For example in the statement "if a child wants to buy some chocolate then he will need some money" the ungendered term "child" is replaced with the gendered pronoun "he" in the latter half of the sentence. ... It was further found that this was not wholly due to the use of the masculine pronoun as a generic: "97 percent of the uses of "he" referred male humans or animals, or to persons presumed to be male" (the examples he cites are sailors and farmers). ... With this in mind it is easy to see why writers in general tend towards describing males even when the situation is wholly ambiguous (as ...

• Word Count: 2723
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate