Sexist Language
Despite decades of feminist consciousness-raising, sexist language still exists in our culture. Gender-
specific titles and pronouns can subtly influence sexism as well as our thoughts and expectations
about gender roles and appropriate occupations and goals for the sexes.
Sexist language refers to words and phrases that demean, ignore, or stereotype
members of either sex or that needlessly call attention to gender. It's a form
of biased language. On the surface level, eliminating sexist language from your
writing can be just a matter of word choice or making sure your pronouns aren't
all "he" and "him."
Defining Sexist Language
Sexist language is language that excludes either men or women when discussing a topic that is
applicable to both sexes. This includes using the word man to refer to humanity, and using titles
like Congressman and fireman. Another common error that shows gender bias is assuming that the
subject of all sentences is male. For instance, the statement "Each student chose his own topic for his
term paper," leads the reader to assume that all the students in the class were male, despite the
probability that half of them were female.
Underlying sexist language is gender bias, which can occur consciously or unconsciously. When
unconscious, the gender bias in language can be considered to be the product of society: other people
use sexist language, and repetition normalizes it until the speaker unconsciously produces his or her
own sexist language where men are the norm and women the "other."
Reasons to Avoid Sexist Language
Sexist language encourages discrimination and can discourage people from pursuing their dreams. If
engineers are always spoken of as male, a girl who aspires to be an engineer may feel that she has no
hope, since "all" engineers are men.
Sexist language also offends people when they find themselves excluded. This is not an issue that
violates your right to free speech; you are free to use offensive language, and also free to decide that
you do not agree with the definition of what constitutes sexist language. However, if you are using
language that is offensive to half of your audience, you will not get your message across. People will
not be receptive to your arguments if they are aggrieved by your use of exclusively masculine
pronouns.
How to Avoid Sexist Language
Remember that the goal is not to avoid referring to individual people as male or female; the goal is to
be inclusionary when speaking in hypothetical statements or of mixed-gender groups.
Use humanity or the human race instead of man or mankind when you are referring to all people.
If you are speaking of a single hypothetical individual, use person instead of man.
Use genderless titles whenever possible, such as flight attendant instead
of stewardess, firefighter instead of fireman, and homemaker instead of housewife. Avoid adding
gender markers to genderless titles, such as male nurse; use the genderless title alone
(i.e., nurse).
Rework sentences in the plural to avoid gendered pronouns and possessive adjectives. This will
create smoother and more grammatically correct prose than using a plural pronoun with a
singular subject. (Sexist: Each student makes up his own schedule. Grammatically
incorrect: Each student makes up their own schedule. Gender-neutral and grammatically
correct: Students make up their own schedules.)
When it is not possible to recast sentences in the plural, use he or she or his or her to be
inclusive. (The winning contestant must claim his or her prize by Tuesday.) However, using this
formulation too often can break up the flow of your writing, so use it sparingly.
Note: Do not take gender-inclusivity to extremes; each specific individual has a gender, and can be
referred to in that way. Likewise, some biological facts apply only to women or only to men. If you
are writing a paper on giving birth, you should not refer to your subject as "a pregnant woman or
man".
Sexist Language is Discriminatory
The use of sexist language undermines the American goal of a non-discriminatory, inclusive society.
There are simple ways to avoid using language that can offend and marginalize half the people on
Earth, so writers should take care to use gender-inclusive language.
Sexist language refers to words and phrases that demean, ignore, or stereotype
members of either sex or that needlessly call attention to gender. It's a form
of biased language. On the surface level, eliminating sexist language from your
writing can be just a matter of word choice or making sure your pronouns aren't
all "he" and "him."
Sentence-Level Revisions
Look at your pronouns. Have you used "he" and "him" throughout the piece? To
revise this out, you can use "he or she," or maybe, if context permits, pluralize
your references to use the cleaner "they" and "their" instead of "he or she" and
"his or her" in one sentence, as it could become awkward, wordy, and
cumbersome. For example, "When a person sells a car, he or she needs to locate
his or her title paperwork" could be more smoothly done by revising to plural:
"When selling a car, people need to locate their title paperwork."
You can also try and revise out pronouns to be articles. You could locate "the"
title paperwork in the example sentence instead of "their" paperwork and not lose
any meaning. If you would like practice recognizing and eliminating sexism from
writing, see this exercise in eliminating gender-biased language.
