Do you object when you are referred to in the male form of your job title?

[headfairy]

I'm not sure I'm phrasing this correctly... are you offended for example if you are referred to as a chairman rather than chairperson? Waiter instead of waitress? Actor instead of Actress?

One of the jobs I do is pretty male dominated and the job description is {jobname}man.... It just sounds odd to refer to it as {jobname}woman or {jobname}person. Should I insist on being referred to as a {jobname}woman/person?

Is any of this making any sense at all

Mine is X Manager

It would seem very odd to be called manageress. If indeed that is the female form. What would be the equivalent taking 'man' out of the description?

Firefighters have fought to be called firefighters - neutral.
Actresses, I am told prefer the generic 'actor' tag.
Chair person really should be "chair".

maybe it'll be easier if I tell you the job title... I'm a cameraman. I have been for a while now. But I'm a woman. Camerawoman sounds odd. I don't know anyone who's referred to as a camerawoman. There aren't very many of us in my line of work, but we're all cameramen. Referring to myself as a camera would just be odd.

there is no gender-specific title for my job

I think it would irritate me, but not ruin my day, IYSWIM

you see, i don't mind being called "Mrs" because that is what I am

assuming you are man because you are a firefighter, for example, though would certainly grate

could you not just be a "moving photographer"

camerafighter...er...

visual imaging device technician. Sorted.

camera operator

Camera operator, technician, guru, your choice.

I just don't think gender is important enough to put in the job title, but it's not fair to assume every job is for men so sometimes, a neutral title needs to be found. Someone said on another thread that manageress, was like saying she-manager. It's women as other.

Men as default (pressed post message too soon!)

I see what you mean about the men as default point. Most cameraoperators in news are men, so the job is usually referred to as cameraman. I should hunt out one of the other women here and ask them how they like to be referred to. They're pretty thin on the ground though...

i'm a "blah blah manager" - i think that the word manageress is a bit odd and unnecessary because i don't think manager is gendered word.

i have been a "waitress" very gendered, and nobody EVERY called me a "waiter" though again, there's no reason why a waiter should be male.

in spoken communication i use 'chair' to refer to a chairperson.. bit odd, calling them a bit of furniture but i'm more happy with 'chair' than 'chairperson' or chairman/chairwoman.

i would expect a cameraman to be a man, and would be very surprised to meet a female cameraman...

Camera tech?

We say server in the US instead of waitress/waiter

I get more cross if I hear references to the 'female' version of a job title that should be regarded as gender neutral. e.g. manageress, lady doctor.

It is my mission in life to eliminate all gender labelling in job titles! Even when I am referring to men in a job I always use a gender neutral term, e.g. sales person, police officer, flight attendant, etc.

Go on - challenge me to find a gender neutral term for any sticky ones you have come across!

No I'm just grateful I've got a job after all the redundancies that have hit my place tbh.

Well Fanny, can you find one for a cameraman? Camera technician sounds ... a bit technical. I'm an artist don'tcha know? :o

Seriously though, work have come up with a ridiculously poncey name which offends me more than cameraman.

Visual imaging director I reckons.

Surely 'Camera Lady ' would be much, much nicer?

I once heard a woman in her 30s reference the 'Lady Busdriver'. Had an odd visual image of some Little Britain-style minor royal driving around. Ridiculous

tante But I'm not a laaaaayyyyyydy. I'm a woman :o

Can't stand being referred to as a lady.

Bare breasts, headfairy? It's not even half past four!

I love being a teacher

Although in certain types of schools (in one of which I may or may not teach ), which have ye olde poncey sexist titles, it sounds much less strange to be Master i/c Debating or whatever than it does to be Mistress i/c Debating. The word 'mistress' has all sorts of unfortunate connotations...

:o Aliceliddell

Damon, you're just injecting those connotations in to the word Mistress (you filthy sod) :o

headfairy Doesn't anyone say camera person? That's what I would say.

What dreadful thing have they suggested?

I visited a school where they didn't have a Deputy Headwhatever, or an Assistant Headwhatever, but a Vice Master. Reader, I snurked.

IMO with job titles that do not have 'man' in the name, but are modified to create a female form, eg waiter/waitress, the generic form should cover all genders, ie waiter.

Titles that do have 'man' in the name should be replaced by a different form entirely, eg chairperson, firefighter.

With some titles that would be tricky - camera artist?

And perhapd there should be allowance for people who wish to retain a gender-specific form for their own job, particularly when they are not one of many in that place, eg headmaster, headmistress.

no, no one says camera person, probably because it's been cameraman for so long now there are a few women working in the role it's just become the norm to be a cameraman....

It's not that poncey, it's a bit of a mouthful, but we're called Broadcast camera journalists... but everyone calls us cameramen