Our Changing Language
One important influence on our language in the past decade has been the changing role of women in modern society. There was a time when unmarried woman was called a spinster. But that was before women went into space in rockets, worked underground in mines, and became managers of corporations. As women entered more and more areas that were once thought of as men’s jobs, it became necessary to change the job titles. For example, a mailman is now a mail carrier, a watchman is a guard, a lineman is a line repairer. And the Man of the Year? Well, she is the Newsmaker of the Year.
These new attitudes have also helped men, and some job titles have been changed to include them. Stewardesses are now called flight attendants. A laundress is a laundry worker, and a maid is a house worker, because men wash floors too!
Sometimes new words may seem awkward and silly, such as chair for chairman, fisher for fisherman, and drafter for draftsman. But change is never easy. People often fight change until it becomes a familiar part of everyday life.
Women have fought long and hard to be treated equally in language as well as in society, because they know that changes in languages can cause changes in attitudes. If every person is not referred to as he, people will begin to realize that men aren’t the only ones who are important or who have made great achievements. Most words that indicate only one gender have been replaced with words that refer to both males and females. Thus, a poetess is called a poet, a waitress is a server, and mankind has become humankind.