A local government southern England has banned all references to gender from official titles like “chairman” or “vice-chairman” and instead will use “gender neutral” terms such as “chairperson” and “vice-chairperson”.
Emma Toal, a Councillor for Harlow District Council in Essex, penned the motion banning the non-neutral gender titles.
She told Essex Live: “Language matters and we can’t pretend it doesn’t matter. It’s a small issue but it’s important we take a step forward.”
The decision will apply to everyone working for the council run by the left-wing Labour Party, meaning, for example, groundsmen will be now known as “groundspeople”.
The Conservative Party fought the motion, but suffered a defeat to their amendment that would have avoided the change of official titles.
“I have no problem with being called chairman, nor does it demean me as a woman. Once this language police starts, where will it stop?” said Conservative councillor Shona Johnson.
Another councillor, Joel Charles, slammed the motion, calling it “student union politics” and added that this doesn’t help the local economy.
He said: “Rather than a quick desktop exercise and going through reams of the council constitution, I would like to see solid, concrete steps about how we are going to close the gender pay gap”.
In addition to changing all titles to gender-neutral terms, the council will also do a “gender audit” of staff to find the gender imbalance among top positions and look into pay gap between women and men.
Toal said: “Something like this is bigger than party politics and it’s important going forward we make this a regular thing.”
Another left-wing councillor, Jean Clark, agreed with the motion, citing the need to accelerate the closing of gender pay gap. “It’s estimated this gap will not close until 2069 – it’s a long wait and I don’t think I will be around to see it.”
She also added that making titles gender-neutral is “one step in a bigger issue”:
“It’s highly symbolic and sends a message to women on the staff, the community and in general, especially children. There are many things I cannot do anything about but this is one step in a bigger issue. When there are 50 per cent women in this chamber and 50 per cent women in Parliament, maybe I will relax a bit,” she said.