Wikipedia:Gender-neutral language

Draft proposal for inclusion in the Manual of Style under "Usage".

Gender-neutral language

Gender-neutral language is concerned not with editors’ beliefs, but with avoiding language that might be interpreted by some readers as an unnecessary reinforcement of traditional stereotypes. Examples of non-neutral language that can easily be avoided include

• he, his, she and her to refer to both sexes
• man to stand for both sexes, either as a separate item (man’s journey into the unknown) or a suffix (fireman)
• grammatically marked items to represent one sex (actress, conductress, career woman and male nurse), with the possible implication that the participation of the other sex is the norm
• non-parallel expressions (man and wife).

Please consider the use of gender-neutral language where this can be achieved in reasonably tidy wording and without loss of precision. This recommendation does not apply to direct quotations, the titles of works (The Ascent of Man), or where all referents are of one gender, such as in an all-female school (“If any student broke that rule, she was severely punished”).

There are a number of ways of avoiding the use of generic male and female pronouns, among which are:

• pluralizing (not “A player starts by moving his piece”, but “Players start by moving their piece”), although this can be problematic where the text needs to emphasize individuals, or where it creates a need to switch regularly between singular and plural
• using he or she (“Each politician is responsible for his or her constituency”), although this can be ungainly if repeated within a short space
• otherwise rewording (not “A pilot must keep his spacepod under control at all times; if he loses control, he must hit ‘new game’ immediately”, but “A pilot must keep the spacepod under control at all times; if that control is lost, the pilot must hit ‘new game’ immediately”)
• using the singular they (“Each politician is responsible for their constituency”). The grammatical validity of this remains disputed, and it is both widely used and widely disagreed with.

In other cases, non-neutral usages can sometimes be avoided by careful word choice; for example, by using operated or staffed (instead of manned), people or humanity (man), layperson (layman), business people or business owners (businessmen). In these cases, ensure that the basic meaning is preserved. Where the gender of an individual subject is known, gender specific suffixes may still be used ("Bill Gates is a businessman" or "Nancy Pelosi is a congresswoman.")

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