Page 199 - English Vocabulary In Use upper intermediet and advance

Words and gender

In this unit we look at the problems of using words in a way that is not offensive to either
gender. In English, a lot of words are marked as masculine or feminine by suffixes, but many
other words have 'female' or 'male' associations and should be used carefully.

Suffixes marking gender
-er(-or)/-ess: traditionally used to mark male (m) and female (f), e.g. actress (f) / actor (m);
waitress (f) / waiter (m).
These two words are still often used in both forms, but forms such as authoress, poetess,
murderess and manageress are considered old-fashioned. If you want to be neutral, you can
use the -er/-or suffix for male or female.
Schoolmistress/master sound old-fashioned, use teacher instead; air hostess also sounds out
of date, use flight attendant (neutral) or stewardess.

-man, -woman and -person
Traditional social roles often meant that -man was used even for roles performed by women.
Now many people prefer a neutral form for both sexes, if there is one available.
I neutral traditional male traditional female

chair(person) chairman chairwoman
spokesperson spokesman spokeswoman
police officer policeman policewoman
- postman postwoman
- fisherman -
bartender barman barmaid
businessperson businessman businesswoman
firefighter fireman -
flight attendant steward stewardess / air hostess
head (teacher) headmaster headmistress

'Social' marking of words

Some words, particularly the names of jobs, are socially marked as belonging to one gender,
even though the words are neutral in form, e.g. in English, nurse was considered so 'female'
that if a man was a nurse, he was often referred to as a male nurse.
Just consider your own reaction to these words, and whether most people would tend to
think of a man or a woman upon hearing them.
barber hairdresser burglar secretary farmer butcher
Note: bachelor and spinster can both have negative or undesirable associations. Use
unmarried or single (madwoman) instead. Likewise, instead of fiance(e), you can use
partner, especially for someone you live with as a couple but are not married to.
Many women nowadays prefer the title Ms /maz/, rather than Miss or Mrs.

194 English Vocabulary in Use