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In the past (prior to about 1970), when we referred to “people in general” in English, we normally used masculine pronouns (e.g., “Any employee wanting to change his medical plan should go to the Human Resources Department.”). However, as you are undoubtedly aware, we now try to use “nonsexist” language in such situations. There are three good ways to deal with this issue.
The first method is to use constructions such as “his or hers,” “he or she,” etc. Admittedly, these are somewhat cumbersome, especially if they need to be repeated numerous times in a document. For that reason, some new constructions have emerged such as “he/she” and “s/he.” My sense is that these constructions have not yet been accepted as formal English, but they may very well be in the future, and I would suggest that you watch the journal articles you read for signs of this. For the present, if you have just a few sexist-language problems in your document, I recommend using “he or she,” etc. If it starts to sound redundant, try one or both of the following techniques.
- Pluralize the sentence so that you can use “gender-neutral” plural pronouns (e.g., All employees wanting to change their health plans…).
- Alternate using “him,” and “her,” etc. during your document. This conveys to the reader that you are aware of the issue of sexist language but do not want to sound redundant.
In addition, a client of mine who is a business scholar recently came up with an elegant solution that may be applicable in some cases. He stated up front that “buyers” in his paper would be referred to with feminine pronouns, while “sellers” would be considered male. Problem solved.
There is no going back on the issue of nonsexist language, yet we are all feeling our way along as time passes. I’d love to hear about any new solutions you may encounter.
I hope this helped.
Ray
rh@rayhardestyediting.com
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