Gesmundo, Jerome I.

BSMT 2 – 8
Lebasnon, Pamela B.
Gender and Society

Gender Fair Language (GFL)

In English language, there are four types of gender nouns:

Noun Meaning Example

Masculine Words for male figure or male member Man, actor, boy, husband, king
Feminine Words for female figure or female Woman, girl, actress, wife,
member queen
Common Members of a species and don’t specify Parent, friend, client, student
gender
Neuter Things that have no gender Rock, table, pencil, hospital

The gender fair language is a movement about gender awareness of the people. It is being
instilled on most countries. The goal of this movement is to impose sexism and discrimination. Sexism is
characterized by or showing prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the
basis of sex and discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or
things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex. The importance of Gender-fair language minimizes
unnecessary concern about gender in your subject matter, allowing both you and your reader to focus
on what people do rather than on which sex they happen to be. For example, the practice of using he
and man as generic terms poses a common problem.

The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) issued Memorandum circular no. 2014-06,
promoting the use of gender-sensitive language in the drafting and review of legislative measures. Also,
recognizing that the use of gender-fair language is the first benchmark of gender-sensitivity, the Civil
Service Commission (CSC) issued Memorandum Circular No. 12, series of 2005, which encourages the
use of non-sexist language in all official documents, communications and issuances. Republic Act 9710,
otherwise known as the “Magna Carta of Women,” reinforces the use of gender-sensitive language at all
times.

An example of gendered language is the way the titles “Mr.,” “Miss,” and “Mrs.” are used. “Mr.”
can refer to any man, regardless of whether he is single or married, but “Miss” and “Mrs.” define
women by whether they are married, which until quite recently meant defining them by their
relationships with men. (writingcenter.unc.edu › tips-and-tools › gender-inclusive-language) With this,
we are expected to participate in making the world a gender-neutral one. When we address people we
should be careful since we might offend the person we are talking to.

Here are some example sentences:

PROBLEM: By using either he, his, or him as a generic pronoun when the referent's gender is unknown
or irrelevant, the writer misrepresents the species as male.
Solution 1: Write the sentence without pronouns. Try to avoid conditional structures, generally
introduced by "if" or "when," which often require the use of pronouns.

Original: If the researcher is the principal investigator, he should place an asterisk after his name.
Gender-fair: Place an asterisk after the name of the principal investigator.

Solution 2: Use gender-specific pronouns only to identify a specific gender or a specific person.

Original: Repeat the question for each subject so that he understands it. Gender-fair: Repeat the
question for each male subject so that he fully understands it.

Solution 3: Use plural nouns and pronouns if they do not change the meaning of the sentence.

Original: Repeat the question for each subject so that he understands it.

Gender-fair: Repeat the question for all subjects so that they understand it.

Solution 4: Use a first- or second-person perspective. Notice in the table below that only the third-
person singular is marked for gender.