Re: gender bias in language

[Glenda Jeffrey <jeffrey -at- HKS -dot- COM>]

Delaney, Misti (ncr02!ncr02!mdelaney -at- ucs01 -dot- attmail -dot- com) wrote:
: your experience of irritation and distraction at being excluded in the
: grammar of the book you rejected perfectly mirrors that of women trying to
: make our way through "conventional" androcentric texts over the last
: thousand years.  Unfortunately we haven't had the option of tossing the fool
: things aside in disgust if we wanted information or entertainment.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

As a female engineer and bicyclist, I am constantly confronted by "he".
I am also constantly confronted by people whose mental image
of engineers and bicyclists includes only males. In the engineering
world, this problem doesn't cause me daily difficulty _any more_ because
the people I work with are used to me and my female colleagues.

However, in the cycling world, the lack of inclusiveness causes actual
physical discomfort because companies that make the products I need to use
fail to consider that most female riders have smaller hands, smaller
feet, lower arm to leg ratios... the list goes on, and nothing fits.

Bottom line: using "she" once in a while wakes people up to the fact
that women exist in all walks of life and can no longer be ignored.
Yes, the technique can be distracting to readers, and I probably
wouldn't use it in technical writing because readers of such writing
have other things on their minds -- instead, I'd avoid singular
pronouns whereever possible. (The trend toward using "you" helps here
as well.) But in nontechnical writing, I see no reason to avoid the
use of "she".
--
Glenda Jeffrey                                     Email: jeffrey -at- hks -dot- com
Hibbitt, Karlsson & Sorensen, Inc                  Phone: 401-727-4200
1080 Main St.                                      Fax:   401-727-4208
Pawtucket, RI 02860