Woke UN agency bans the word ‘Englishman’ — because it is too gendered
A WOKE UN agency has banned the word “Englishman” — because it is too gendered.
“Forefathers”, “man’s best friend” and even “midwife” have also been ruled out.
The Guidelines on Inclusive Language warns masculine-specific terms give the impression women “do not possess certain skills”.
Instead, staff at the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organisation are given a list of gender-neutral terms to use.
Englishman becomes “English person” and midwife is replaced with “birth attendant”.
Lumberjacks is dropped in favour of “wood choppers”, fishermen are “fishers” and cavemen are “cave dwellers”.
The agency deals with international patents and trademarks.
Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, said: “This is precisely what George Orwell warned us about.
“Banning certain words and phrases to advance a dogmatic political ideology is a hallmark of totalitarianism.”
The UN agency said the new terms were “not prescriptive and common sense and clarity should always prevail”.
It comes a month after British Red Cross staff were told “people who are not women” could get pregnant.