0

The Secretary-General shall bring to the attention of the Assembly any matter which in his opinion may affect the interests of the members.

Does "his" in this sentence mean MEN or does it also include WOMEN?

lemonlemon
  • 5
Zonia
  • 1
  • 3
    It depends on whether the Secretary-General is a man or a woman. The possessive pronoun should reflect that. – fev Dec 06 '22 at 18:52
  • 3
    Where is it from? Is it a line from a textbook (or like), or from an original document drafted many years ago (like the constitution, etc.)? I'd say that it depends on the context; if the former, I would assume that it includes both, but if the latter the original meaning would likely have only referred to men, especially in countries where women were not allowed to vote at the time that political documents were written. – Heartspring Dec 06 '22 at 19:23
  • 1
    Maybe you're asking if the language is now considered a sexist assumption. It is. – Yosef Baskin Dec 06 '22 at 19:24
  • 50 years ago "his" would almost always mean men, but in the above context it was modified to mean men or women, depending on which gender was present. More recently the use of "his" is discouraged, with a "neutral" term being preferred. But it's all still up in the air. – Hot Licks Dec 06 '22 at 21:48
  • 1
    I don't really understand what you're asking. Are you asking whether the rule authorizes a female Secretary-General to bring to the attention of the Assembly any matter which in her opinion may affect the interests of the members? Pretty obviously it does, right? – Chaim Dec 06 '22 at 22:08
  • My question is: based on that text, can a woman be elected as the secretary-General? – Zonia Dec 07 '22 at 15:34
  • Yes. It's a long-standing tradition to use male pronouns in contexts where the referrant is not known and could be either gender. Although it's also acceptable to use a plural pronoun ("their opinion"), in the past the male pronoun was most common. – Barmar Dec 09 '22 at 21:03
  • As an example, read the US Constitution. It consistently uses "he" and "his" when referring to government officials. This has never been considered to limit government work to men. The words "man" or "men" never appear, it uses "person" in those places (OTOH, the Declaration of Independence does say "all men are created equal"). – Barmar Dec 09 '22 at 21:06

0 Answers0