English Style Guide
12 GENDER-NEUTRAL LANGUAGE
12.1Using gender-neutral formulations is more than a matter of political correctness. The Commission wholeheartedly endorses equal opportunities, and its language should reflect this. Using the generic ‘he’ is incongruous, since Commission documents are just as likely to be addressed to women.
12.2He/she. Avoid the clumsy he/she etc., except perhaps in non-running text such as application forms. The best solution is often to use the plural, which in any case is more commonly used in English for the generic form as it does not require the definite article. For example, in draft legislation or calls for tenders, translate l’exportateur/le soumissionaire … il by exporters/tenderers … they. It is also acceptable to use forms such as everyone has their own views on this (see usage note for they in the Concise Oxford Dictionary).
12.3In some texts, for example in manuals or sets of instructions, it is more natural in English to address the reader directly using the second-person form or even the imperative:
You should first turn on your computer.
or
First turn on your computer.
instead of
The user should first turn on his/her computer.
12.4Noun forms. Use your judgment in choosing noun forms to emphasise or deemphasise gender, such as Chairman, Chairwoman or Chair, but note that Parliament now uses Chair for its committees.
For certain occupations a substitute for a gender-specific term is now commonly used to refer to persons working in those occupations, e.g. we now write firefighters instead of firemen and police officer instead of policeman or policewoman. Note that the terms tradesperson and craftsperson are commonly used instead of tradesman and craftsman by local government authorities advertising jobs to both men and women. The term fishermen is still in common use, though the compound fisherman/woman and fishermen/women can also be found in UK sources.
5 September 2011 |
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English Style Guide
48/89 |
5 September 2011 |
English Style Guide
Part II
About the European Union
5 September 2011 |
49/89 |
English Style Guide
50/89 |
5 September 2011 |