Gender Neutrality in English

Gender neutrality in the English language (and in many other languages) became a common feature in its written and spoken versions in the late twentieth century.

Many feminists have argued that prior to that period, the practice of assigning masculine gender to generic antecedents was due to every language reflecting the prejudices of the society in which it evolved, and English evolved through most of its history in a male-centered, patriarchal society.

A number of the masculine terms in Modern English come from words which were not gender-specific in Old English. For example, the word mann was originally gender-neutral (though grammatically masculine) and could be used to refer to any adult human. For gender-specific usage, wer was used to mean man, and wif to mean woman. Since then, man has replaced wer as the primary word referring to male persons, while also preserving its original gender-neutral meaning (people), especially in compounds such as mankind. On the other hand, the word woman (from wifman, grammatically masculine) replaced wif as the word for female person. The word human is from Latin humanus, the adjectival form of homo “human being” (also grammatically masculine but epicene).

Use of the term chairman remains widespread in predominantly male sectors of society, but chairperson is now widespread in society in general, at least in the USA, Canada and increasingly in the U.K.

During the 19th century, attempts to overlay Latin grammar rules onto English required the use of feminine endings in nouns ending with -or. This produced words like doctress and professoress and even lawyeress, all of which have fallen out of use; though waitress, stewardess, and actress are still in contemporary use.

Belief in social effects of language was largely a 20th-century phenomenon in the English-speaking world, and has been linked to the development of the concept of politically correct language and the principle of linguistic relativity by Benjamin Whorf (See Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis).

Gender-neutral language is widely recommended by certain types of businesses, political and educational institutions. The intention is typically a social or ethical one, such as to promote either diversity and/or opportunity. Some believe that the roles of men and women in society have changed in various ways.

Gender-neutral (or ‘politically correct’) language is characterized by: 1) the use of the plural pronoun they or combinations she or he, him or her, etc. instead of the “male” pronouns he, his and him; 2) the avoidance of words formed from man but which refer to people in general; 3) the utilization of job names that apply equally to women and men; 4) the use of expressions and pronouns that do not support sexist assumptions; 5) the use of equal male and female terms.

Sexist Language	Gender-neutral language
1. Someone’s on the phone―What does he want? A gardener is usually proud of his garden.	1. Someone’s on the phone―What do they want? A gardener is usually proud of his or her garden.
2. Man/mankind is polluting the Earth.	2. People are/Humanity is/ Humankind is polluting the Earth.
3. Jane is a camerawoman.	3. Jane is a camera operator.
4. The fall in prices is great news for housewives.	4. The fall in prices is great news for consumers/ shoppers.
5. Mr. Lewis and Miss Masters.	5. Ms. Masters and Mr. Lewis.