Berkeley To Remove Gender-Binary Language from City Code
Berkeley, California is set to remove all gender-binary language from its city code. The change will ban he/him and she/her pronouns from the city’s municipal code, this will include finding gender-neutral equivalents for titles like “policeman” and “fireman”, reports NBC Bay Area.
Other phrases will be updated too, “manholes” will become “maintenance holes”, “manpower” becomes “human effort” and “manmade” will be phased out for “artificial” or “human-made.”
The council will also refer to “pregnant women” as “pregnant employees.”
The ordinance was put forward by council member Rigel Robinson.
Robinson said this proposal matters because “language has power.”
“It is Berkeley being Berkeley, and what that means is it’s Berkeley being inclusive,” they added.
“A male-centric municipal code doesn’t reflect the reality of the city of Berkeley.”
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews
