Gender (references to males and females)

English does not have many problems of grammatical gender. Usually, people are he or she and things are it. Note the following points.

Animals, cars, ships and countries

People sometimes call animals he or she, especially when they are thought of as having personality, intelligence or feelings. This is common with pets and domestic animals like cats, dogs and horses.

• Once upon a time there was a rabbit called Joe. He lived …
• Go and find the cat and put her out.

In these cases, who is often used instead of which.

• She had an old dog who always slept in her bed.

Some people use she for cars, motorbikes, etc; sailors often use she for boats and ships (but most other people use it).

• ‘How’s your new car?’ ‘Terrific. She’s running beautifully.’
• The ship’s struck a rock. She’s sinking!

We can use she for countries, but it is more common in modern English.

• Norway has decided to increase its trade with Romania.(or … her trade …)

he or she

Traditionally, English used he/him/his when the sex of a person was not known, or in references that could apply to either men or women, especially in a formal style.

• If I ever find the person who did that, I’ll kill him.
• If a student is ill, he must send his medical certificate to the College office.

This usage is now widely regarded as sexist, and is generally avoided. He or she, him or her and his or her (also he/she, him/her, his/her) are common alternatives, especially in a formal style.

• If a student is ill, he or she must send a medical certificate …

Singular they

They is often used to mean ‘he or she’, especially after indefinite words like somebody, anybody, nobody, person. This usage is sometimes considered ‘incorrect’, but it has been common in educated speech for centuries. For details, (see here).

• If anybody wants my ticket, they can have it.
• ‘There’s somebody at the door.’ ‘Tell them I’m out.’
• When a person gets married, they have to start thinking about their responsibilities.

actor and actress, etc

A few jobs and positions have different words for men and women. Examples:

Man	Woman
actor	actress
(bride)groom	bride
duke	duchess
hero	heroine
host	hostess
manager	manageress
monk	nun
policeman	policewoman
prince	princess
steward	stewardess
waiter	waitress
widower	widow

A mayor can be a man or a woman; in Britain a mayoress is the wife of a male mayor.

The use of separate terms for women’s roles is often felt to be discriminatory or sexist, and some of the words listed above are going out of use. Actor, hero and manager are now commonly used for women as well as men. Police officer is replacing policeman/policewoman, and flight attendant is replacing steward/stewardess.

Words ending in -man

Some words ending in -man do not have a common feminine equivalent (e.g. chairman, fireman, spokesman). As many people consider it inappropriate to call a woman, for example, ‘chairman’ or ‘spokesman’, these words are now often avoided in references to women or in general references to people of either sex. In many cases, -person is now used instead of -man.

• Alice has just been elected chairperson (or chair) of our committee.
• A spokesperson said that the Minister does not intend to resign.

In some cases, new words ending in -woman (e.g. spokeswoman) are coming into use. But it is now common practice to choose words, even for men, which are not gender-marked (e.g. supervisor instead of foreman, ambulance staff instead of ambulance men, firefighter instead of fireman).

man

Man and mankind have traditionally been used for the human race.

• Why does man have more diseases than animals?
• That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. (Neil Armstrong, on stepping onto the moon)

This is now generally considered sexist, and preferred terms are people, humanity or the human race. Note also the common use of synthetic instead of man-made.

note

For more about discriminatory language, (see here).