Monday, March 24, 2008

Questions to ponder on language

I've noticed a disturbing trend lately, particularly from the media. When did we go back to gender-specific language, for example councilMAN, chairMAN, policeMAN.

I'm not saying that everything needs to have a corresponding word including woman. What I'd rather return to is non-gender-specific wording such as chair, council representative, police officer, etc.
With women still earning only .76 for every dollar a man earns, making a lifetime earnings loss adding up to between $700,000 and $2 million, can we really afford to regress?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

No, I agree, we can't afford to regress.