How to Write a Gender Neutral Job Description
Gender-Neutral Job Descriptions Attract More Talent
To attract a diverse talent pool and fill your job vacancies with the most qualified applicants, you need to ensure that the reach of your job posting is expansive and inclusive. An important element of an inclusive post is gender-neutral language. Certain words and phrases have gendered connotations, meaning they are often associated as "masculine" or "feminine."
When you use ProWritingAid to help you evaluate the gender-neutrality of your language, phrases that are perceived as “masculine” or “feminine” highlighted. We count up the number of "feminine" and "masculine" words in your writing and convert that into a percentage that becomes your score. Your job description should have a score that falls towards the middle of the scoring range, which means it doesn't have too much masculine or feminine language. A score in the middle of the range is gender-neutral.
##What Is Gender-Specific Language?
Most people are familiar how personal pronouns like she, her, he, him indicate gender-specific language. However, pronouns are not the only types of gender-specific language. Other words, such as adjectives you might use to describe the characteristics of applicants considered a good fit for the position, are “gender-coded.” This means the words are perceived as being masculine or feminine.
For example, job applicants generally perceive adjectives such as
- aggressive
- assertive
- dominant
- decisive
as applying to male traits, and perceive words such as
- collaborative
- honest
- loyal
- supportive
as applying to female traits. Like gender-specific pronouns, there is nothing wrong with these adjectives in and of themselves. However, in your job ad, their presence might turn away talented applicants who fall outside of the perceived gender affiliations those words hold.
Why Is Gender-Neutral Language Important to Your Job Ad?
Gender-neutral language is inclusive, and when people feel included, they are more likely to want to join whatever it is that’s happening. In this case, that “happening” is your job applicant pool! The more applicants you attract, the greater your chances of finding the perfect fit for the role.
Why risk excluding talent and narrowing your hiring options with gender-specific language?
Use gender-neutral language to show that your company, from its hiring practices on up, is committed to inclusivity and diversity and to attracting the best talent out there. ProWritingAid helps you ensure that the language in your job ad, those that describe applicants’ traits or qualifications or duties or job titles, are not gender-coded. It does so first by highlighting potentially gender-coded words and then by providing alternative gender-neutral options.
