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# Bournemouth council considering dropping gendered terms
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/bournemouth-council-considering-dropping-gendered-terms/
- Published: 2021-03-22T14:14:23.000Z
- Updated: 2021-03-22T07:33:00.000Z
- Description: The Bournemouth city council are due to meet to discuss dropping gendered terms from communications.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: News, Pride, Bournemouth, equality, Gender Equality, inclusivity, Labour UK, LGBTQ, UK

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/bournemouth-town-hall-600-400.jpg)

The Bournemouth town hall

The **Bournemouth, Christchurch** and **Poole** city council is due to meet to discuss dropping gendered terms from communications, such as chairman, and to use gender-neutral language where a person’s gender-identity is *“not relevant or not known”.* According to the [*Bournemouth Echo*](https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/19167788.gender-neutral-terms-used-bcp-council/?ref=scenemag.co.uk), the idea was first suggested by independent councillor **LJ Evans**, who argued gendered terms may ‘reinforce stereotypes’ and deemed them *“unnecessary”.*

The proposal states: “\[The council should\] *remove male universals, such as ‘chairman’, from the constitution, policies and all written and verbal communications and to replace them with gender-neutral terms, such as ‘chair’.”* It also says council members must *“respect an individual’s right to be addressed as they wish, and identify this where appropriate.”*

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/bournemouth-pier-600-400.jpg)

Bournemouth pier

Evans, who first put forward the motion in January, said: *“Gender-neutral writing is about clarity, inclusion, equality and would help to prevent unconscious bias.”* Their proposal has been backed by a handful of other councillors, including Labour councillor, **Lisa Lewis,** and the council’s cabinet member for equalities, **Bobbie Dove,** who said she *“absolutely endorsed”* the creation of *“a more equitable council”,* but suggested some revisions to the agenda.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/equality-sign-600-400.jpg)