Inclusive language in English:
how to adopt it in business
Inclusive language is a subject that has been in the spotlight for some years now. Should you always specify genders, use the generic masculine or add slash forms? There is a multitude of guides on the subject and each institution or company that uses inclusive writing can do so in different ways and to various degrees.
Did you know that women are less likely to apply if the job advert is written in the generic masculine form? You may be missing out on some excellent candidates for this reason. The same applies to your potential customers, who may not feel your message speaks to them if it uses only masculine wording.
Find out how to adopt inclusive language in your company and how SwissGlobal can help you in this process.
What is inclusive language and why should you use it?
Inclusive language, or inclusive writing, is a form of writing that aims to avoid gender bias in language. It can be used for both internal and external communications, and is a key element in shaping your corporate identity.
Of course, it is your choice whether you use or not. Each company will adopt its own communication strategy. As a language service provider, our role is not to convey a political message, but to inform you that there are many styles of writing and almost as many target groups in Switzerland 😉.
Un peu d’histoire
Le français n’a pas toujours fait primer le masculin sur le féminin, comme nous l’avons entendu dès l’entrée à l’école primaire. Jusqu’au XVIIe siècle, la féminisation des noms et des professions allait de soi. Mais les grammairiens, désireux d’exclure les femmes de certaines professions, en ont décidé autrement. Claude Favre de Vaugelas décréta dans ses Remarques sur la langue française (1647) que « le genre masculin, étant le plus noble, [devait] prédominer toutes les fois que le masculin et le féminin se [trouvaient] ensemble ».
L’accord de proximité perdura toutefois jusqu’au XIXe siècle, qui veut qu’on accorde l’adjectif avec le substantif le plus proche qu’il qualifie. La règle dite du masculin générique a progressivement invisibilisé les femmes de la langue (on ne parlait même pas de minorités de genre à l’époque).
Or, même si nous apprenons dès notre plus jeune âge que le masculin générique inclut tous les genres, des études ont révélé que le cerveau arrive difficilement à assimiler cette interprétation : utiliser le masculin générique entraîne la formation d’images mentales majoritairement composées d’hommes.
Inclusive writing techniques
Inclusive writing is not simply a matter of punctuation. The English language has ways of formulating sentences inclusively without having to use neologisms.
The resources the language already provides
- Gender-neutral words and phrases. The form of gender-neutral words does not change based on the person’s gender: partner, pupil, member, person, individual. Gender-neutral formulations: team, teaching staff, management
- Feminisation, if applicable: chairwoman, hostess. Two saleswomen will be joining the team next month.
- The gender of all persons involved can also be given individually: female and male employees
- Reformulation : né le à date de naissance ; être conscient de à avoir conscience de
Neologisms
- A compact format for the middle ground: salespeople, firefighters. The different gender suffixes can be marked out with hyphens. Using slashes and brackets is not recommended, as these signs signify separation or exclusion.
- New gender-neutral words: actor, alum, bartender, as well as the use of pronouns they/them. These words also include non-binary people. However, the use of neologisms is currently very limited in English.
How to adopt inclusive language in your company
From an organisational point of view, start by creating an editorial charter to be followed when writing all your publications. The key to success is consistency: choose the form(s) of inclusive writing you wish to adopt and stick to it. Determining your target audience will enable you to choose the most appropriate variant of inclusive language.
Train the human resources and communications departments on the subject, and keep the whole company informed. Revise internal documents one by one, such as regulations and job offers.
Then address the communication channels: adapt sales documents, the website, brochures, etc.
You can also organise information sessions to coincide with this change in communication in order to raise awareness among your staff. Inclusive language can be used both orally and in writing.
To do this, the ideal solution is to create a style guide that includes the inclusive writing policy but also features lots of other information about writing and presentation. Your language service provider can do this for you.
Inclusive language and translation
Do you communicate in multiple languages? It’s worth considering your strategy for each one.
Different languages have different systems: French uses the interpoint for collective terms, whereas German uses colons. German also frequently uses neologisms to keep pace with the trend of inclusiveness: Mitarbeitende instead of Mitarbeiter, for example. Creating this sort of neologism in French is not widely accepted. Fortunately, English is already very neutral and typically requires little adaptation (e.g.: chairman à chairperson).
In any event, it is worth looking into the culture of the target language and best practices in inclusive writing. A language service provider like SwissGlobal will be able to guide you.
Inclusive language at dolmX
We asked the CEO of the community interpreting platform dolmX, Nielufar Saffari, to explain how the company makes use of inclusive language.
SwissGlobal: Dear Nielu, could you start by briefly introducing dolmX?
Nielufar Saffari: ‘dolmX is a video interpreting platform created in 2021 with the aim, on the one hand, of facilitating access to professional interpreters. On the other hand, we want to create a world of equality by making professional interpreters accessible, because this gives everyone access to public services, meaning that everyone in hospital knows that they are understood’.
SG: How do you go about phrasing things in an inclusive way internally? Do you have any guidelines on this?
NS: ‘For us, inclusivity is not really open to debate. We obviously use inclusive language, because language allows us to create visibility and we want to improve that visibility. For interpreters, language is a tool. That’s why the issue is so clear to us.
How can we create change in the world unless we start with language? Language creates images. Images, in turn, create realities. If we exclude certain people through language, we deny them the right to live as equals.’
SG: Inclusive language varies from one language to another. Is there any particular variant you prefer? If so, why?
NS: ‘We decided to use colons in German. There are different ways of adopting inclusive language. [In German], you can also use an asterisk or what we call the Binnen-I. The reason we use colons is that it’s easier to pause when you’re speaking, and also for aesthetic reasons, because it looks better in the body of the text. So, of course, we also want to include all genders or identities that are not masculine or feminine, not just the binary genders. If we don’t use a colon, we always speak in the feminine form. It’s the generic feminine.’
Conclusion
Inclusive language not only includes people: it also reflects the values of a committed company. It’s time once again to make ourselves visible through language. If you want to adopt inclusive language or use it more methodically, find out about the options and best practices that exist in your language and think about what is most appropriate for you and your products and services.
SwissGlobal can help you adopt an inclusive language. Our specialists will be able to advise and assist you with your inclusive communications, whether multilingual or not, to ensure that they meet your expectations and sound natural. If you’re taking the plunge, contact us!
A few references for further reading:
-
Inclusive Language
inclusivity
Language Services
translation
translation services
