100 points to know about...
Inclusive project management

As the world of work becomes more and more digitalized, screen-based business interactions are becoming the norm. We write many emails, text messages, presentations, and instant messages every day. These daily interactions may seem trivial, but they play an important role in inclusion. Inclusive management means the written language used by managers and employees must respect and represent diversity as much as possible. It is therefore important to be aware of the rules of inclusive writing and its challenges.

Inclusive writing is not simply being "politically correct". It is a form of writing that attempts to take into account individual differences, cultures and experiences. Inclusive writing avoids words, phrases and sentences that could convey prejudice, stereotypes or obsolete views about people and their particularities. It is a form of writing that attempts to be welcoming and courteous, respects and values each person as full members of society, uses more precise vocabulary to avoid exclusion or discrimination. It is also an approach that implies profound changes and that can sometimes conflict with legibility issues. That is why inclusive writing is constantly evolving.

Gender

Among the languages of European countries, there are different linguistic treatments of gender.

• Natural gender languages : for instance, in some languages like English, personal nouns are mostly gender-neutral, and there are personal pronouns specific to each gender. The main strategy used for inclusive writing is neutralisation.
• Grammatical gender languages : in some languages like French, Italian, Spanish and most European languages, every noun has a grammatical gender and the gender of personal pronouns usually matches the reference noun. The strategy usually consists in feminisation.
• Genderless languages : in some other languages like Hungarian or Finnish, there is no grammatical gender and no pronominal gender. It is way more simple to be inclusive, no strategy is usually needed.

Tips to be gender inclusive in every language :

• Omit the pronoun
• Change the possessive pronoun « his » to « a » or « the »
• Use the relative pronoun « who » instead of « if he »
• Use gender neutral terms like « housemaker » instead of « housewife », « humankind » instead of « mankind »

Disability

When talking about people with disabilities, try to use sentences which do not stigmatize these persons. For instance :

• The handicapped => persons with disabilities
• An epileptic => a person with epilepsy
• The blind people => with visual impairments
• Confined to a wheelchair => wheelchair user
• A victim of… => a person who has…

Other aspects of inclusive language

• Do not stigmatize. The elderly => older persons /persons over the age of…
• Poor people => economically disadvantaged person, person living at or below the poverty line.
• When talking about relationships generally : husband/wife => partner or spouse
• Ethnic background or nationality : try to be as specific as possible

Sources :

Inclusive Writing Guide – Verblio.com https://www.verblio.com/inclusive-writing-guide
Inclusive language and clear writing – Clear writing for Europe 2021 - Ec.europa.eu https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/education/events/documents/cw2021-inclusive-language-and-clear-writing-andrasegyedi-clairechevalier-karen-margaret-walker.pdf