Why We’ve Added Pronouns to Our Email Signatures and Website

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by Melissa Duclos

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01.27.2020

As part of our commitment to creating an inclusive work environment, Children’s Institute now gives staff the option of including their pronouns in their email signatures and staff pages. This post is intended to serve as a resource for anyone with questions about this decision.

CI Aims to be a Safe Space for People of All Gender Identities

We recognize that using a person’s self-identified pronouns is a sign of respect. By creating space in our email signatures, staff bios, and meetings for people to share their pronouns, we empower our staff and colleagues to decide for themselves how they are referred to in the workplace. Sharing pronouns is also a way for us to avoid making assumptions about people’s identity based on their name or appearance. Assumptions like these harm our transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming colleagues and reinforce cisgender privilege. Normalizing the practice of sharing our pronouns helps to disrupt this privilege.

As part of our work to create a more inclusive workplace, we will avoid gender assumptions in other areas of our communications, favoring gender inclusive language such as the use of “they” as a singular gender neutral pronoun. These changes demonstrate our belief that language choices both reflect and help to shape culture.

If you have questions, comments, or resources you would like to share, please send them to communications@childinst.org.

Additional Resources

Pronouns Matter, MyPronouns.org

11 Cisgender Privileges You Didn’t Know You Had, Pride

LGBTQ+ Vocabulary Glossary of Terms, The Safe Zone Project

The Singular ‘They’: A Sociocultural Linguist’s View, The Oregonian

Actually, Gender-Neutral Pronouns Can Change a Culture, Wired

He, She, They: Workplaces Adjust as Gender Identity Norms Change, NPR

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