Gender and cultural inclusivity

Inclusive terms

Avoid terms and language that are sexist, agist, culturally insensitive, and biased in other ways. Substitute with more open terms.

freshman students

first-year students

 

young, talented minds

talented minds

 

chairman

chair

chairperson

 

hostess

host [for any gender]

 

actress

actor [for any gender]

Regarding the use of “alumni”: This plural form (which is technically masculine) has been widely accepted for referring to a group of mixed sexes or gender. However, when referring to a group that is exclusively female use “alumnae” instead.

Lastly, when using cultural references and examples, feature diversity of all kinds as much as possible.

Personal pronouns

For third-person, singular personal pronouns referring to any individual, use “he or she.” If this proves cumbersome, turn your antecedent noun (what the pronoun is a substitute for) into the plural form and then subsequently use “they.”

A student Students can explore his or her their intellectual interests at Cornell. He or she has They have great flexibility in choosing majors and minors.

Although the use of “they” has been evolving to refer to an individual, this practice is not widely used in formal writing. This said, try to accommodate strong personal preferences, especially in situations where an individual may not identify with either male or female pronouns, opting to use a different gender-neutral pronoun instead. Visit Cornell’s LGBT Resource Center's web page for a list of gender-neutral pronouns and guidelines for their use.

To capitalize or not to capitalize “black”

When referring to the cultural or ethnic group (particularly connected with the African Diaspora), you can choose to capitalize “Black”—especially if the context and audience of your piece calls for it.

Note, however, that the lowercased “black” (vis-à-vis the lowercased “white”) is also used.

Consult with your stakeholders, decide wisely, and be consistent.