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NEW YORK (77WABC) – Don’t use the names “Mary” and “John” while giving examples of people. Avoid the words “Christmas” and “European” and avoid portraying families as the “stereotypical nuclear unit.” These are just some of the directives for officials in the European Union’s, “European Commission Guidelines for Inclusive Communication.”
After a swift backlash, the EU then withdrew the 32-page document. The EU’s commissioner for equality, Helena Dalli, said the guidelines “clearly need more work.”
Concern was raised with regards to some examples provided in the Guidelines on Inclusive Communication, which as is customary with such guidelines, is work in progress. We are looking into these concerns with the view of addressing them in an updated version of the guidelines. pic.twitter.com/90ZK8rpPb2
— Helena Dalli (@helenadalli) November 30, 2021
Rather than use “Mary” and “John”, the document states that the names “Malika” and “Julio” should be used instead.
An excerpt of the document also reads:
The Commission Style Guide sets out the basic
principles:
• Avoid nouns that appear to assume that one
gender rather than another will perform a
particular role: ‘chairman’ is the most obvious
example. Gender-neutral noun forms (‘chair’,
‘spokesperson’, etc.) are preferred.
• Avoid gender-specific pronouns for people
whose gender is unknown. It is preferable to
use ‘they’ or reformulate the sentence so that
no pronoun is needed, or use “he or she”, “s/he”
(albeit this option is falling out of favour)
The document also included guidelines on how one should properly refer to members of the “LGBTIQ” community and the correct ways to discuss immigrants.
