of the fact that translation and interpreting are indeed feminine occupations.It is often said,although not backed up by empirical e
vidence,that most translators and interpreters are women,and also that the majority of students on translation and interpreting programmes are women.However,this generally held assumption may not be true for all countries,and definitely not for all periods of time,due to
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different social conditions,traditions,and attitudes.The questions this paper wishes to address are as follows:Is it true that translating and interpreting are feminine occupa-tions?Does the dominance of women apply as well to trainers and scholars?If yes,does it matter?For whom and for what? In trying to give answers to these questions,I will adopt a predominantly quantitative approach.I was motivated t
o do this by a presentation which Gideon Toury gave at a conference in Leuven,Belgium,in August2009on the occasion of the20th anniversary of the doctoral programme CETRA and of the journal Target(subsequently published in Target2/2009).Toury had conducted a quantitative analysis of papers which had been published in Target between1989 and2008,arranging them according to authors,countries, and gender.Such a quantitative analysis can also provide very interesting insights into the development of the discipline of Translation Studies and its status in various parts of the world. The quantitative analysis below is meant to build on Toury's work by adding a few additional facts and perspectives, although it is also constrained in its regional coverage. Women as professional translators and interpreters
There are regular surveys of the translation industry to monitor and predict its development.For example,a survey conducted on behalf of the European Commission(2009) estimated an annual growth rate of10%for the size of the language industry in the European Union.A comprehensive global market study for2011conducted by the US-American market research company Common Sense Advisory conclud-ed as well that the market keeps growing(Kelly&Stewart, 2011).Women translators are contributing significantly to this growth.But how many women translators are there? What is the percentage of female translators compared to male translators?It seems that no detailed analysis has yet been conducted into this question.In fact,it is rather difficult to get exact statistical data.
For the purposes of this paper,the website of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting(ITI),the professional associ-ation in the United Kingdom,has proved useful(Institute of Translation and Interpreting,2010).This website lists a register of members,arranged in a very user-friendly way and allowing potential clients to search for language combinations and subject expertise.It would equally be interesting to do a quantitative analysis of language combi-nations and subject expertise,since these data give a good insight into the market needs of the translation industry. However,since my main interest is in gender distribution, Table1only lists the most dominant languages for the UK (French,German,Spanish),and also Chinese and Arabic which without doubt will see substantial growth in the years to come.
According to this2010ITI register,there are more women translators in the main European languages,but more men for Chinese and in particular for Arabic.It needs to be added, though,that in particular for European languages,some translators will show up twice in these statistics if they offer two foreign languages.Moreover,ITI members do not neces-sarily live in the UK.If we look at the ITI register for interpreting, the picture is similar but also slightly more diverse(Table2).
Apart from Arabic,women dominate again,and even more so than in translating.For Chinese,the percentage of female interpreters is larger than for translating.When it comes to domains and institutio
nal contexts(although the majority of interpreters work in various areas of the public services),there is no noticeable difference between men and women or between domains.Business interpreting is very prominent, and this is also the area which has the largest percentage of women for the language pair English/Arabic.A cautious conclusion to be drawn from these ITI statistics is that translating and interpreting still seem to be male-dominated professions for Arabic,but there may be various reasons for this situation,not only culture-specific ones.
Table1
Women translators on the ITI register(accessed in November2010).
Language pair Total number
of translators Men Women Percentage
of women
French into English34612521261%
German into English31413018459%
Spanish into English1665411267%
Chinese into English158747%
Arabic into English129325%
Table2
Women interpreters on the ITI register(2010).
Language pair Total number/of which women Conference interpreters Police and Court Community Business
English/French118
93women(79%)21
17women(81%)
9
6women(67%)
29
24women(83%)
59
46women(78%)
English/German70
49women(70%)15
9women(60%)scholars
4
4women(100%)
17
14women(82%)
34
22women(65%)
English/Spanish100
89women(89%)17
16women(94%)
8
7women(87%)
27
26women(96%)
48
40women(83%)
English/Chinese(Mandarin)31
22women(71%)4
2women(50%)
7
6women(86%)
8
6women(75%)
12
8women(67%)
English/Arabic31
6women(19%)1
0women(0%)
7
1woman(14%)
11
2women(18%)
12
3women(25%) Table3
Percentage of female undergraduate students in the UK(1998/99–2008/09).
