Although the word “man” has been used for years to refer to all people in general, recent criticism that this masculine noun is offensive and excludes females has surfaced. Therefore, it is usually advised to avoid using gender-specific terms (man, mankind) and pronouns (he, him) in a generic way in academic writing. Some alternatives to the use of gender-specific terms and pronouns are listed below.

Terms

Sometimes you will run into words and phrases, usually occupation-related, that could be considered sexist. Let’s take a look at some alternatives to these gender-exclusive terms to use when you don't know the sex of the person being named:

• Instead of man or mankind, use people, humanity or human beings.
• Instead of businessman, use executive or business person.
• Instead of chairman, use chair or chairperson.
• Instead of fireman, use firefighter.
• Instead of foreman, use supervisor.
• Instead of mailman or postman, use mail carrier or postal worker.
• Instead of policeman, use police officer.

Pronouns

Since English does not have a gender-neutral pronoun that refers to both sexes, use of gender-specific pronouns such as him, her, he or she is common. However, when you are not writing about a specific person, it is tempting to just use one of these gender-specific pronouns randomly. One problem with random use of gender-specific pronouns is that most of the time the male pronouns tend to be used more often than the female pronouns. This causes problems and can be considered sexist.

Let’s take a look at an example:

Ex: Every manager should advise his department on security matters. (INCORRECT)
Ex: Every manager should advise his/her department on security matters. (CORRECT)
Ex: All managers should advise their departments on security matters. (CORRECT)

Note that, in this situation, there are two ways in which the sexist language problem can be corrected: 1. The pronoun can be changed to his/her so that it includes both genders. 2. If the singular noun (manager) is changed to a plural noun (managers), a plural pronoun (their) can be used.

This week we recommend the “Non-Sexist Language” section of Stetson University’s Department of History Writing and Research website at http://www.stetson.edu/artsci/history/nongenderlang.html.

This handout discusses the historical implications of sexist language and offers information on avoiding sexist language with the use of occupations, pronouns and indefinite pronouns.

1. The student must complete his homework before he can go to recess.

2. Every professor should attend the training session during his lunch.

3. The businessmen prepared for the busiest week of the year.

Answers

1. The student must complete his/her homework before he/she can go to recess.
The students must complete their homework before they can go to recess.

2. Every professor should attend the training session during his/her lunch.
All professors should attend the training session during their lunch.
Professors should attend the training session during their lunch.

3. The business people prepared for the busiest week of the year.
The executives prepared for the busiest week of the year.

Grammatically Correct is a grammar tip of the week created by Academic Center Peer Writing Tutors at the University of Houston-Victoria in Victoria, Texas.

Comments about this newsletter should be directed to Summer Leibensperger, leibenspergers@uhv.edu.

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