B.C. eliminates 600 instances of ‘unnecessarily gendered language’ from regulations
Posted March 11, 2021 10:14 pm.
Last Updated March 11, 2021 10:22 pm.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — Words matter. That’s why B.C. has removed 600 instances of “unnecessarily-gendered language” from government regulations.
Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery, and Innovation Ravi Kahlon says these changes have been made to promote respect and inclusion for diverse gender identities.
“There’s examples in legislation where it says man-made, and in those instances, we’ve replaced it with human-made. We also had many, many examples of ‘he’ or ‘she’ or ‘brother’ or ‘wife.’ We’ve updated those to more neutral language like ‘spouse’ or ‘parent’ or ‘sibling,'” he explains.
People aren’t a binary of or , our laws shouldn’t be either. Everyone in BC should be able to see themselves in the language used by Gov. I’m proud we are reframing our language to build a #BetterBC where #EveryoneIsSeen https://t.co/OWRS19cnw4
— Ravi Kahlon (@KahlonRav) March 11, 2021
“I think people understand that we are in 2021 now and we need to reflect the times. Certainly, I’ve been getting positive responses. There’s always the handful of people wondering why this is even needed. To them, I would say, if you’ve never felt discrimination or you’ve never seen yourself excluded, you may not understand why this is important. Anyone that has felt excluded or felt discriminated against will know what this means — and it means a lot.”
Man-made is now “human-made,” sister and brother are now “siblings,” and a husband or a wife is now a “spouse,” just to name a few. BC has rewritten 70 government regulations in 15 ministries in a bid to make them more gender-neutral — some 600 instances in all. #bcpoli
— John Ackermann (@jackermann) March 12, 2021
Kahlon says he first came to appreciate how “critically important” language can be when working to establish a Human Rights Commission in B.C.
“I learned a lot about how our language disenfranchises people,” he notes.
“I think we owe it to everybody in B.C. to reframe the language we use to ensure that it’s gender-inclusive, and that our policies that we have as a government reflect all the people of this province. So I think this is very necessary and important work.”
