More About gender

Ways of talking about men and women

When you are writing or speaking English it is important to use language that includes both men and women equally. Some people may be very offended if you do not.

The human race

Man and mankind have traditionally been used to mean ‘all men and women’. Many people now prefer to use humanity, the human race, human beings or people.

Jobs

The suffix -ess in names of occupations such as actress, hostess and waitress shows that the person doing the job is a woman. Many people now avoid these. Instead you can use actor or host (although actress and hostess are still very common), or a neutral word, such as server for waiter and waitress.

Many job names ending in -man also have a female equivalent ending -woman (e.g. postman/​postwoman), but in some cases one equivalent is rarely or never used, especially in old-fashioned job names that were traditionally done by one sex (e.g. coalman, washerwoman). Other forms such as batswoman and tradeswoman are becoming more common as more women start to do these jobs.

Neutral words like assistant, worker, person or officer are now often used instead of -man or -woman in the names of jobs. For example, you can use police officer instead of policeman or policewoman, and spokesperson instead of spokesman or spokeswoman. Neutral words are very common in newspapers, on television and radio and in official writing, in both British English and North American English.

When talking about jobs that are traditionally done by the other sex, some people say: a male secretary/nurse/model (NOT man) or a woman/female doctor/barrister/driver. However, this is now not usually done unless you need to emphasize which sex the person is, or it is still unusual for the job to be done by a man/​woman: My daughter prefers to see a woman doctor.They have a male nanny for their kids.a female racing driver

Pronouns

He used to be considered to cover both men and women: Everyone needs to feel he is loved. This is not now acceptable. Instead, after everybody, everyone, anybody, anyone, somebody, someone, etc. one of the plural pronouns they, them, and their is often used: Does everybody know what they want?Somebody’s left their coat here.I hope nobody’s forgotten to bring their passport with them.

It is now generally acceptable in writing and speech to use they, them, and their to refer to a singular noun: When a guest arrives, they check in and we show them to their room. However, some people prefer to use he or she, his or her, or him or her: Everyone knows what’s best for him- or herself. He/​she or (s)he can also be used in writing: If in doubt, ask your doctor. He/​she can give you more information. (You may find that some writers just use ‘she’.) If these uses seem awkward, you can change the sentence and use a plural noun. Instead of saying: A baby cries when he or she is tired you can say Babies cry when they are tired.

Some people now specify which pronouns they prefer to be used when they are referred to, usually according to their gender identity: I want to share with you that I am trans, and my pronouns are ‘they’ and ‘them’.