He or She?
PROGRAM: “IN A WORD”
EPISODE: HE OR SHE?
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
[FADE MUSIC]
I’m Candace Schaefer with “In a Word,” your weekly communication tip.
Things used to be simpler. If you wanted to talk about a random, anonymous citizen (or a student or a doctor or a plumber) you referred to that person as “he” and that was the end of it. Simpler—but sexist.
These days, we’re well aware that citizens, students, doctors and plumbers are often female, and using “he” (and “his” and “him”) as our default pronouns is an example of biased language. So how should we refer to a generic person whose gender is unknown? Do we continue to use the traditional “he” and risk being thought sexist? Do we use “she” instead? Or do we go for the more correct but awkward “he-or-she”?
Or maybe we should use a slash between the words for some form of a “he/she” construction to acknowledge that the whole idea of gender is more complicated than many of us once thought. There’s no one answer to this conundrum.
Our language, like our attitude about gender-equality, is evolving. Often the best option is to avoid the gender issue by changing the example to a plural. So instead of saying “A doctor should consider his options carefully,” you can say, “Doctors should consider their options carefully.”
There are other ways to write around the problem. For instance, you can sometimes simply omit the pronoun. For example, “A doctor should consider options carefully.” Another possibility is using what’s known as a “singular they.” Normally, we reserve the pronouns “they,” “their,” and “them” for use in reference to more than one person. It’s becoming increasingly common, though, to use these words to refer to a single individual. So, you might find a sentence like “The student turned in their exam.” Some people consider that construction grammatically incorrect and confusing, but others see it as an easy work-around for the “he or she” issue.
For now, the singular “they” is probably best reserved for informal communication: fine in an email to a friend, not so great in a cover letter for a job. If you’re writing something that has to follow a certain style guide, such as in scholarly writing or journalistic pieces, check to see if the manual offers any guidance on the issue. The Chicago Manual of Style, for example, allows the use of “he or she” sparingly and offers eight alternative constructions.
Finally, you also have the option of switching to “she” as your default pronoun, although many complain that such a move is jarring and calls attention to itself. Of course, we only think that because we’ve used “he” for centuries. Maybe it’s finally time for “she” to have her day.
This has been “In a Word,” a program made possible by the Texas A&M University Writing Center and a production of KAMU FM on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. For more writing and speaking tips, visit our website at writingcenter.tamu.edu. I’m Candace Schaefer, helping you make every word count.
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
EPISODE: HE OR SHE?
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
[FADE MUSIC]
I’m Candace Schaefer with “In a Word,” your weekly communication tip.
Things used to be simpler. If you wanted to talk about a random, anonymous citizen (or a student or a doctor or a plumber) you referred to that person as “he” and that was the end of it. Simpler—but sexist.
These days, we’re well aware that citizens, students, doctors and plumbers are often female, and using “he” (and “his” and “him”) as our default pronouns is an example of biased language. So how should we refer to a generic person whose gender is unknown? Do we continue to use the traditional “he” and risk being thought sexist? Do we use “she” instead? Or do we go for the more correct but awkward “he-or-she”?
Or maybe we should use a slash between the words for some form of a “he/she” construction to acknowledge that the whole idea of gender is more complicated than many of us once thought. There’s no one answer to this conundrum.
Our language, like our attitude about gender-equality, is evolving. Often the best option is to avoid the gender issue by changing the example to a plural. So instead of saying “A doctor should consider his options carefully,” you can say, “Doctors should consider their options carefully.”
There are other ways to write around the problem. For instance, you can sometimes simply omit the pronoun. For example, “A doctor should consider options carefully.” Another possibility is using what’s known as a “singular they.” Normally, we reserve the pronouns “they,” “their,” and “them” for use in reference to more than one person. It’s becoming increasingly common, though, to use these words to refer to a single individual. So, you might find a sentence like “The student turned in their exam.” Some people consider that construction grammatically incorrect and confusing, but others see it as an easy work-around for the “he or she” issue.
For now, the singular “they” is probably best reserved for informal communication: fine in an email to a friend, not so great in a cover letter for a job. If you’re writing something that has to follow a certain style guide, such as in scholarly writing or journalistic pieces, check to see if the manual offers any guidance on the issue. The Chicago Manual of Style, for example, allows the use of “he or she” sparingly and offers eight alternative constructions.
Finally, you also have the option of switching to “she” as your default pronoun, although many complain that such a move is jarring and calls attention to itself. Of course, we only think that because we’ve used “he” for centuries. Maybe it’s finally time for “she” to have her day.
This has been “In a Word,” a program made possible by the Texas A&M University Writing Center and a production of KAMU FM on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. For more writing and speaking tips, visit our website at writingcenter.tamu.edu. I’m Candace Schaefer, helping you make every word count.
[5 TO 10 SEC OF MUSIC]