Using Pronouns at Workplace

Course Overview

A pronoun is a word that refers to either the person who is talking (like “I” or “you”) or someone or something that they are talking about (like “she” “it”, or “them”).

Gender pronouns are the ways to refer to someone’s gender identity - except for the fact that we often don’t think a whole lot about them. We usually interpret a person’s gender based on their external appearance and expressions and assign them a pronoun. We may however be completely wrong in making such an assumption. The concept of gender identity is an internal sense of one’s own gender which cannot and should not be judged by looking at them. Additionally, a person may be identified as genderfluid or genderqueer and may not identify along the binary of either male or female. Also, some people identify as both masculine and feminine, or neither. A genderqueer or non-binary identified people generally prefer a gender-neutral pronoun such as the “they”. For instance, “I know Sam. They work in the Finance Department”). Proper use of gender identity terms, including pronouns, is an important way of signaling courtesy and acceptance.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the relevance of using pronouns at workplace.
• List a few ways of sharing pronouns at your workplace.
• List some tips and behaviors related to sending company-wide emails on pronouns.

*This course references US legislation and statistics.