Gender in Translation Discourse: From Subordination to Subversion

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  • Habiba Nakhli ORCIDIndependent Researcher/ EFL Teacher, Tetouan, Morocco.
PDF (backup copy)Official version on IMISTDOI
Journal
Confluence Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (e-ISSN 3085-5411)
Issue
Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025)
Section
Articles
Pages
152-165
Published
10 July 2025
DOI
https://doi.org/10.34874/PRSM.cjms-vol1iss1.5025
License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Copyright (c) 2025 Habiba Nakhli

Abstract

This study analyzes the triangular relationship between discourse, gender, and translation in relation to the evolution of the concept of translation. Gendered metaphors have always been a fundamental part of translational discourse despite the evolution of translation as a concept and a discipline. The metaphorical representation of translation as a female has confined translation to the status of a secondary activity for decades. Gender inequality, a pervasive form of social disparity, manifests predominantly in discourse as the primary form of human interaction. Grounded in the cultural turn paradigm, the study draws on feminist translation theory, intersectionality, and discourse analysis to examine how feminist translational discourse has contributed to re-conceptualizing translation. Feminist translators argue that gendered discourse reinforces gender inequalities. To align with their ideological stance, they reject the traditional authority of the ST and claim co-authorship. Within this framework, translation is a gendered act of “rewriting” that destabilizes power hierarchies. In doing so, feminist translation redefines translation as a culturally and ideologically bound practice. The analysis of Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood’s translation of Lise Gauvin’s Lettres d’une Autre discloses the translator’s insistence on infidelity as an ideological stance. Her counter- discourse is realized through an open transgression against the conventional grammatical rules. Her aim is to subvert the inequalities underlying them in order to restructure power relationships and enhance the visibility of the feminine. By feminizing language and foregrounding the feminine/translator’s voice in translated literary texts, feminist translation promoted a sense of cross-cultural solidarity, thus reshaping power dynamics in translational discourse.

Keywords

DiscourseGenderTranslationMetaphorFeminist translation

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