The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is known for being young, good-looking and progressive. There are those who love everything about him and what he says, many have their reservations. A recent public utterance of his triggered similarly mixed responses; the controversy is about the use of the word ‘man’ in mankind which raises all sorts of thorny questions about some ingrained social constructs.
When posed a question about the future of mankind, Trudeau responded by saying “We like to say peoplekind, not necessarily mankind, because it’s more inclusive.” Some thought this was admirable because it showed a progressive, gender-neutral attitude. However many were critical about Trudeau being overly PC (politically correct) and about what they perceived as an instance of mansplaining.
Some commentators also thought that this was an unnecessary invention; in the term humankind, there already exists an acceptable and fairly widely used gender-neutral term. Trudeau then backtracked saying that this was just a joke and that it wasn’t a very good one. Fair enough. This is of a piece with how progressive and charming Trudeau usually comes across as.
Look at our common parlance: it is manmade, manpower, manned… the people presumed to be doing work are always male. It is always fellowman, fireman, freshman, motorman, ombudsman for instance. While these terms have come to denote both genders, the terminology remains masculine. Consider terms such as draftsmanship gamesmanship, craftsmanship. Few if any give a second thought to the etymology of these words.
There are certain words that indicate bravery or courage – words such as manful for instance closely associate these positive or heroic qualities with men. So that when the word ‘unman’ is used, it is used to indicate weakening, paralyzing or undoing; indicating a negative connotation for the perceived feminization.
Consider other words such as history; it is never herstory, it is always yeoman. Women have historically (there's that word again) been so much in the background; considered so inconsequential in the general scheme of things, that the terminology used for most purposes is overwhelmingly masculine. Even when things are meant to be gender neutral, the default gender is always masculine.
The negative is also masculine, to be sure – words with a negative connotation – words such as henchman, manhunt, manslaughter, middleman… these are also masculine by default.
As more women enter the workforce and as women find their place in more and varied professions, the terminology is changing to reflect the fact that women, as well as men, could hold certain positions. Words such as salesperson, chairperson, delivery-person, sportsperson are now widely used. Not only are they more inclusive, there is no need to specify the gender of the person being spoken of; inherent in this is the understanding that it is immaterial, whether the person is a sportsman or a sportswoman.
One could well argue that this is mere nomenclature; unimportant and without much consequence. While this may be true, consider the mindset and the social constructs that gave rise to these in the first place. In everything, the female is the second gender and must be indicated specifically; the default position indicating the male of the species. I also grant that making everything gender neutral robs language of some of its colour. I also acknowledge that there is such a thing as being too politically correct. We could lighten up.
In the end, it doesn’t make much of a difference whether one says the word actor to include females as well. It doesn’t really matter whether one says chairman or chairperson or chairwoman. What would matter would be if women were paid the same as men. It would matter if women did not have to fight the glass ceiling in most professions. Yes, those are the things more important than mere nomenclature. That would be real progress.
But nomenclature does start to make us think. It is a small step but maybe it is significant? Maybe Justin Trudeau had the right idea after all?
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