Sorry gents, but saying gents at work is deemed 'not inclusive'

[SerendipityJane]

USING the term 'gents' puts you at risk of being old fashioned and not inclusive as it is unacceptable in a modern workplace, a tribunal has ruled.

The term - which as well as being short for 'gentlemen' is also often used to describe men's toilets - was deemed not suitable in a ruling involving one of Britain's biggest insurance companies

It came after a female Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA) employee sued for sex discrimination when she was included in emails from her boss addressed to 'gents'. informed that she was at risk of redundancy during a re-organisation following the sale of part of the busi- ness.

A male co-worker - who had the same job title as her - was also at risk. The head of the treasury department copied the Liverpool office, where Mrs Scott worked, into two emails addressed to 'Gents'. Mrs Scott tried to claim this was evidence of sex discrimination which had then affected the redundancy selection process. Gareth Quantrill,

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20250617/281539411922844

Well addressing as gents when it includes ladies in such circumstances was stupid and thoughtless and likely to lead to confusion and distress all round

Using ‘gents’ for the male loos should be fine. They’re not supposed to be ‘inclusive’ (as is hopefully now clear).
Using it for a group of employees (was it just two?) which includes a woman is plain weird! but in this case seems more like the manager wasn’t thinking about her re redundancy so the judgment of incompetence/lazy thinking rather than sex discrimination seems appropriate.

"Gents" isn't inclusive. It's never been inclusive. It's always been used to refer to men.

Well if we want to go back, it only referred to a subset of men, even then.

Time please, gentlemen

Dear sirs...

"While the tribunal was critical of the term it concluded it was simply ‘managerial incompetence’ rather than a breach of equality law, saying the term ‘gents’ is ‘not the most inclusive’ and ‘an example of old fashioned language in a corporate environment that is unacceptable today’."

They left this bit until the end.

The story is just the Daily Mail being silly.

The woman did not even win the case.

Distress? Not just momentary, mild irritation and an inward eye roll?
Honestly, some people are perpetually looking to find offence, and maintaining that level of vigilance must be exhausting. Not to mention the effort required to bring a law suit.

We don't need to go back. We can simply refer to its current usage. Gents refers to men.

since the topic was redundancy I would have read it as a female as I wasn’t under consideration- that would lead to distress when I found out I was

if I was a man I would feel that men were being targeted and women getting off, and I would be upset that t he message had gone to people who weren’t at risk at the same time as I was informed about the risk

redundancy is a horrible process and that’s why accuracy and sensitivity is needed

normally I wouldn’t give a toss all out being called gents - in fact many times it happens and I don’t clock it ( being in tech for decades

Great, now we need to stop "Dear Sirs" in letters.

Yes please!

Dear Sir or Madam will you read my book ...

I've used the "Gents" at work so I guess I shouldn't object to being called a Gent!

I dislike being called 'guys'. Let's get rid of that term, too, when addressing a mixed sex group.

I used to work with someone who was really opposed to "guys", and challenged it every time it was used. But never suggested an alternative that didn't sound weird and formal.....

I'm open to suggestions

You may have a different view if you worked in a male dominated environment.

This used to really wind me up. It’s the presumption that there couldn’t possibly be any women who should be included in the email or invited to the meeting. Yes perhaps born out of habit rather than malice but that’s the whole point, a term used by men who haven’t accepted that there are women in the team and can’t get used to including them in anything.

My experience is very much that the men who use the term gents are those with sexist workplace views.

My understanding was that she was only Cc’d on the email and all main recipients were male. if this is true I can’t see what the problem is.

Dear everybodypeeps

Saying gents is just very old fashioned. It’s never been an inclusive term for women. I still get the odd collaborator using it and told my eyes

I’ve worked in a male dominated industry all my life. One of the most sexist incidents that sticks in my mind was when I was at uni and a bunch of sociology students were given an assignment to suggest ways that more women could be attracted to the course. One absolutely serious suggestion from a female student, was to paint the faculty walls in pretty pastel colours.

I was also once thought to be the secretary when I was in fact the senior engineer on a construction site, but that was from a man who’d come to change the portaloos.

I can’t recall ever being addressed as a male either individually or as part of a group. Maybe I have been but it just never registered as being important to me. All the engineers and construction workers I’ve worked with have only ever been polite and respectful as far as I remember.

Guys psses me off too so I've put some thought into this and i like, depending on the circumstances:
All
Everyone
People
Team
Peeps

I'm the female leader of an all-male team and I never use Guys as it feels like it excludes me from the team which is obv problematic from a hierarchy pov too, and these all work in one or both of email or in-person situations.

Good. I requested a colleague last week never to address an email to gents if I was included on it. I wouldn’t go to a tribunal over it (he does far worse if I were to pick something.) But I'm glad someone else has.

It's not like something such as "hi all" is difficult or not inclusive.

I don't mind 'folks', although it does sound like you're addressing The Wurzels.

Hello team
Hello all
Or just hello...