I believe there is a definite gender bias in the English language. It should be obvious to anybody who so much as thinks about a few words used to describe people. Woman, human, female all of these have masculine parts of the word and we don't even think about it. Perhaps this bias is because we generally use the word "Man" to refer to any person of either gender. This goes all the way to beyond the Bible, and even more so in it. Am I the only one who thinks the Supreme Being should be It?.
I suggest we fix this problem (and it IS a problem) by simply extending the language. Now that this has become horribly apparent, we need not continue to confuse gender references. Some things we would need to consider in creating these new words: .
They should have the same number of syllables so neither word would seem to be inferior to the other, which rules out simply saying personkind instead of mankind. .
They can have no separate meaning that could be confused with existing words.
Pronunciation should distinguish them from currently existing words.
New words - Wom, womkind (simply the feminine of man and mankind, pronunciation same as in wombat).
Wem (like wom, only plural, pronounced like them).
Hir (combination of him and her, pronounced like we"re).
Hirs (possessive form of hir).
These new unbiased words could be widely accepted if only a few authors (or possibly English teachers) used them on occasion. Early uses would need an explanation of their benefits. Then the idea could be rapidly picked up. Though it could take some effort on the part of writers (and teachers), it's better than having someone go on for pages on why this flaw doesn't need correction, wouldn't you agree?.
