Bias & Binaries: Gender in Language and Translation Technology
Joke Daems (Ghent University)
Abstract
Technology is increasingly being used to automatically generate and translate texts. Although the output can look impressively fluent, this does not mean it is always correct. And even when it is technically correct, it is not necessarily neutral or inclusive. In text generation, women are more likely to be represented as emotional caregivers, while men are more likely to be represented as active leaders. While, in English, a 'doctor' can be a person of any gender, a machine translation system will assign a specific (binary) gender to this person when translating into languages such as Spanish or German. Very often, this translation will be informed by gender stereotypes (a 'doctor' will be a man, a 'housekeeper' a woman). People with nonbinary gender identities are hardly ever represented. Developers and researchers are aware of these issues and are trying to find solutions to make technology less biased and more inclusive, with mixed success. In this presentation, we will explore the origin of these biases in technology, consider their potential impact on society, and identify some of the strategies being used to counter them.
Bio
Joke Daems (they/them) is assistant professor human-computer interaction in translation & interpreting studies at Ghent University. They are a member of the EQTIS research team (Empirical and Quantitative Translation and Interpreting Studies) and the LT3 Language and Translation Technology team. Their research focuses on the impact of translation technology (such as machine translation) on translation (process, product, translator) and society, with a specific focus on gender-inclusivity. Together with their PhD student Janiça Hackenbuchner, they launched the DeBiasByUs (https://debiasbyus.ugent.be/) platform and Bias Shield browser plugin (https://biasshield.org/) to raise awareness about gender bias in MT and collect instances of gender bias. Since 2023, they have been a member of the organising committee of GITT, the international workshop on Gender-Inclusive Translation Technologies. In their free time, they volunteer as Translation Manager at the International Quadball Association, where they encourage the use of inclusive language in all translations (see https://www.iqasport.org/news/how-the-iqa-uses-inclusive-language/).