INTHEBLACK February 2022 - Magazine - Page 52
F E AT U R E
// P E R S O N A L P R O N O U N S
“Discrimination is still an issue, and there
is still work to do in educating people
about the diverse nature of our workforces.
Younger generations in particular are very
much on board with this concept, and it is
only going to increase in need.”
EMILY JAKSCH, HR GURUS
him
“I’m a big believer that no organisation should
force people to put their pronouns on their email
signature for a whole range of reasons. I’ve seen
that happen where people may not be ready to
publicly identify their pronouns.”
Emily Jaksch, founder and managing director
at HR Gurus, says that, while there may be good
intentions behind a policy to add pronouns to
communication methods, it may cause more
harm than good if not done properly.
“When an organisation implements the
pronouns in signatures without any education or
change process, it is fraught with danger. The key
is in the messaging, and using this strategy will
help all employees understand the importance of
respect, understanding and accepting differences
in the workplace.
“Discrimination is still an issue, and there is still
work to do in educating people about the diverse
nature of our workforces. Younger generations
in particular are very much on board with this
concept, and it is only going to increase in need,”
says Jaksch.
WHAT DOES THE DICTIONARY SAY?
Language is dynamic and always evolving. Going
back in time, the singular “they” and “their” were
commonly used in English from the 14th century
onwards, and can be seen in the writings of
Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare and
Jane Austen, among others.
The shift towards gendered personal pronouns
is a relatively recent phenomenon, gaining in
popularity among grammarians in the 19th
century. Now the tide is shifting again, with the
52 ITB February 2022
their
her
he
Above: Emily Jaksch,
HR Gurus
they
she
our
him
their
her
he
they
she
Merriam-Webster dictionary declaring “they” as the
2019 word of the year, in part because of the return
to non-binary pronouns.
Tiger Webb, language specialist and editorial
policies adviser at the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, says some people have strong feelings
that “grammatical gender” should match “biological
gender”.
“This is misguided – about half the world’s
languages do not have grammatical gender at all,”
Webb says.
Webb also points out that people can accept the
appearance of new nouns and verbs, but pronouns
are often treated like a “closed” class of words that
don’t change.
“Some people feel a bit of a disjunct between using
‘they’ to describe a single person or referent, because
it is often taught as only being a plural pronoun.
However, ‘they’ has referred to grammatically
singular antecedents in English for hundreds of
years,” says Webb.
“The English second-person pronoun ‘you’ was
originally solely plural, too, and has over time shifted
to being both singular and plural. ‘Thou’ was used for
singular referents and ‘ye’ for plural referents – this
is relevant, because it demonstrates it’s perfectly
grammatical to say ‘They are the new design lead on
the team’ when referring to one non-binary person,