Is this casual sexism or just outdated language from my husband?

@AstonScrapingsNameChange yes, lovely example there! Always appreciate the posts that pop up on my FB feed from MWHIA.

Interesting take and opinons.

"He" is often used as generic. If, in the majority of the situations, it's statistically more likely to be a man, I wouldn't bother any more than I would about assuming a midwife is a "she". Some people are comfortable using "they" as a singular, but I am much younger than your husband and remember my English teacher saying "they" should only be used for plurals!
Obviously, if he scoffed at the idea of a woman gardener or a man who was a midwife, and made threatening comments, that would be a problem!

Like this gem

Thanks that's interesting. I wonder how the questions were phrased, because clearly there is a 'right' expected answer.

I don't believe that 85% of men over 50 honestly believe women should have equal rights. Most women don't even have equal rights in their own home, you see it on here all the time (eg husband would expect her to take time off if the kids were sick, etc etc). But I doubt they would square this with their expressed belief that women should have equal rights.

Maybe only other women, not my wife. Or only if it doesnt impact on me!

I wonder what that 22% that identify as feminist understand by that term.

Let's face it, gender neutral language in English is clumsy. "Him or her" or "them". So having either he meaning he or she is more convenient. I get lazy at times too. So unless he's said anything else that's worse i wouldn't worry about it. Does he believe men in dresses should go into the women's bathrooms? Does he think men are BETTER than women ( not just different?). That's something i would pay attention to more.

By the mid 1970s over two thirds of men supported equal rights for women and polls kept finding this percentage rising. GALLOP POL
The parliament that brought in the Sex Discrimination Act in 1974 were 96% male. UK POLITICAL INFO
85% of men over 50 believe women should have equal rights IPSOS
22% of men over 60 actively identify as feminists. YOUGOV

Could be short for "she"?

Interesting stats. Do you have a source?

Christ this is an ageist generalisation. This post does a disservice to men and assumes that retired women 'knew their place'.

By the mid 1970s over two thirds of men supported equal rights for women and polls kept finding this percentage rising.
The parliament that brought in the Sex Discrimination Act in 1974 were 96% male.
85% of men over 50 believe women should have equal rights
22% of men over 60 actively identify as feminists.
The first women's refuge - 1971
The first rape crisis line - 1976
Women didn't need a male co-signer for a a loan after the mid 70s.

We had a landscaper come round to look at our garden, he referred to the walls as 'ee' (he), everything was he. Honestly it doesn't bother me very much, the indignation probably would though.

In short, calling a boat he, she, they or it is incredibly sexist, according to the women in this thread.

Maybe letting men run everything isn't that bad an idea after all!

Cars, boats and countries were all she, and everything else was he. Nobody thought it was sexist.

People say 'it' is sexist!

Let's stop with all these foolish isms

Rape in marriage, yes - all the rest, no.

A man of retirement age would have been born in the late 50s and the sex discrimination act was 1975, so he would have spent all his adult life after discrimination of women on the grounds of sex was illegal.

I think certainly the older generation of retired men.

More recent male retirees would have been born in the 60s and so grown up in the 70s and 80s, when it anything feminism, in the form of Women's Liberation, was much more in the headlines.

Not always favourable headlines of course, and by the end of the 80s being undermined by the media - the start of the backlash against women's liberation including trivialising it with the whole idea of being liberated was to be a ladette.

Doesn’t apply gender to boats/ cars, but if he did, sure they’d be male too.

I actually find the use of "she" for boats/cars etc. the most annoying. Why is a boat always she? Because it's an object. Men as subject, women as object. I dislike it even more than people always referring to animals as "he".

Males of retirement age are generally a lost cause - don't forget they grew up in a time when rape in marriage was perfectly legal, women needed a male to get a bank loan, a rental agreement or a mortgage, and there were no Refuges for battered wives, in fact the police didn't bother with domestic violence against women, and there were no Rape Crisis lines. And guess what men msrched on uk streets about, yep, South African apartheid - blindly refusing to notice or care about the 2nd class citizenship of British women. And few of them have changed, in fact they preferred it when women "kbew their place"

In the 1970s it was common to refer to all boats and cars as 'she'. Does he do that too?

he is indignant when I raise it

And therein lies the problem, in my experience, which is just mine, not speaking for anyone else, for decades lots of men have resisted the simple unspoken request that they meet us halfway.

They sigh and made a big deal out the fact that they're being asked to change the mind set even a smidgeon.

Not all men, because we wouldn't have made the progress we have made, but there are still plenty of men who think such little things are women getting above themselves and are always nagging. They're the sexists.

That's a non sequitur, nobody said calling a women they, you use it when the person is unknown and you don't know their sex. Many man, like this husband automatically say him, if however you say they then you're not just assuming it's a male you're leaving it open to the possibility that's it's a female.

@JoyousOpalLemur yes, I know. I don’t know why you feel the need to tell me that. I didn’t suggest that anyone should call a woman “they”.