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I'd like you to look at the images and think about what jobs you can see.

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You're almost certainly thinking postman, fireman, policeman.

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The English language is evolving.

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Many words and expressions that were in regular use are now no longer acceptable in modern society.

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They reflect the male-dominated social structures of past eras,

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and as a result, they discriminate against women.

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The trend nowadays is towards gender neutrality, that is, to use language which includes everybody.

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Here are five ways in which you can make your language gender neutral.

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Firstly, it's best to use a neutral word if possible.

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The suffix man was used to describe many social roles and occupations because they were traditionally performed by men.

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However, in the 1970s, as women were increasingly taking on more significant social and professional roles,

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people started to replace chairman with chairperson or chair.

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Now jobs, once mainly done by men, are increasingly carried out by either sex,

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and the gender-neutral suffix person is preferred.

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So spokesperson instead of spokesman.

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However, we don't always automatically substitute person for man.

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Sometimes a gender-neutral alternative has evolved.

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For example, we say police officer rather than policeman or policewoman.

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Other examples include firefighter rather than fireman,

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refuse collector rather than dustman,

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and flight attendant rather than air hostess.

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A second way to make language gender neutral is to avoid the suffix s.

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That's e-s-s.

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This suffix, which has been used since medieval times,

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is added to a male noun to indicate the equivalent role for a woman.

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For example, manager, manageress.

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Actor, actress.

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By the end of the 20th century, it was no longer considered relevant

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to specify whether a job was being done by a man or a woman.

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The female form was seen as patronising to women and fell out of fashion,

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and the male form became the standard term.

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So now, for example, both men and women are managers or actors.

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Thirdly, don't say man when you mean everybody.

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This is a less obvious change that it's easy to forget about. In Old English, the

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word man meant human being. But now, to refer to humanity in general, try to avoid the use

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of man or mankind. There are a number of gender-neutral alternatives, depending on the context. Talk

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about the future of the human race, for example, rather than the future of mankind. Instead

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Instead of describing a manpower shortage, refer to a shortage of staff or workers.

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Don't ask somebody to man the front desk – it can be staffed or run.

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The adjective man-made is easily replaced by synthetic or artificial, whilst the opinion

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of the man in the street is really just the opinion of the average person or ordinary

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people.

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Another important thing is to use woman, not girl. An absolute no-no is to use girl to

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refer to any woman in a particular job or role. This term implies that women are in

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some way immature, children rather than adults. So, for example, while in the past a man might

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have referred to the weather girl on morning TV, it is much more appropriate now to describe

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this person as the woman who presents the weather, or use the gender-neutral term weather

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presenter.

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The final piece of advice is to beware of binomials.

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Binomials, phrases consisting of two words joined by a conjunction, such as and, typically

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place the male word before the female, so men and women, boys and girls, brothers and

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sisters and Mr and Mrs. Just remember, you don't have to put the male word first.

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Mix it up, girls and boys! Society is changing, and the English language

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is evolving to match. You're still likely to hear gendered language, but keep your eyes

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and ears open, be careful what you say, and go as gender-neutral as you can.