Looking for Bias
On a deeper level, you'll want to look at details of the piece you're writing to make
sure that it doesn't somehow portray all scientists as men, for example. In "A
Canadian Writer's Reference," Diana Hacker wrote, "The following practices,
while they may not result from conscious sexism, reflect stereotypical thinking:
referring to nurses as women and doctors as men, using different conventions
when naming or identifying women and men, or assuming that all of one's
readers are men."
Some job titles have already been revised out of sexist usage in our everyday
vernacular. You'll probably more often hear the phrase "flight attendant"
nowadays rather than the now antiquated-sounding "stewardess" and
hear "police officer" rather than "policeman." And people don't use "male nurse"
anymore, now that nurses of both genders are a common sight in medical
settings.
Alternatives for ‘man’ 2.1 It is recommended that women are made more
visible in language by avoiding the use of 'male-specific' and 'male-identified'
words in the generic sense. namely, man (generic sense) humans, human
race, human beings, human species, humanity, humankind o r women and
men, person(s), man and woman, individual(s), people(s), etc. 2.2. The use
of 'man' should also be avoided in idioms and phrases when the author or
speaker clearly intends the expression to include both women and men.
Expressions such as 'the best man for the job' or 'the man on the land'
not only make women's presence and achievements in the workforce
invisible but can also lead to discrimination. Alternatives for some
common expressions are suggested below:“the man in the street”.---- the
average citizen, the average person, an ordinary person, ordinary people;
“the best man for the job”---- the best candidate or applicant, person for the
job, the best man or woman for the job; “man to man”_----- person to person.
“man of the year”---- 'citizen of the year' or 'employee of the year'. In
gender-specific contexts expressions such as 'man to man', 'woman to
woman','one- woman show' ,'one-man show' are appropriate. 2.3.
Occupational nouns and job titles Occupational nouns and job titles
ending in -man obscure the presence of women in such professions and
positions. There are various strategies for replacing –man compounds.
For example, the use of an existing gender-neutral term (police officer
instead of policeman), or of the -person alternative (layperson instead of
layman) or the explicit naming of both sexes (sportsmen and women
instead of sportsmen) are some of the possibilities. It is, of course,
acceptable to use the -man compound to refer to a man occupying the
position if a woman in such a position is referred to by a -woman compound
(spokeswoman for a woman and spokesman for a man). However, the
practice of referring to a man by means of the –man compound and to a
woman by means of the -person compound is discriminatory. Here is a list of
the most frequently used alternatives:
92 businessman ---business executive, business manager, business
owner, business person, entrepreneur, financier, investor, proprietor
cattleman--- cattle breeder, cattle owner, cattle producer, cattle raiser,
cattle worker, farmer chairman--- the chair, chairperson, convener,
coordinator, discussion leader, head (of) ... , leader, moderator, person
chairing a meeting, person in the chair, president, presiding officer
clergyman--- member of the clergy Depending on the denomination, other
terms may include 'priest', 'pastor', 'ecclesiastic' etc. craftsman ---artisan
(artist), craftworker, technician draftsman--- artist, designer, drafter, drafting
technician, drawer fireman --- firefighter boiler attendant, fire tender, stoker
(railways, marine etc.) fisherman--- fisher, fishing licensee (e.g. for legal
purposes), angler foreman --- supervisor, work supervisor, leading hand
groundsman--- groundsperson (if specific duties, e.g. gardener, landscaper)
handyman--- handyperson, do-it-yourselfer, maintenance worker, repairer
kinsman--- kin, relation, relative layman--- layperson, non-expert (amateur),
non-specialist, non-professional laymen--- laypeople, laypersons, lay
community, laity milkman--- milkdeliverer, milk supplier, 'milko' (informal)
policeman--- member of the police, police officer (term indicating rank)
postman--- letter carrier, mail carrier, mail deliverer, postal delivery
officer, postal worker, 'postie' (informal) salesman--- sales agent, sales
associate, sales attendant, salesperson, sales representative,
salesworker, shop assistant, shop attendant spokesman --- advocate, offical,
representative, (person) speaking on behalf of ... , speaker, spokesperson
sportsman--- athlete, player, sports competitor, sportsperson statesman---
leader, state leader stockman--- stockrider, stockworker, station hand, farm
hand storeman--- storeperson, stores officer, storeworker tradesman---
