Pronouns in email

It’s frustrating because I am not good at being creative at keeping it gender neutral as possible. I know if the reader feel out of place just once because I didn’t address my letter to him/her properly, or make it seem like I am speaking to him/her directly; he/she can easily toss my letter away

Resume’ cover letter has always been my biggest struggle. When you trying to find a job and you don’t know the person who is doing the hiring is a She or a He or their name (yet) so I always had to start out as “To whom it may concern” instead of dear sir or ma’am . Very frustrating trying to keep it gender neutral as possible so I don’t offend anyone

I've noticed it creeping into signatures at work, and I'm not sure where it has come from.

Out of courtesy, I would use the pronouns nominated by the individual. I would baulk at it becoming mandatory though. I don't attach any meaning to gender identity; highlighting it seems more regressive than progressive.

[quote Chrysanthemum5]@TheWayOfTheWorld it's not a GC person I know the individual and they are very much a TRA so these are the pronouns we are expected to use [/quote]
Oh, well then in that case they are making the argument themselves as to how nonsensical this is.

Perfect! @ErrolTheDragon

And yes, I am.

But what if you're non-binary?

53 70 65 63 69 61 6c /52 65 61 6c 6c 79 20 53 70 65 63 69 61 6c

I have yet to see a set of pronouns on a work email signature or profile that didn’t correspond exactly to the biological sex of the sender . And yes, 95% of those I have seen have been 20-30 something women

One of my (quite senior, male) colleagues has a photo of his Bassett hound for his profile pic. It's great.
Some of my colleagues don't have photos, just the default silhouette image. We don't do video on meetings, slows the bandwidth and the screens are needed for useful info.
Before we had profile pics, my boss was in California and I never met him. It wasn't till years later I saw his photo on LinkedIn and realised I'd never known what he looked like and it hadn't made one jot of difference.

[quote Outwithreason]@WackyDuck

But what if you're non-binary?[/quote]
Nearly sprayed my coffee everywhere with that!

your name shows that you identify as a woman.
For most of us, it shows nothing more than that we were observed to be girls at birth and our parents chose names according to their gender norms. They are no indication that we 'identify' as anything.

Did you read the rest of the thread which explores how it’s not actually harmless for women, mumbee? Would you like to discuss stereotype threat, or the fact that this policy might actually not delivery any benefit for trans people who aren’t ready to come out?

Also for those fearing sexism, for most (not all admittedly) your name shows that you identify as a woman.

Unless of course that wasn't really your problem with putting your pronouns all along...

Or just share your pronouns, because it literally doesn't harm you at all but can make others feel more included and accepted.

Wow, talk about snowflakes...

I know this is on the way at my workplace and as someone who works in HR I have the opportunity to intervene and try to show how it is damaging and not inclusive or encouraging diversity.

Does anyone have some links for how it’s difficult for those with hidden disability and how it impacts for those who have English as a second language please?

I have loads on the bias against women and ethnic groups as we had a project on anonymised recruitment which was an eye opener. How many more women and ethnic groups were in the mix for interviews compared to when managers saw names and assumed what the person was like. Showing the bias in action like that is useful ammunition for equality impact assessments if anyone gets to input on those.

@TheWayOfTheWorld it's not a GC person I know the individual and they are very much a TRA so these are the pronouns we are expected to use

Honestly, I can’t keep up...

@dumpling23 thanks - and you're right, it's not easy. I've had the discreet advice that I need to be careful because I'm becoming visible, and it might make trouble for me in my career. But I'm old, and established enough that I can fight back against that - as a younger woman would I have been able to resist the 'helpful' advice to be careful?

I had my first one this week where someone was she/her on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and ze/zim (or ze/zir can't remember exactly) on Tuesday and Thursday. Which really confused me - what if I write an email on Wednesday, and use the 'she' pronoun, but it's not read until Thursday?

No idea why that posted twice

You have already nailed it with your update @Sammiesnake.
To be honest there are enough issues being female as work as it is. There’s enough stigma about a working mother not being as dedicated to her job (especially in lockdown with young kids at home); enough men in privileged positions (completely disproportionately to the rest of the organisation). Why would I want to point out constantly that I’m female? It really feels like shooting myself in the foot.
Just send them this, its perfect.

You have already nailed it with your update @Sammiesnake.
To be honest there are enough issues being female as work as it is. There’s enough stigma about a working mother not being as dedicated to her job (especially in lockdown with young kids at home); enough men in privileged positions (completely disproportionately to the rest of the organisation). Why would I want to point out constantly that I’m female? It really feels like shooting myself in the foot.
Just send them this, its perfect.