Opinion: The Canadian politics – and history – of ‘he,’ ‘she’ and ‘they’

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The Canadian politics – and history – of ‘he,’ ‘she’ and ‘they’ GlobeDebate

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Using a masculine word to include women – what generic “he” is supposed to do in grammar and in law – was a key feature of England’s Act of Interpretation as well as Canada’s first Interpretation Act, which provided that “Words importing … the masculine gender only, shall include … females as well as males” .Courts had no trouble punishing women when the criminal code referred to lawbreakers as “he.

The generic “he” also kept women out of civil service jobs in Canada. A 1921 article on the history of the Ottawa civil service suggested that women’s exclusion was both grammatical and natural: “The Civil Service is for men only … The law on the subject is all in the masculine gender, which, while a purely technical point, is really founded on the primary conception of a service in which women would not have a part.

Typewriters first appeared in the 1870s, and within a decade they were well on their way to becoming the office writing tool of choice. Once it became clear that women could type, and do it more cheaply than men, the Ottawa Civil Service hired them by the thousands. But even as late as 1921 women were considered temps. According to the anonymous civil service historian, “They come and go.

 

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