City seeks to highlight staff pronouns

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This article was published 09/09/2021 (1639 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg is offering its employees a new course on pronouns and gender-inclusive language.

Jordana Greenberg, senior manager of corporate human resources services, noticed staff beginning to include individual pronouns in email signatures last year.

“It kind of got me thinking, like, ‘Does everybody understand what this means?’” she said.

Fast-forward through months of consulting with knowledgeable people and organizations, including Pride Winnipeg, to Sept. 7 — the first day city staff could access its virtual pronouns and gender-inclusive language program.

“We know that education and training helps employees learn new skills,” Greenberg said. “This is one way of them kind of expanding their knowledge when it comes to an inclusive work environment.”

It takes about 30 minutes to get through the video-based modules, Greenberg said. The course isn’t mandatory for any of the city’s 10,000 workers, nor is it tied to incentives.

The city is encouraging workers to write their pronouns in email signatures and business cards, and announce them at meetings, Greenberg said.

Barry Karlenzig, president and chairman of Pride Winnipeg, has been showcasing his pronouns for three years. He said many pride organizations have been doing so just as long; businesses and governments are catching up.

“A lot of (people) don’t understand why pronouns are important,” Karlenzig said. “It’s really there to start that dialogue, to make sure that you aren’t offending (someone) as soon as you call them.”

Identifying pronouns isn’t confined to the LGBTTQ+ community, Karlenzig said. It’s useful for everyone, including people who have gender neutral names.

“You could automatically offend somebody by saying, ‘Hello, Ms. Robin’… And use the word her or she when it’s actually someone who is either he or him, or they or them.”

Earlier this year, the city circulated “safe space” stickers for offices to present themselves as inclusive workplaces.

gabrielle.piche@freepress.mb.ca