Gender-neutral language (gender neutrality in English) avoids constructions that might be interpreted by some readers as an unnecessary reinforcement of traditional stereotypes.
This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wiki's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
Gender-neutral language does not inherently convey a particular viewpoint, political agenda or ideal. Examples of non-neutral language that can often be easily avoided are:
The Manual of Style section on gender-neutral language states, "Use gender-neutral language where this can be done with clarity and precision." Situations this does not apply to include:
There are a number of ways of avoiding the use of generic masculine and feminine pronouns; the following are examples.
There is no Wikipedia consensus either for or against the singular they. Though some uses of they with a singular antecedent or referent are well established, some uses remain contentious, and style advice varies.
Some methods of avoiding generic masculine pronouns, such as the use of the pronouns one or (especially) you, are seen as unencyclopedic and are thus discouraged in Wikipedia articles.
Non-neutral usage can sometimes be avoided by careful word choice; for example, by using people or humanity (instead of man), layperson (layman), police officer (policeman), business owners or professional (businessmen); in these cases, ensure that the basic meaning is preserved. Where the gender is known, gender-specific items are also appropriate ("Bill Gates is a businessman" or "Nancy Pelosi is a congresswoman").
Do your best. If you can't find a good solution, then leave it for another editor. You can ask for help at pages like Wiki: WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors.
Gender-neutral language should not interfere with the readers' ability to understand the material. Precision means that the reader has correctly acquired the facts. The opposite of precision is vagueness. Clarity means that the reader understands what you have written. The opposite of clarity is confusion. If the reader is confused or did not learn the material because of vagueness or circumlocutions, then the material needs to be re-written to comply with the Manual of Style's requirement for clear and precise language.
Different situations may require different approaches. For example, when speaking of isolated individuals, then pluralizing the sentences may not be the ideal solution.
Ships may be referred to either using feminine pronouns ("she", "her") or neuter pronouns ("it", "its"). Either usage is acceptable, but each article should be internally consistent and employ one or the other exclusively. As with all optional styles, articles should not be changed from one style to another unless there is a substantial reason to do so.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia English article Wiki:Gender-neutral language, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
®Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wiki Foundation, Inc. Wiki English (DUHOCTRUNGQUOC.VN) is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wiki Foundation.