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Gender pronouns - using them or not?

Nina Cairns

Morning all - I wondered what the trend is with regards to changing employee handbooks, policies and /or contracts from using gender pronouns?  We are startup organisation and have just embarked on defining our D&I strategy,. Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks 

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  • I explicitly wrote all our new policies to be gender neutral. Employee/They/Them etc.

    If I see him/her in text it makes me flinch - I'd actually rather the legal practice of using him and assuming it to mean both a male or female than spell both out.

    One debate I did have when drafting was the correct gender-neutral terminology for "His Excellency, the Governor". It tends to get shortened to HE, The Governor to gender-neutralise it, but I do wonder if "Their Excellency" would be better. There never has been a female Governor here yet, but that's not to say it won't happen.
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  • I explicitly wrote all our new policies to be gender neutral. Employee/They/Them etc.

    If I see him/her in text it makes me flinch - I'd actually rather the legal practice of using him and assuming it to mean both a male or female than spell both out.

    One debate I did have when drafting was the correct gender-neutral terminology for "His Excellency, the Governor". It tends to get shortened to HE, The Governor to gender-neutralise it, but I do wonder if "Their Excellency" would be better. There never has been a female Governor here yet, but that's not to say it won't happen.
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  • in reply to Lesley
    Or, indeed, a gender-fluid one, or just someone who prefers not to be identified by a gender-specific pronoun regardless of their personal gender identification.

    Perhaps "Just Call Me" Harry is leading the way towards a general abolition of these faux-medieval honorifics.
  • in reply to Lesley
    Hi Lesley
    Pedantic old me would say about 'His Excellency' etc that if you're referring to the actual office-holder, who happens to be male, then it's merely a factual descriptor.
    But if you're referring to the office of governor generally, then 'His Excellency' would be wrong and something like 'His / Her' or 'Their' far better. (in fact, speculating much further, the latter would even accommodate a gender-fluid or gender-unspecific guv'nor!
    It's a bit like recording formal meetings, where 'Chairman' to me is okay if the actual person chairing the meeting were in fact male but arguably not if not the case, when 'Chair' far better (many would say always far better....)