• Don't single out a person's sex, race, ethnicity, or other personal traits or characteristics (such as sexual orientation, age, or a disability) when it has no direct bearing on the topic at hand. In other words, don't create or promote stereotype based on unavoidable human characteristics.

• Be consistent in your description of members of a group: Don't single out women to describe their physical beauty, clothes or accessories or note a disabled person's use of an aid, or refer to the race of the only minority in a group unless it is at that individual's request.

• Keep in mind that use of inclusive language is for general cases. Direct requests by individuals take precedence over general rules (e.g., Mrs. John Doe requests that her own name not be used).
  
  

• Avoid using words that imply victimization or create negative stereotypes. E.g., don't use descriptors such as "victim" or "sufferer" for someone with a disease, just identify the disease. Avoid using words such as "Poor," "unfortunate," or "afflicted."

• Don't say "courageous" when you can say "successful" or productive."
  
  

• Degender, don't Re gender (e.g., degender chairman to chair, don't regender it to chairwoman).

• Create gender-neutral terms: convert adjectives to nouns by adding ist (e.g., active: activist).

• Replace occupational terms containing man and boy, if possible, with terms that include members of either gender.

• Avoid occupational designations having derogatory -ette and -ess endings.
  
  

• Let language usage reflect the fact that both men and women are involved with sports and home life. Examples:
  

  sportsmanship	fair play, team play, sporting attitude
  crewmen	crew, crew members
  housewife	homemaker, house spouse, parent, caregiver (or shopper, customer, etc.)
  mothering	parenting

  
  

Miss Lee, Ms. Chai and Mrs. Feeney
Ms. Lee, Ms. Chai and Ms. Feeney or Lee, Chai and Feeney

Governor Burns and Ana Kahanamoku
Governor Burns and Representative Kahanamoku

• Forms for using a woman's name before marriage should be gender-neutral.

• Issue invitations or notices, bills, financial statements, etc. in the name of each of the individuals concerned.

  Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka
  Ellen and John Tanaka (if both names are known)
  Ellen Tanaka and spouse (if the name of spouse is not known)
  
  

Dear Sir/Madam/Gentlemen:
Aloha: (Use only in Hawaii.)
Dear Customer/Colleague/Subscriber:
Dear Editor/Manager/Account Executive/(other job title):
Dear Representative/Senator/Delegate/(other elected or honorary title):
Dear Friend(s):

• Recast into the plural.
  Give each student his paper as soon as he is finished.
  Give students their papers as soon as they are finished.

• Reword to eliminate the pronoun.
  The average student is worried about his grades.
  The average student is worried about grades.

• Replace the masculine pronoun with one, you, or (sparingly) he or she as appropriate.
  If the student is dissatisfied with his grade, he can appeal to the instructor.
  A student who is dissatisfied with her or his grade can appeal to the instructor.

• Alternate male and female expressions, when appropriate.

• Use a plural indefinite pronoun.
  Anyone who wants to go to the game should bring his money tomorrow.
  All those who want to go to the game should bring their money tomorrow.

• Use the double-pronoun construction, when necessary.
  Everyone has a right to his opinion.
  Every person has a right to his or her opinion.

• Use he/she, his/her, etc. in printed contracts and other forms so the inapplicable pronoun can be crossed out.
  
  

• That only men hold influential jobs.
  Congressional representatives urged the President to find the right man for
  the job.
  Congressional representatives urged the President to find the right person for
  the job.

• That children are cared for by their mothers only.
  Mothers should note that a nutritious breakfast is more important for a child
  than it is for an adult.
  A nutritious breakfast is more important for a child than...

• That men head all families and are the major wage earners..
  The average worker with a wife and two children pays 30% of its income to
  taxes.
  An average family of four pays 30% of its income...
  An average worker with three dependents pays 30% of income...

• That certain professions are reserved for one sex.
  Sometimes a nurse must use her common sense.
  Sometimes nurses must use common sense.

• That women perform all work related to homemaking.
  The family grocery shopper wants to get all her shopping done in one stop.
  The family grocery shopper wants to get all the shopping done in one stop.

• That women are possessions of men and are not responsible for their actions.
  Henry Lee allows his wife to work part time.
  Odette Lee works part time.

Do not report the marital status of a woman or a man, unless marital status is the subject of the story.
Divorcee Judy Petty lost her bid to unseat Representative Wilbur Mills..
Candidate Judy Petty lost her bid...

An employed person should be identified by his or her occupation, when relevant. Do not use the terms "homemaker" or "mother" unless his or her homemaking role and family relationship, respectively, are the subject of discourse.
Mrs. Marion Chong, wife of Dr. Allan Chong, gave a report on recent zoning
variances.
Marion Chong (and her title, if she has one) gave a report on...

Use title, terms and names in parallel construction, with females mentioned first sometimes to avoid stereotyping.
Man and wife.
Wife and husband... (or husband and wife).

Do not use the term "conflict" when reporting on or referring to "domestic violence."

Avoid stories that emphasize exceptions to stereotypes (example: John Kealoha is glad his mother-in-law is visiting); and expressions that demean women (examples: women's work, woman driver, sissy, old-maidish, spinsterish, womanish).

Avoid stories, photographs, captions, or phrases that make assumptions based on stereotypes:
That the sole or primary interest of an unmarried woman is in "catching a man."
That certain categories of women are shrewish or overbearing
(examples: mothers-in-law, feminists).
That certain categories of women are scatterbrained, incompetent, or excessively
dependent upon men to manage their lives (examples: young, dizzy, pretty,
or blond-haired women).
That career women generally lack homemaking skills, do not have children, or are not
good parents if they do have children.
That men are brutish, violent, crude, harsh or insensitive.
That women are fearful, squeamish, passive, dependent, weepy, frivilous, weak,
shrewish, nagging, easily defeated, hysterical, scatterbrained.
That only welfare women are single mothers.
That men have no parenting, nurturing, or homemaking skills.
That only minority males are violent or crude.
That only lower class individuals are drug addicts.
That certain ethnicities or races are fundamentally less capable than Caucasians; or that
any race is superior to any other.
That only persons with disabilities are dependent on others.
That men are independent and women are dependent.

The primary mission of the Media Task Force of the Honolulu County Committee on the Status of Women is to promote gender equity in the media. This updated [article] is primarily based on "Do's and Don'ts for Non-sexist Language" which was originally adapted from the 1985 revision of Women, Men and the Changing Language, a brochure produced by the Media Task Force. Therefore, the emphasis of the [article] -- as reflected in the many examples provided -- is on degendering the English language. The [front page] art is from the original publication and was generously provided by David Friedman. Editors for the 1988 edition include: John Defrancis, Laudra B. Eber, Gerald H. Ohta, Katsue Akiba Reynolds. The 1998 editors: Dineh Davis, Ruth Lieban, Gerald H. Ohta, Anne Sing, Hiroyuki Nagahara, Grace Tsutaoka, and Thelma McLachlan. For additional copies of this brochure, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Patti Cook, 715 South King Street, Room 311, Honolulu, HI 96813.