Study lists eight words you shouldn’t use at work – from ‘guys’ to ‘love’
A new study found that women in the workplace are twice as likely to be asked to do the tea round, compared to their male co-workers.
The study commissioned by Samsung UK and Ireland polled 2,000 UK employees. They found that 42% of women said they’ve been asked to put the kettle on, while only 16% of men had.
Female workers were also more likely to be asked about their children’s wellbeing and asked to do menial or admin tasks.
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They also found that women are nearly three times more likely to be the target of sexist jokes.
Experts say the findings show that gender-biased language and the use of stereotypes are widespread within workplaces, on average four times a week.
According to Wales Online, specific instances included “persistently being called lady, sweetheart, or darling” and “being referred to as a woman ‘of my age’.
Gendered words to use and avoid in the workplace:
Words to use:
- People
- Everyone
- Everybody
- Folks
- They
- All
- Team
- You
Words to avoid:
- Guys
- Girls
- Lads
- Ladies
- He/she
- Sweetheart
- Darling
- Love
-
Singletons are just having sex so they have good story to tell their friends
Tanya Weller, the founder of the employee resource group, Women@Samsung, said: “The findings have revealed some shocking revelations about the stereotypes used towards women at work and how our choice of words is creating barriers to inclusivity in the workplace.
“Like all things, language adapts with time, and we know that as a society, we must evolve with it, by implementing a roadmap that drives greater equality and inclusion. For instance, we work closely with Textio to ensure that we set things off as we mean to go on and apply gender-inclusive language in all of our job adverts at Samsung UK and Ireland.
“These findings tell us the crucial role language plays in normalising gender stereotypes at work.
“Subtle phrases like ‘Hi Guys’ is something many of us say without thinking, but maybe without realising it, we’re alienating people. “This acts as a great reminder to be thoughtful in the way we express ourselves as individuals and as businesses.”
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Jackye Clayton, of Textio, said: “Employers throughout the UK must take proactive steps to foster inclusive language – to attract talent and build a workplace which promotes workplace inclusivity. With almost half of UK employees using gender bias language at work, companies must do more to understand how and where unconscious bias is showing up and take action to remove it.
“It’s only by doing this that companies can become truly inclusive to everyone.”
Louise Mullany, professor of sociolinguistics and an expert on the language of diversity and inclusion, has worked as a linguistics consultant on the Samsung survey and campaign.
The professor has provided some alternative words and phrases offering to advise on how people can switch using gender-neutral language at work, including people instead of guys, everybody instead of lads, and team instead of darling.
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