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I use "he or she" unless using that construction is especially cumbersome.
My last company developed & sold software for executive information
systems. I wrote "he and she" and my manager corrected it. I mentioned
[to him] only once that many executives are now women and that we risked
offending those who had worked hard for their positions in a world where
they undoubtedly encountered gender-based or gender-related obstacles. He
agreed that there are plenty of people (esp. in the US) who are sensitive
to this use of pronouns and that we shouldn't risk offending customers.
I prefer reading "he or she" rather than "he." I often wonder if the
company has forgot that women are prospects or customers for products &
services.
My opinion is that we should be sensitive to internationalization issues
and gender issues as we write because it's good business.
_______________________________________________________________________
Jane Torpie
Principal Technical Writer
Easel Corporation
Burlington, MA, USA
617-221-2100
JTorpie -at- EaselCor -dot- mhs -dot- compuserve -dot- com <-------- new address!
