How to Avoid Sexism in Your Communications

The words you choose to use can be incredibly beneficial to your aims - or swiftly damaging. Sometimes, the power of a single word or phrase can be mind-boggling! In a legal sense of course, a single wrong word or lack of the correct wording,can make you considerably poorer. As a writer, video or audio presenter, website provider and communicator, your primary responsibility is to really, really get to know your readers, listeners, visitors and customers and then provide a balanced delivery that matches (and exceeds) their expectations. For when you intuitively understand who your audience is, you'll ultimately succeed in addressing their needs and communicating in the kind of language that forms a two-way bond easily.

First and foremost, in most situations, I suggest you avoid the use of sexist language if you want to win your readers over. You don't want to potentially alienate 50% of your reading audience do you? If your audience is primarily men or mainly women, then perhaps you can relax what is being suggested throughout this article. However, most of us seek to connect with humanity and that involves at least two genders (more is fine too).

Furthermore at long last, in many countries, job roles are much more mixed in today's working environment, so we shouldn't assume that a particular job role is designed for a specific gender. More often than not, gender is irrelevant anyway. Instead, skills and suitability are best maintained as the "driving force." That's why, one "wrong" word can be enough to subconsciously bias your reader "against" you as a writer, website owner, or product or service provider.

I'm not suggesting that you give special emphasis and consideration to your female audience - that in itself is unnecessary and can be viewed as offensive. Throughout history, women - the other, arguably more human portion of the human family - ask only to be treated equally. Here is one writer who agrees with that idea 100%. My view is that anything less total equality for both men and women creates only a stunted a society - and even today, we have lots of examples that prove that point. Women are special; men are special - children are even more special - I'm sure you get my point.

Key tip: my simple recommendation is: always remember to exercise balance and consideration in your written and verbal communications. Simply give the idea some thought.

So how can that be achieved easily? Answer: when faced with creating a sentence structure in which you might normally use "he" or "she", unless you have a concrete reason why not, rearrange the sentence slightly to use "they" or "their" instead.

Here's an example what I consider to be less than perfect writing style:

• "An effective manager knows and understands his responsibilities and those of his staff."

Why: it's simply wrong and inaccurate. What's more, job statistics have shown repeatedly that women often make superb managers (when we appreciate what many women either choose or are forced to take on a daily basis, we can see why).

So the above example, after repair could read:

• "An effective manager knows and understands their responsibilities and those of their staff."

Or, you can opt for the plural version below:

• "Effective managers know and understand their responsibilities and those of their staff."

For specific job roles, take care with your choice of words. Remedies here are simple. Simply pause and consult a thesaurus if necessary.

For example use:

• "Police officers" instead of "policemen".
• "Sales associates" instead of "salesmen" or "saleswomen".
• "The Chair", or simply "Chair" instead of "Chairman" or the arguably more clumsy "Chair person".

To many people - and I believe folks are more perceptive than at first thought - how you communicate says a lot about you and your organization.

Often, an extra sales order, an additional sale, and so on, can be tantalizingly close and may be secured by paying close attention to such details.

Moreover, in business, paying attention to"the small stuff"can make or break a deal. You may never even learn why you didn't get the sale, nevertheless, you won't want sexism in your communications to be the cause.

Therefore, if necessary, take the time and trouble to "upgrade" before you need to attempt to repair a bad start.

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