Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) directed all the schools of the state to address school teachers, irrespective of their gender, as ‘teacher’ instead of ‘sir’ or ‘madam’.
The directive was given while considering a plea filed by a person seeking to end the discrimination while addressing teachers ‘sir’ and ‘madam’ according to their gender. The complainant also wanted the teachers to be addressed in a gender-neutral manner.
The decision will definitely generate awareness of Gender-neutral language which is a generic term covering the use of non-sexist language, inclusive language or gender-fair language. The purpose of gender-neutral language is to avoid word choices which may be interpreted as biased, discriminatory or demeaning by implying that one sex or social gender is the norm.
But the question that now arises is: What’s wrong with words like ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’?
The word ‘Sir’ comes from the French word ‘sieur’, meaning ‘Lord’. ‘Madam’ but is a patriarchal coinage that is condescending towards women and, like sir, is derived from the French ‘madame’, which means ‘my lady’. In male-dominated France, Lords have always shown the ladies their place. When the English adapted these words, they kept the hierarchy intact.
So, when teachers are identified on a gender basis in schools as ‘sir’ and ‘madam’, it becomes the first lesson in gender discrimination.
Sensing the injustice, KSCPCR has ordered the use of these honorifics be done away with. Instead, the Commission wants the gender-neutral word teacher to be used for both males and females.
“People who teach in schools should be called teachers without any gender discrimination,” the Child Rights Commission said in its latest order. “Teacher is the most suitable word to address teachers with the utmost respect and without gender discrimination,” the Commission said.
The two-member bench of the Commission – chairperson K V Manoj Kumar and member C Vijayakumar – instructed the director of the General Education Department to take the necessary steps to pass on the order to all schools in the state. The director has been asked to submit an action taken report within two months.
“The honorifics ‘sir’ and ‘madam’ do not match up to the idea of a teacher. Adopting the word ‘teacher’ would not only ensure gender equality but it would also bring students and teachers closer,” the Commission said.
Advocate J Sandhya, former member of the Kerala child rights commission, said it’s a welcome step from a gender point of view.
“In textbooks, we say that there shouldn’t be any gender discrimination, and at the practical level students address teachers based on their gender. Our conditioning is such that when we hear ‘nurse’, we immediately think of a female and when we hear ‘pilot’, we immediately think it’s male. This mindset has to change and any move in that direction is a welcome step,” said Sandhya.
Historically, the use of masculine pronouns in place of generic was regarded as non-sexist, but various forms of gender-neutral language became a common feature in written and spoken versions of many languages in the late twentieth century. Feminists argue that previously the practice of assigning masculine gender to generic antecedents stemmed from language reflecting “the prejudices of the society in which it evolved, and English evolved through most of its history in a male-centered, patriarchal society.” During the 1970s, feminists Casey Miller and Kate Swift created a manual, The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing, on gender neutral language that was set to reform the existing sexist language that was said to exclude and dehumanize women. In 1995, the Women’s Press published The A–Z of Non-Sexist Language, by Margaret Doyle. Both publications were written by American authors, originally without the consideration of the British-English dialect. Many feminist efforts were made to reform the androcentric language. It has become common in some academic and governmental settings to rely on gender-neutral language to convey inclusion of all sexes or genders (gender-inclusive language).
In order to achieve better communication strategies that respond to the times we are living in, school, colleges, companies and organizations should take gender neutral and non-binary language into account. This can be achieved by neutralising any reference to gender or sex, like using “they” as a third-person singular pronoun instead of “he” or “she”, and proscribing words like actress (female actor) and prescribing the use of words like actor for persons of any gender. For example, Waitresses and waiters should be called ‘servers’.
We can avoid the use of “him/her” or the third-person singular pronoun “they” by using “the” or restructuring the sentence all together to avoid all three.
We can use “Mx” instead of “Mr,” “Ms,” “Mrs” or “Miss”. The gender-neutral ‘Mx’ is used as a title for those who do not identify as being of a particular gender, or for people who simply don’t want to be identified by gender. It’s pronounced like mix. Much like the honorific “Ms,” which provides women an alternative to being identified by their marital status, “Mx” provides individuals an alternative to being identified by their gender.
Similar to the pronouns and titles, the labels we give family members, mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle are all gendered. Gender-neutral terms like ‘partner’ and ‘spouse’ can be substituted when discussing romantic relationships, and ‘sibling’, ‘child’ and ‘parent’ are also gender-neutral relations.
Notably, NASA now prefers the use of “crewed” and “uncrewed” instead of “manned” and “unmanned”, including when discussing historical spaceflight (except proper nouns).
So, it’s time to use language that recognizes that not everyone identifies as male or female. Let’s act now to build an inclusive society.