tradesperson (trader) tradesmen--- tradespeople weatherman--- meteorologist,
weather presenter, weather reporter (weather forecaster, weather bureau)(Do
not use weathergirl if the forecaster is a woman.) Workman--- worker,
employee, working person Other derivatives of -man compounds should
also be avoided. Here are some suggestions: Sportsmanlike--- fair,
sporting Sportsmanship--- fair play Statesmanlike--- authoritative,
diplomatic, experienced in ... , skilful, tactful Salesmanship--- sale(s), skill(s),
sales technique, vendorship Mankind--- humanity, humankind, human
species, human race, people Manhood--- (generic) adulthood man-hour(s)---
labour hours, working hours, work hours manhole--- access hole, sewer hole,
utility hole manpower--- human resources, labour, labour force,
personnel, staff, staffing, workforce manmade--- artificial, constructed,
fabricated, handmade, hand crafted
93machine-made manufactured, synthetic 3. Alternatives for ‘he’, ‘him’ and
‘his’ There are many ways of replacing the ‘he / him / his’ pronouns without
distorting the message or compromising style or readability. Here are some
major strategies: – recast the sentence in the plural – leave out the pronoun –
repeat the noun – use 'he or she', 'she or he' or in writing 's/he' – recast the
sentence and use another pronoun, for example, 'you', or 'we' – recast the
sentence to avoid pronouns In speech it is common practice (however,
considered ungrammatical) to use the pronoun 'they' as in: 'If a student
wants to get a practice test, they should come to my office between 2 and 4
p.m. today'. 4. Occupational nouns and job titles which refer exclusively to
women should also be avoided. Often these have been derived from male job
titles by adding such suffixes as -ette, -ess and -trix. This practice reinforces
the view that women's status is dependent on, or derived from, that of
men. Job titles like 'girl friday' and 'salesgirl' trivialise the work women
do. Here are some examples:cleaning lady--- woman cleaner (house cleaner,
office cleaner) camera girl--- camera operator (see also 'cameraman' for other
alternatives) career girl ---professional, executive (or be specific about the
profession) salesgirl--- sales assistant, shop assistant, saleswoman tea lady---
tea attendant matron (nursing)--- director of nursing Women should be
shown as participating equally with men. Generic terms, for
example :'doctor', 'lawyer' and 'nurse', should be assumed to apply
equally to a man and a woman. Expressions such as 'male nurse', 'woman
doctor', 'lady lawyer', 'woman reporter' and 'female astronaut' should
therefore be avoided in contexts where the reference to a person's sex is
irrelevant. If gender specification is necessary, the use of the adjectives
'female' and 'male' before the gender-neutral noun is to be preferred. 5.
Stereotyped images describing women and men Here are some strategies
for positive portrayal of both women and men: – Use the words 'man',
'woman', 'girl', 'boy', 'gentleman' and 'lady' in a parallel manner.
Referring to adult women as 'girls' in a context where male adults are
described as 'men' is inappropriate. It implies, among other things, that
women are not considered fully grown up. The use of endearments for
women and men is acceptable in some situations, usually informal and
private. In public situations, however, women are also often addressed
by such words as dear(ie), darl', darling, sweetie, love and so on. This
treatment is not generally extended to men. The practice of using
endearments for women who are unknown to the speaker or in
situations that do not call for such intimacy should be avoided as it is
condescending and sometimes insulting to women. If women and men
have similar characters, parallel language should be used to describe
them. Avoid the use of stereotyped generalizations about men's and women's
characters and patterns of behaviour. For instance, if a man and
woman each have a determined and strong attitude, do not describe him as
'forceful' and her as 'pushy'. Portray and describe both women and men
in a variety of roles and occupations. Take care in the descriptions of
people whose main or sole occupation consists in doing unpaid work in
the home. They should not be described as a 'woman / man who
94 does not work'. Their work should not be depicted as unimportant or
worthless. Terms such as 'working mother' and 'working wife' should be
used with care because they may imply that non-wage-earning women
do not work. – Expressions such as 'the weaker sex', 'the fair sex', 'he
acted like an old woman' and 'old wives tales' should be avoided as they are
belittling and insulting to women. Sometimes it is implied that women
are naturally less competent than men. – When describing a couple (man and
woman), treat both partners as equals. If mentioning women and men
together, do not always list the man first but try to alternate the order
in which men and women are described.
