gender-fair language

one of the first assignments i did for the gender and development team of philrice is a primer on gender sensitive language which the group later published for all staff and partner agencies. 


i wanted to share some of the examples we cited since i've been observing that most people use terms which are not gender sensitive. while i cannot blame these people for lack of consciousness, this piece aims to encourage the use of gender-sensitive terms to help eliminate stereotypes among genders.

instead of…	use:
Miss, Mrs	Ms.
MANkind	humanity
MAN-made	synthetic
MAN-power	personnel, labor force
businessMAN	business executive
cameraMAN	cinematographer/photographer
chairMAN/WOMAN	chairperson
congressMAN/WOMAN	legislator/representative
fathers (religious)	priests
MOTHERhood/FATHERhood	parenthood
salesMAN/WOMAN	salesperson
dykes, gay women	lesbians
male chauvinist pig	male chauvinism

and so, instead of using Mr. and Mrs. Brad Pitt, use Mr. Brad Pitt and Ms. Angelina Jolie-Pitt, or if you are addressing the woman only, instead of Mrs. Winnie Monsod, use Ms. Winnie Monsod or Professor Winnie Monsod.



another common mistake is using masculine pronouns to refer to an indefinite pronoun. a concrete example:
instead of saying, Does everybody have his GPS units?, use Do all of you have your GPS units? or, Does everybody have his or her GPS unit?


According to the Primer on Gender-Fair Language published by the University of the Philippines' Center for Women Studies, sexism in language is the use of words that devalues members of one sex, almost invariably women, thus fostering gender inequality. It discriminates women by rendering them invsisible or trivializing them such that it perpetuates the notion of male supremacy.