Removing the word 'woman' from maternity policies

[sesquipedalia]

I'm responsible for the policies etc at work. I have been updating all our polices this week, including the (generous!) maternity and paternity polices and asked a junior member of staff to proof read them for me.

She has come back stating that we should remove 'she/he' throughout and replace with 'they', which I can see as reasonable in a general policy. But she has then expanded this and said we should ensure that our mat/pat policies are 'not gendered' and remove the word woman/man entirely. She has referenced the recent House of Commons Maternity Bill to bolster her case.

I strongly disagree and see this as erasure of women and denial of biology - does anyone have any useful points to explain my gut reaction to her?

@merrymouse

I refuse to neutralise maternity policies

And they aren’t neutral because the rules for parental leave and maternity leave are not the same.

Well yes, I know they’re not neutral. But, as OP highlights, some are arguing for using “gender neutral” language even in a policy dealing with the most female thing anyone can do.