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Inclusive Language

Inclusive language is that which does not exclude a reader or listener in any way.

The most common business mistakes regarding inclusive language are the use of the word “he” as a generic pronoun and the word “man” as a generic term for human being.  These guidelines will help you avoid exclusive and inappropriate word choices.

“He” as a Generic Pronoun

In general, avoid he/she and s/he entirely.  Use he or she and her or him only when absolutely necessary.

Try one of these replacements in a sentence such as Every worker must wear his or her hard-hat:

· Convert to plural.  All workers must wear their hard-hats.

· Use second person.  Wear your hard-hat.

· Replace the pronoun (he) with an article (a, an, or the).  Each worker must wear a hard-hat.

“Man” as a Generic Term for Human Being

Replacing the generic man is not always as easy.  For example, referring to a manhole cover to personhole cover is ridiculous, and sewer-hole cover is not much better. 

Consider these four categories of language: 

· Words that exclude women, such as chairman and policeman. (Use words such as leader and police officer.)

· Words that exclude men, such as stewardess and actress.  (Use words such as flight attendant and actor.)

· Words that collectively include men and women but imply only men, such as manpower and forefathers.  (Use words such as human resources and ancestors.)

· Words that call inappropriate attention to the person, such as lady lawyer, female construction supervisor, or male nurse. 

Make titles, names of positions or occupations, and common references gender inclusive.  Here are some examples, many of which are actually more specific than the inappropriate version:

Avoid:    

Revised:

businessman 

worker, manager, executive

coed

student

congressman

congressional representative

delivery man

delivery driver

draftsman   

drafter

fireman 

firefighter

foreman 

supervisor

housewife 

homemaker

husband, wife 

spouse

mailman  

mail carrier, letter carrier

man-hours   

staff-hours

mankind   

human beings, humanity, people

man-made

manufactured, artificial, synthetic

manpower  

staff, human resources

newsman  

reporter

repairman 

service technician

saleslady, salesman 

sales associate, clerk, salesperson, sales representative

spokesman                              

representative, advocate, spokesperson

waiter, waitress 

server

watchman

guard, security officer

workman

laborer, worker

Adapted from CrossTalk: Communicating in a Multicultural Workplace, by Sherron Bienvenu Kenton and Deborah Valentine, Prentice Hall, 1997.