The pronoun dons an important role in grammar. It shows you the who and this gives agency to whoever it is you are talking about. Stephanie Golden has been a copyeditor for many years and she’s overseen many changes in the way language has been used from simplification to a vocabulary that keeps feminism in mind. Yet, she was pleasantly surprised by the Chicago and Associated Press decided to accept the use of ‘they’ as a singular pronoun.
“Paula Froke, the AP Stylebook lead editor, gives two reasons for embracing ‘they’: ‘recognition that the spoken language uses they as singular’ and ‘the need for a pronoun for people who don’t identify as a he or a she’. The first ‘they’, as in ‘Everyone can decide which personal pronoun best matches their identity’, is what people have been doing for centuries anyway; most of us already use it without thinking. But the second usage, which raises fundamental questions about identity, society and the nature of reality itself, has met furious resistance.”
Altering language is one way of tackling gender biases at the grassroots. It may sound odd in the beginning but over time it can become the norm and what’s the harm if it uplifts people whose identities have been quashed because of the pronoun they don’t belong to? Read
We need the singular ‘they’ – and it won’t seem wrong for long by Stephanie Golden.
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