How Can We Use Gender-Neutral Language?
We used to talk about chairmen, spokesmen, policemen and policewomen, fishermen, manpower, mankind, the man in the street and so on.
Today, we prefer gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language. This means using alternatives for words or terms containing “man” when we mean people of all genders.
So instead of: use:
man-made manufactured, artificial
mankind humankind
manpower personnel, staff, workers
the man in the street the average person
best man for the job best person for the job
to man to operate, to staff
man hours person hours
layman layperson, non-specialist
chairman chairperson
policeman/-woman police officer
firemen firefighters
fishermen fishers
tradesman tradesperson
craftsman craftsperson
materinity/paternity
leave parenthood leave
It’s now widely accepted to use they and the associated pronouns, even when talking about a word in the singular, as the following examples show.
Gender-discriminatory language:
“A small business owner needs to know how his products, services and marketing strategy compare to local, regional, national and international competitors.”
Gender-sensitive language:
“A small business owner needs to know how their products, services and marketing strategy compare to local, regional, national and international competitors.”
It’s important that we treat people with respect—and that means also paying attention to the language we use.
I have another example that NASA introduced a few years back:
They changed their terminology from “manned missions” to “crewed missions”. I like that.
Hannah, that’s a wonderful example. Thank you for telling me.