/ ˈdʒendə(r); NAmE / noun
1.
[ C , U ] the fact of being male or female :
issues of class, race and gender
gender differences / relations / roles
2.
[ C , U ] ( grammar ) ( in some languages ) each of the classes ( masculine , feminine and sometimes neuter ) into which nouns, pronouns and adjectives are divided; the division of nouns, pronouns and adjectives into these different genders. Different genders may have different endings, etc. :
In French the adjective must agree with the noun in number and gender.
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MORE ABOUT
gender
Ways of talking about men and women
When you are writing or speaking English it is important to use language that includes both men and women equally. Some people may be very offended if you do not.
The human race
Man and mankind have traditionally been used to mean 'all men and women'. Many people now prefer to use humanity , the human race , human beings or people .
Jobs
The suffix -ess in names of occupations such as actress , hostess and waitress shows that the person doing the job is a woman. Many people now avoid these. Instead you can use actor or host , (although actress and hostess are still very common) or a neutral word, such as server for waiter and waitress .
Neutral words like assistant , worker , person or officer are now often used instead of -man or - woman in the names of jobs. For example, you can use police officer instead of policeman or policewoman , and spokesperson instead of spokesman or spokeswoman . Neutral words are very common in newspapers, on television and radio and in official writing, in both BrE and NAmE .
When talking about jobs that are traditionally done by the other sex, some people say: a male secretary / nurse / model (NOT man ) or a woman / female doctor / barrister / driver . However this is now not usually used unless you need to emphasize which sex the person is, or it is still unusual for the job to be done by a man / woman:
My daughter prefers to see a woman doctor.
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They have a male nanny for their kids.
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a female racing driver.
Pronouns
He used to be considered to cover both men and women:
Everyone needs to feel he is loved
, but this is not now acceptable. Instead, after everybody , everyone , anybody , anyone , somebody , someone , etc. one of the plural pronouns they , them , and their is often used:
Does everybody know what they want?
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Somebody's left their coat here.
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I hope nobody's forgotten to bring their passport with them.
Some people prefer to use he or she , his or her , or him or her in speech and writing:
Everyone knows what's best for him or herself.
He / she or (s)he can also be used in writing:
If in doubt, ask your doctor. He / she can give you more information.
(You may find that some writers just use 'she'.) These uses can seem awkward when they are used a lot. It is better to try to change the sentence, using a plural noun. Instead of saying:
A baby cries when he or she is tired
you can say
Babies cry when they are tired.
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English : from Old French gendre (modern genre ), based on Latin genus birth, family, nation. The earliest meanings were kind, sort, genus and type or class of noun, etc. (which was also a sense of Latin genus ).