Employers are increasingly creating opportunities for workers to share their pronouns in order to improve inclusion, especially for applicants and employees who are transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming.
But sometimes trainings, forms and the like refer to “preferred pronouns,” a well-intentioned description but one that actively works against an employer’s goal of inclusivity.
Using the modifier “preferred” indicates that there’s a choice or preference and fails to affirm the person, according to Schuyler Bailar, trans inclusion educator and consultant, and the first NCAA D1 men’s trans athlete.
