Question

Elena is a manager at a construction supply company. She is writing a memo to her sales team in preparation for a major sales initiative. Look at this sentence from her memo:

Every salesman should make sure he is carrying the client portfolio on his smartphone.

How should Elena rewrite this sentence to avoid using stereotypes in her memo?

A.
Every salesperson should make sure the client portfolio is on his smartphone.
B.
Every salesman should make sure the client portfolio is on his or her smartphone.
C.
Every salesperson should make sure the client portfolio is on his or her smartphone.
D.
Every saleswoman should make sure the client portfolio is on her smartphone.

Answer 1

C. Every salesperson should make sure the client portfolio is on his or her smartphone.

Step-by-step explanation:

Option A is incorrect because it incorrectly uses 'his smartphone'.

Option B is incorrect because it incorrectly uses 'salesman'.

Option D is incorrect because it incorrectly uses 'saleswoman'.

In recent times, as women have got a reasonable share in outdoor jobs, sports, studies, in short all spheres of life, it has become very important to avoid gender stereotypes while documenting something or even in a meeting or discussion.

One should be careful while using personal pronouns such as he/she, his/her, and him. Moreover some designations which are gender specific should also be made gender neutral, such as chairperson for chairman, salesperson for salesman. Still there may be many such words which may take long time (or never) to be made gender neutral, such as watchman, a man is known by his company.