Gender pronouns are becoming increasingly common in email signatures. This is because more people and companies understand that not everybody falls into two groups: male or female.
In order to support the LGTBQ community, treat everyone equally, and include those who don’t view gender as binary, the trend is to include gender pronouns in emails and other types of correspondence.
Next, read details on how it all begins, uses, and implements pronouns in email signatures for Google Workspace - Gmail users.
How It All Began
Pronoun identification started in academic and non-profit institutions but is becoming a mainstream part of the corporate world. The reason behind it is to accommodate those in the workforce who do not self-identify as male or female but are part of the ‘gender expansive’ community.
According to a recent survey, 1 in 5 Americans knows somebody who prefers a gender-neutral pronoun, and referring to those individuals with the wrong pronoun can make them feel disrespected or invalidated.
This is why you will increasingly see email signature pronouns. Using these pronouns is meant to result in a more comfortable, inclusive setting for everyone, regardless of gender identity.
Adopting gender pronouns as a method of accepting gender expression or identity means organizations are recognizing that gender is not always binary. This is a low-risk strategy designed to treat everybody with the same respect.
IT and HR departments all over the globe have begun to use this practice as an element of DEI measures, which stands for diversity, equality, and inclusion. Email signature pronouns are a personal choice for many people.
Understanding Gender Pronouns
The gender pronouns ‘he’ and ‘she’ have been used for hundreds of years to identify if someone is male or female. However, modern society includes gender-inclusive or gender-neutral pronouns to include those who don’t identify as one specific gender.
‘They’ is the most commonly used gender-neutral pronoun, but it is not the only one. According to Time magazine, the American Dialect Society made ‘they’ 2015’s word of the year. This word is also recognized as a singular pronoun in both the Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionary.
The Most Common Gender Pronouns
Please note that this is not a complete list, and every individual can choose if, when, and how to share their gender pronouns.
Masculine Pronouns: He, Him, His, Himself
Examples:
- He watched a movie.
- I spoke to him.
- The book was his.
Feminine Pronouns: She, Her, Hers, Herself
Examples:
- She watched a movie.
- I spoke to her.
- The book was hers.
Gender-Neutral Pronouns
Most gender non-conforming and gender binary people prefer to use “They, Them, Their” but there are other options also, such as “Ze, Zem (Zir), Zes (Zers), Zemself (Zirself)”.
Examples:
- They watched a movie.
- I spoke to them.
- The book was theirs.
- Ze watched a movie.
- I spoke to zem/zir.
- The book was zes/zirs.
Another option is using someone’s name instead of any pronouns.
For examples:
- (Name) watched a movie.
- I spoke to (name).
- The book was (name’s).
Email Signature For Google Workspace Users With Gender Pronouns
Bear in mind adding pronouns to company email signatures is an individual choice, and not everybody will wish to do this. HR or IT departments need to be sensitive before mandating that all staff members must include gender pronouns in this way.
Email signatures with pronouns examples.
Or
In the Google Workspace Users Directory, there is a field named with Type of employee, and the same can be used to define the gender pronoun for all Gmail users.
You need to change this field manually for all users. The G Workspace does not yet allow changes by the employee.
To dynamically add pronouns to your Gmail email signature, you can connect with Bybrand, which is an email signature manager for Workspace with native integration with Google Users Directory.
Steps:
- In the Google Workspace dashboard, navigate to the manage users menu.
- Add gender pronouns for users.
- Connect the Bybrand + Workspace integration and import the Workspace users list to create email signatures with pronouns.
- The second step is to set the email signature. The field representing the “Type of Employee” of the Workspace in Bybrand is the “employeeDescription”.
- When everything is complete, you can update the signature to the Gmail of the user.
In this 4-minute video tutorial, you can see all the steps to create and deploy email signatures for Workspace and with the pronoun field.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTStI-3jPhc
Tips for Using Gender Pronouns in the Workplace
Keep the following tips in mind when using email signature pronouns.
- Never assume somebody’s pronouns based on their appearance or name.
- Mistakes happen; if you get it wrong, apologize and use the correct pronoun in the future.
- Becoming familiar with using gender-neutral pronouns won’t happen overnight, but with practice, you will get used to it.
- Some people use only their name or don’t use any pronouns, while others use multiple sets of pronouns.
- If you don’t know someone’s pronouns, you can use “they/them”.
- State your pronouns when introducing yourself, e.g. “Hello, I am Mary, my pronouns are she and hers.”
- Unless you are sure of someone’s gender identity or their pronouns, use their name instead of saying him or her.
A Final Word
It is important to be sensitive and inclusive with others, and adding gender pronouns to an email signature to state gender identity is a way of showing respect.
By doing away with assumptions and respecting all gender identities, everyone in the workplace can feel equally comfortable and validated. Using email signature pronouns is one good way to show respect to others.
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