Gendered pronouns in English are an interesting proposition! It wasn’t that long ago that we realized that many professions were now becoming gender integrated, professions like our mailman and the fireman. This realization resulted in the creation of terms such as letter carrier and firefighter, and of course, there are many more. At the same time, we also realized that many people were quite upset about the use of the default ‘he’, so the proposal was to include both genders, such as ‘Every student should pay his/her own way.’
With the evolvement of gender neutral language, the inclusive he/she phrase fell by the wayside: actually, it was never very popular, so other alternatives started surfacing. Today we find that the easiest way to resolve the he/she issue is to pluralize the subject and use ‘their’ or ‘they’ - for example: ‘Students are required to bring their own thesaurus to the examination,’ and ‘When students enter the examination room, they are required to remove their shoes.’ This situation does not apply where one gender or another is clearly referred to, like ‘Each surrogate is well compensated for her time.’
Creating New Terms When There’s Been a Change in Gender
We are also discovering that we sometimes need to create a new term when there’s been a change in the gender of the person who normally holds a specific role. For example, we now have a few ‘First Gentlemen’ in the United States who are the husbands of female Governors; and we’re seeing more exposure of the word ‘maestro’ as the number of female orchestra conductors’ increases.
It’s certainly true that working in the translation industry means there’s a whole new layer of mystique to this issue of gender, particularly when many translators are working between English and a language that’s very liberal in its use of gendered words. With the French language, for example, a book is masculine and a table is feminine, but at least in translation they both become ‘the’. However, the French language uses son/sa/ses for both his and hers – they don’t have different words; so the problem is placed fairly and squarely in the translator’s lap when translating these words.
French and some other languages also have words that, regardless of who they’re referring to, are always masculine or feminine.
Gender Neutral Terms and Words
Today we see the use of gender specific language becoming a thing of the past. It’s certainly true in the English language that it’s becoming more acceptable to use gender neutral terms when both speaking and writing. Below we’ve listed just a few gender specific words and terms with their gender-neutral equivalents. Obviously, there are many, many more.
Airline stewardess becomes flight attendant
actress - actor
anchor-woman or anchorman - anchor
bridesmaid - bride’s attendant
businesswoman or businessman - business person
camera woman or cameraman - camera operator
chairwoman or chairman - chairperson or chair
Council man - councilmember
deliveryman - delivery clerk or courier
fatherhood - parenthood
floor man - floorwalker or duty person
freshman - undergrad or first-year student
Girl Friday - assistant or aide
governess - childcare worker
handyman - maintenance person
headmaster - principal
housewife - homemaker
juryman - juror or jury person
maid - housecleaner
maintenance man - caretaker or janitor
male nurse - nurse
manageress - manager
manhole - maintenance hole
mankind - humanity or humankind
man-made - hand built or handmade
man of the house - husband or father
Mother Earth - homeland
