The European Parliament on Wednesday published new guidelines to ensure gender-inclusive language in all its communications.

The guidelines aim at being a source of inspiration for Parliament's administrative services.

Among other things, the guidelines propose the use of the word humanity (for mankind), staff (for manpower), a French person (for Frenchman/the French/French people/ Frenchmen), synthetic or artificial (for man-made), advisory panel (for committee of wise men) and political leaders (for statesmen).

The guidelines also propose the use of ‘Mr’ for a man, ‘Ms’ for a woman, avoiding ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs’, unless it was known that the person referred to specifically wanted to be referred to by one of those titles.

Reiterating its commitment to gender equality and non-discrimination on gender grounds, the EP said the use of gender-sensitive language was one of the ways of implementing this commitment.

The many languages and cultures represented in Parliament meant there was no “one size fits all” solution, but that appropriate solutions had to be sought in each specific context, taking into account the relevant linguistic and cultural parameters, it said.

Parliament’s role as a European legislator also had to taken into consideration when seeking to achieve gender-neutral language. It noted that not all solutions that could otherwise be applied could be used in the context of legislation, which required clarity, simplicity, precision and consistency.

Bias-free language had more chance of being accepted by users if it was natural and unobtrusive, it said, adding that genuinely neutral and inclusive alternatives should be sought while respecting the multilingual nature of Parliament's working environment and the specific rules governing the drafting of legislation.

The document in full can be read in the pdf link below.