ual and governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. At this time, women were unable to vote and could not argue the language. It probably never occurred to Jefferson that anyone would disagree with this statement. Looking at modern dictionaries indicate that the definition that links man with males is the predominant one. Studies of college students and school children indicate that even when the broad definitions of man and men are taught, they tend to conjure up images of male people only. (Jacobson, 1995) Today man is used sometimes to refer solely to male humans, while at other times it is intended to include all human beings. Which meaning is intended is often unclear. Whether the intention, the use of man obscures the presence and contribution of women. When we use man it conjures up images of male persons only, not females or males and females together. Instead of The man we want for the job use The person we want for the job instead of Manning the office use Staffing the office. There are several pairs of words with masculine and feminine forms, such as, heir-heiress, steward-stewardess, usher-usherette. In nearly all such pairs, the masculine word is considered the base, with some kind of feminine suffix being added. Many common expressions and sayings are phrased exclusively in male terms, thus excluding women. Re-phrasing them in gender-neutral terms will help make them more inclusive, without changing the essential wisdom of the saying. For instance, instead of To each his own use To each ones own; instead of, Everything comes to him who waits use Everything comes to those who wait.One area of controversy is the inclusive-language Bible. These Bibles change some or all of the Bibles use of generic masculine language to language that explicitly includes, or at least does not implicitly exclude, women. No more mankind or man or he who will and so on when...
