Moray Council documents to be gender neutral
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Moray Council documents will now be written in a gender neutral way.
Pronouns such as 'he' and 'she' are expected to be replaced by 'their'.
In addition, prefixes such as Mrs and Miss could be on the way out.
Bridget Mustard (Heldon and Laich/Conservative) called for a change at a meeting on Wednesday after raising concerns over the language used in papers reviewing the authority’s financial strategies.
Cllr Mustard said: "I have no issue with the policies themselves. But throughout the document there’s a lot of reference to 'his' and 'her', which is not really reflective of the current practice of using 'their' as a gender neutral term.
"I believe the council’s documents should contain gender neutral language to promote equality and demonstrate the council’s inclusive culture."
Cllr Mustard asked for all council documents to be written in a neutral way.
Monitoring officer Alasdair McEachan said: "No one can argue with the point made by councillor Mustard.
"It’s a matter of our being vigilant over these things, and reminding staff when documents come forward for approval at committee to watch the wording and make sure it’s contemporary."
Graham Leadbitter (Elgin South, SNP) also endorsed the comments.
Speaking after the meeting cllr Mustard said: "There was a lot of ‘his/her responsibility’ in the report.
"It’s always ‘his’ first. And people become blind to it.
"As a council we really need to modernise our language."
Juli Harris (Speyside/Glenlivet, SNP), who's the council's equalities champion, also backed the request.
She said: "This is an issue that should be addressed as it’s out of date and not representative of society today.
"The use of gender neutral wording in all of Moray Council’s documents and media output will be a positive step towards ensuring inclusive representation for all, irrespective of gender identity.
"I think that 'Mrs/Miss' is on the way out as adult denominations and a simple 'Ms' suffices for those who identify as female.
"We were chatting about how we refer to our ‘colleague’ these days or simply a name, as gender becomes less relevant in the workplace."
Draeyk van der Horn (Forres, Green) is also backing the move.
He said: "It’s a step in the right direction.
"I don’t mind 'he' or 'they', but I would prefer people to call me Draeyk van der Horn rather than 'Mr'.
"I think it’s the times we live in, and referring to people by their own name seems very progressive.
"It’s also about showing Moray we’re progressive, that we’re listening and the council is showing leadership on this."