Subject type1998/992003/042008/09
Languages696969
Education737476
145
C.Schaeffner/Women's Studies International Forum40(2013)144–151
Women as trainees and trainers
If we were to conduct a more historical analysis of the percentage of male and female translators and interpreters,the results will probably show a steady increase in the number of women.But this would require a long-term survey,including a study of the number of graduates who enter the job market.Over the last two to three decades,there has not been a significant change in student numbers,at least not in the UK,as surveys conducted by the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE)or by CILT,the former National Centre for Languages (CILT,2010),have shown.There has been a general increase of female students,who in 2010made up 59%of the student body for all subjects,compared to 55%in 2000.In some fields,the proportion of women is significantly higher,in particular in languages and education,which have traditionally been ‘feminine ’subjects.Some 85%of primary school teachers are now women.A report in the daily newspaper The Guardian (13July 2010)which analyzed HEFCE statistics gave the following figures in Table 3.
Concerning the number of students in UK undergraduate programmes involving language study,the da
ta also show the dominance of female students (Table 4).
CILT reported that 12%of all students in 2008–09were in undergraduate programmes that included translation.It needs to be added,however,that in the UK,there are hardly any undergraduate programmes which train professional translators.Most programmes which include translation are language programmes.Translation programmes are typically provided at postgraduate level.According to CILT,in 2008–09,27%of postgraduate students were enrolled in translation programmes (since no separate data for interpreting are provided it can be assumed that the label translation programmes includes translation and interpreting).From 2002–03till 2007–08,this number had gone up from 870to 1410for postgraduate translation programmes (taught and research combined).However,a large amount of students who are enrolled in postgraduate translation programmes in the UK are international students,coming from a variety of countries from all over the world.In terms of gender,34%of all postgraduate students in languages in 2008–09were male and 66%female,and there was no change in this distribution compared to 2002–03.There were no separate statistics for
translation programmes though.At my own institution,Aston University,the percentage of female students on the postgraduate translation programmes has consistently been above 70%since their introduction in 1997,with the gender distribution thus rather similar to the general one for languages in
the UK.
Looking at these statistics,we can assume that the share of female translators (and interpreters)in the workforce will increase further.As far as student numbers are concerned,they are made publicly available by universities and government bodies.Getting statistics for trainers,however,is much more difficult.Individual universities often do include staff registers on their websites,but they are not always accessible to the outside world.Moreover,staff is normally listed for a faculty,or a section,but not necessarily related to programmes.In the case of translation training programmes,they are typically located in language faculties or departments,and staff teaching on a translation programme also often teaches on language programmes.At postgraduate level,a number of programmes benefit from teaching input by professional translators,who may be paid on an hourly rate.This variety makes it nearly impossible to get any data about the percentage of women among translation trainers.
Based on personal experience with translation programmes at a number of universities in the UK and also in other countries,I would say that there are more women than men among the trainers.In order to give more substance to this impressionistic comment,I have looked at the number of participants at conferences and meetings of the European Master's in Transla-tion (EMT)network.The aim of the EMT project,which was initiated by the Directorate General of Translation (DGT)of the European Commissio
n,is to raise the standard of translator training in the European Union and to foster cooperation between higher-education institutions offering translation courses.University postgraduate programmes which can dem-onstrate that their graduates achieve the learning outcomes which are specified in the EMT competence profile can become members of the EMT network (see ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/programmes/emt/universities/index_en.htm for cur-rent members).Participants at the EMT conferences and at the meetings of the EMT working groups are thus almost
Table 4
Undergraduate students in language programmes in the UK (2002/03–2008/09).
2002/03
2006/072008/09Male students 30%31%31%Female students
70%
69%
69%
Table 5
Absolute numbers of female and male trainers at EMT meetings (2010–2011).
4th EMT Conference,Brussels,October 2010
EMT working group meeting,Brussels,September 20115th EMT Conference,
Brussels,November 20116th EMT Conference,
Brussels,November 2012women 10342100105men
55185162Percentage of women
65%
70%
66%
63%
Table 6
Absolute numbers of male and female participants at selected Portsmouth conferences.Year Total number of participants Men Women Percentage of women 200683295465%2008127369272%2009
119
30
89
75%
146 C.Schaeffner /Women's Studies International Forum 40(2013)144–151
exclusively teachers on these programmes and normally in full-time employment at their respective universities.Table 5shows the participants who represented programmes in terms of gender (the total number of conference participants was larger since it also included DGT staff members and represen-tatives of professional bodies).
