{"id":165,"date":"2025-09-13T20:50:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T20:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/chapter\/6-9-1-avoiding-gender-bias\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T14:19:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:19:33","slug":"6-9-1-avoiding-gender-bias","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/chapter\/6-9-1-avoiding-gender-bias\/","title":{"raw":"6.10.1 Avoiding Gender Bias","rendered":"6.10.1 Avoiding Gender Bias"},"content":{"raw":"
\n

Communicating in a non-sexist way requires the ability to recognize sexism in the first place. The next hurdle is to figure out a way to eliminate any inherent sexism without disrupting the flow of the communication. Here are a few options to help avoid bias.<\/p>\n\n

Gendered Nouns<\/h2>\nUse gender-neutral words when referring to individuals in various positions (see Table 6.4):\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 6.4 Examples of Gender- Neutral Words in the Workplace<\/caption>\n
\n

Avoid <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/th>\n

\n

Try <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

businessman, businesswoman<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

business executive<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

chairman, chairwoman<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

chairperson<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

the common man<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

the average person<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

salesman, saleswoman<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

salesperson, salesclerk, marketer<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nThis section is adapted from \"Eliminating Bias in Language\"<\/a> in Communication for Professionals<\/em><\/a> by Susan Oaks, licensed under CC BY-NC: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International<\/a>, except where otherwise noted.\n\n<\/div>","rendered":"
\n

Communicating in a non-sexist way requires the ability to recognize sexism in the first place. The next hurdle is to figure out a way to eliminate any inherent sexism without disrupting the flow of the communication. Here are a few options to help avoid bias.<\/p>\n

Gendered Nouns<\/h2>\n

Use gender-neutral words when referring to individuals in various positions (see Table 6.4):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Table 6.4 Examples of Gender- Neutral Words in the Workplace<\/caption>\n
\n

Avoid <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/th>\n

\n

Try <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

businessman, businesswoman<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

business executive<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

chairman, chairwoman<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

chairperson<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

the common man<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

the average person<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

salesman, saleswoman<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

salesperson, salesclerk, marketer<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This section is adapted from “Eliminating Bias in Language”<\/a> in Communication for Professionals<\/em><\/a> by Susan Oaks, licensed under CC BY-NC: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International<\/a>, except where otherwise noted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":11,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-165","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":143,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/165\/revisions\/166"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/143"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/165\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}