Karen Pennesi, an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Western Ontario, became a friend of BILD and guest blogger over three years ago during her sabbatical time in Montreal. We are delighted to welcome her back.
I write this post looking for some insights. I was recently evaluating a set of scholarship applications and was struck by the use of gender neutral language in two of the reference letters. After reading so many letters that followed the conventions of using gendered pronouns and referring to the students by first or last name, I found the use of “they/their” and other unspecified expressions like “the candidate” or “the applicant” really caught my attention. It seemed awkward and forced so I tried to figure out why.
Here are some of the phrases excerpted from the letters, followed by letters about the same student written by a different referee. I have used pseudonyms.
First Example
Professor A wrote:
Michael started the program… and completed their thesis… their research investigated…. The candidate successfully obtained…Michael demonstrated…. The candidate also…. Michael presented their research… I hired the candidate… They will compare…. I support their application…
Compare this to another letter for the same student written by Professor B:
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I’m Wendy, an Australian anthropology student visiting Montreal as an intern this summer, and now I’m a guest blogger on BILD this week which I’m pretty excited about. I also have my own blog (
Different cultures have different expectations of gender which can lead to funny and not so funny confusions. Sometimes you experiment, change, perform, try something a bit crazy just for fun, just to stretch yourself. Some days you’re the straight guy in the suit, while other days you’re… well not. Some days you just like to play at confusing people. I mean a joke can be entertaining if it’s just to confuse – but it’s totally not cool if you act to hurt or use someone.