Although these few figures cannot be taken as absolute proof of the dominance of women as translation trainers,they are nevertheless indicative of gender distribution,at least within Europe.An open question,however,is whether female trainers compared to their male counterparts use different approaches and teaching methods and whether they assess their students'translations differently.Future research may be able to answer this question.
Women as translation scholars
Most translation studies scholars are also active in translator training,so that we can speak of a close link between training and research.For assessing the percentage of women among researchers,we can look at publications,the role of women as editors or members of editorial boards of journals,at conference presentations,at leadership roles in professional associations,etc.
Conferences in the field of translation and interpreting have seen an increase in the number of women.The 6th International Critical Link conference,held in 2010in Birmingham,UK,was attended by 92men and 212women,with women thus constituting 70%of all participants.Tables 6and 7are a few more illustrative examples of participants at national and international conferences.Whereas the Ports-mouth conferences (Table 6)are attended by scholars,students,and also professional translators predo
minantly based in the UK,the conferences of the European Society for Translation Studies are aimed primarily at scholars (Table 7).
For the EST congresses,Table 8lists the number of presenters.Since these include co-authored presentations,the total number is lower than the number of men and
women added up (and therefore the numbers have not been converted into percentages).
If we analyze gender distribution in the edited volumes that were published following each EST congress,the picture in Table 9emerges (again here,some chapters are co-authored).
Here too,women dominate,with the only exception being the 2004volume.It would be pure speculation to read anything into this phenomenon.These volumes following international conferences give a good indication of gender distribution.However,they cannot be taken at face value.Edited volumes normally publish selected hey are not proceedings.This explains the difference in the number of contributors at congresses and papers included in the edited volumes (obvious when we compare Tables 7and 8).Not every presenter submits a paper for publication,and refereeing processes are anonymous,thus excluding any potential gender bias in deciding which papers to include in the volume.The figures in Tables 7and 8are thus a good indication of the activity of female scholars in the l
ast two decades.
Another question,however,is,who the leading scholars are who have significantly influenced the development of Translation and Interpreting Studies as a discipline,or as disciplines,in their own right.Although systematic Transla-tion and Interpreting Studies are still relatively young,there is a long tradition of thought and an enormous body of opinion about translation.The 1997book Western Translation Theory from Herodotus to Nietzsche by Douglas Robinson includes a selection of earlier writings from the 5th century B.C.till the late 19th century (Robinson,1997).Although these authors are not Translation Studies scholars but rather men of religion,philosophers,and writers,it is interesting to see that of the 86named contributors only 9are women.
In order to see who the influential scholars in more modern times are,I chose to analyze the two Readers which the publisher presents as providing definitive surveys or guides to influential developments in the discipline.Table 9
Table 7
Absolute numbers of male and female participants at selected EST congresses.Year and place Total number of presentations Men Women 2001Copenhagen 11051942007Ljubljana 125391252010Leuve
n
123
43
84
Table 8
Absolute numbers of male and female contributors to EST congress volumes.Title of volume
Editors
Number of male contributors Number of female contributors Translation Studies —An interdiscipline (1994)
Mary Snell-Hornby,Franz Pöchhacker,Klaus Kaindl 1832Translation as Intercultural Communication (1997)Mary Snell-Hornby,Zuzana Jettmarová,Klaus Kaindl 1426Translation in context (2000)
Andrew Chesterman,Natividad Gallardo San Salvador,Yves Gambier
1131Claims,Changes and Challenges in Translation Studies (2004)
Gyde Hansen,Kirsten Malmkjaer,Daniel Gile 1411Why Translation Studies Matters (2010)
Daniel Gile,Gyde Hansen,Nike K.Pokorn
8
19
Table 9
Absolute numbers of male and female contributors in Readers .Book
Men Women Lawrence Venuti (ed)The Translation Studies Reader .London:Routledge (2nd edition).20043rd edition 2012
272754Franz Pöchhacker and Miriam Shlesinger (eds)The Interpreting Studies Reader .London:Routledge.2002
15
14
147
C.Schaeffner /Women's Studies International Forum 40(2013)144–151
illustrates the numbers of contributors according to gender (the selection of authors may of course also reflect the research background of the editor[s]).
It is striking that there is a more equal distribution when it comes to Interpreting Studies.If we look at the authors who are included in the two volumes in relation to the time,an interesting picture emerges,illustrated in Table10.
