The words 'man', 'he', 'his' and 'him' are often used to describe human beings of either sex. This cannot be dismissed as an insignificant literary convention for it inevitably gives the impression that women are absent, silent, or simply less important then men. This is so, notwithstanding the late 19th Century legal decision that 'man' is a generic term and includes women, 'a ruling more recently overturned in law, but still retained by the Oxford English Dictionary'. When reference is to either or both sexes, but not specifically to the male sex, the words 'man' and 'men' should be avoided. There are plenty of alternatives, such as 'person', 'people', ^'human beings', 'men and women'. It is unacceptable to use ^'man' to mean humanity in general - women constitute over half the world's population.

Avoiding 'he', 'his' and 'him' can be more difficult, since the repeated use of 'he or she', 'his or hers', him or her' can be clumsy. But 'they'_, 'their', 'them' and 's/he' can often be used instead.

Examples

The Sociologist ... he---------Sociologists….they

The man in the street---------Ordinary people; people in general

Mankind ---------Humanity;human beings; people

Man-made---------Synthetic;  artificial; manufactured

The inequality of man---------Inequality among people

Chairman---------Chairperson

Foreman---------Supervisor

The following comments probably relate more to general authorship than to those submitting to a professional journal, but may in some circumstances be helpful to authors.

Men and women should not be presented as stock characters, employing sexual, social or vocational stereotypes. Members of both sexes should be represented as whole human beings, with human strengths and weaknesses, not masculine' and 'feminine' ones; women should not be characterized as emotional, sentimental, dependent, passive, inferior, gentle, etc., and nor should men be characterized as dominant, strong, sensible, superior, unemotional, etc. Women should also not be presented in terms of their marital status or relation to their husband's job; women constitute about 40/. of the workforce in Britain, and two-thirds of those women workers are married. Modifiers ('women doctor'. 'authoress') should also be avoided; terms like 'doctor' 'nurse' should be assumed to include both men and women. It should not be assumed that all consumers are 'housewives'; men and women, single and married, go shopping.

Example

John Smith and his wife---------Jane John and Jane Smith

A farmer and his wife---------A farming couple

Male nurse---------Nurse

Housewives are affected by higher food prices---------Shoppers are affected

British Sociological Association. January 1979