Apart from the fact that Interpreting Studies is a more recent development compared to Translation Studies,it is striking to see that right from the beginning women have been more influential in shaping the field and have continued to do so throughout the years.The Translation Studies Reader, however,includes chapters by only five female scholars(and only four in the3rd edition,with the chapters by Reiss and Blum-Kulka not included anymore).Interestingly,three of them(Chamberlain,Brisset,Spivak),or four(with a chapter by Sherry Simon included in the3rd edition)ha
ve explicitly addressed topics of translation and gender.It would be interesting to do some systematic analyses of citation indexes in order to find out whether these authors included in the two Readers are indeed the most frequently cited ones.
In order to get a broader insight into the contribution of female scholars to publishing in our fields,Table11gives the number of male and female contributors to some of the recently published Handbooks and Encyclopedias,which can be described as providing extensive overviews of Translation and Interpreting Studies.We need again to bear in mind that some entries were co-authored and some authors also contributed several entries.
Only in two cases are male scholars in the majority,but due to the factors mentioned above(co-authorship,multiple entries by one and the same author),reading anything in terms of gender bias into these data would not be fair.
One of the very productive publications is the Benjamins Translations Library series,which,at the time of writing this chapter,had89volumes published since1994.The gender distribution of authors and/or editors is presented in Table12.
This table reflects the trend that the number of contribu-tions by female scholars has been increasing s
ystematically. This finding is also in line with Gideon Toury's analysis of contributions in the journal Target which I mentioned above as having inspired my quantitative analysis.In terms of gender,Toury commented as follows on his own analysis:“Eleven of the first twelve volumes(vol.1–6,1989–1993) were male-dominated.[…]By contrast,as of volume seven, the role of female authors has been growing incessantly,and
Table11
Absolute number of male and female authors in Handbooks and Encyclopedias.
Volume Chapters
by men Chapters by women
Mona Baker(ed)(1998)Routledge Encyclopedia
of Translation Studies.London and New York:
Routledge
8342
Mona Baker and Gabriele Saldanha(eds)(2009)
Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies.
(2nd edition)
3448
Harald Kittel et al.(eds)(2004)Übersetzung—Translation—Traduction.An International
Encyclopedia of Translation Studies.Volume1.
Berlin,de Gruyter
6240
Mary Snell-Hornby,Hans G.Hönig,Paul Kussmaul,
Peter A.Schmitt(eds)(1998)Handbuch
Translation.Tübingen,Stauffenburg
5663
Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer(eds)(2010) Handbook of Translation Studies.Volume1. Amsterdam/Philadelphia:John Benjamins 3346
Table12
Gender distribution in the Benjamins Translation Library(1994–2010).
Time period Male authors
and/or editors
Female authors
and/or editors
1994–19972813
1998–20011022
2002–20051220
2006–20101735
Total6790
Table10
Authors included in the Readers.
The Translation Studies Reader The Interpreting Studies Reader
Before20th century St.Jerome,Nicolas D'Ablancourt,John Dryden,
Friedrich Schleiermacher,Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
Friedrich Nietzsche
1920s/30s Walter Benjamin,Ezra Pound,Jorge Luis Borges
1950s/60s Vladimir Nabokov,Jean Paul Vinay/Jean Darbelnet,
Roman Jakobson,Eugene Nida Alfred Hermann,
Pierre Oléron/Hubert Nanpon,David Gerver Eva Paneth
1970s James Holmes,George Steiner,Itamar Even-Zohar,Gideon Toury
Katharina Reiss Henri C.Barik,Ghelly Chernov,Bruce Anderson Frieda Goldman-Eisler,Hella Kirchhoff,
Danica Seleskovitch,Marianne Lederer
1980s Hans J.Vermeer,AndréLefevere,Philip E.Lewis,Antoine Berman
Shoshana Blum-Kulka,Lori Chamberlain Fernando Poyatos Susan Berk-Seligson
1990s Kwame A.Appiah,Keith Harvey,Jacques Derrida
Annie Brisset
Gayatri Spivak Daniel Gile,Robin Setton,Basil Hatim/Ian Mason, Granville Tate/Graham Turner
Barbara Moser-Mercer,Bistra Alexieva,Helle Dam, Anne Schjoldager,Ingrid Kurz,Angela Collados Ais, Cynthia Roy,Cecilia Wadensjö
2000s AbéMark Nornes,Ian Mason,Lawrence Venuti Michael Cronin 148 C.Schaeffner/Women's Studies International Forum40(2013)144–151
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