Australian Airline Qantas Bans Staff From Using ‘Gender-Inappropriate’ Language

Fact checked

The Australian airline Qantas has told staff to stop using gender inappropriate language that might cause offence to the LGBT community.

Employees have been instructed to say “partner”,“spouse” and “parents” instead of gender-specific words like husband, wife or mum and dad.

They have also been told to refrain from using potentially offensive terms such as “honey”, “love” and “guys” and male staff have been told not to “manterrupt”

The creator of the bizarre guidelines says it’s just about making workplaces more welcoming to everyone.

RT reports: The airline issued the instructions to its 30,000 employees via an information pack sent to staff as part of its ‘Spirit of Inclusion Month.’ The pack advised staff to refrain from using potentially offensive terms like “husband” and “wife” because they “can reinforce the idea that people are always in heterosexual relationships,” according to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

“[A]lways referring to ‘mum and dad’ can make many families feel excluded — both same-sex couples and single-parent families… Words like ‘love,’ ‘honey’ or ‘darling,’ even when used as terms of endearment, often offend. In the workplace, it is best to avoid these sorts of words.”

Male employees were also told not to “manterrupt” women and speak over them, nor refer to colleagues as “abrasive” or “bubbly” as the terms are generally only used to describe women. When speaking of men, staff were encouraged to favor “humanity” instead of “mankind”, and when addressing a group they were advised to forgo “guys” for terms like “team,” “folks,” “people” or “you all.”

The instructions even included historical terms like “settlement,” when speaking of the 1700 arrival of the British down under, staffers were asked to use “invasion” or “occupation” to accurately describe the colonization of Aboriginal people.

The instructions, developed by the Diversity Council of Australia, were “intended to start an internal discussion about how language choice can impact how inclusive (or not) a workplace is,” according to an airline spokeswoman. Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot called the pack “political correctness that’s gone way over the top.”

4 Comments

  1. Why do t they be honest?— as if — And just cut to the chase and say ,you lot ,you mob from now on and forever more shall be known only as workers.?The only point of classiest supremacy allowable shall be rank name and serial,number.signed, by the power vested in me from, papa bear ,oops biggest bear with balls,chief executing officer The flying Scotsman.

    • Goℴgle gives to people of every age 99 dollars hourly to complete easy tasks off a home computer .. Do job for just few period of time in a day and stay greater time with your own friends .. Any person can also catch this special offer!this Wednesday I bought a great Ford Mustang after just making $18200 this-past/four weeks .it’s really the easiest job but you won’t forgive yourself if you do not read it.!re263f:∭∭∭ http://GoogleDayHomeBasedWork/get/cash/99$/per/hr ♥♥a♥v♥j♥♥w♥♥♥b♥♥♥z♥v♥♥♥r♥♥q♥♥♥b♥♥p♥♥n♥♥♥o♥♥♥s♥♥v♥r♥v♥♥q♥♥♥d♥♥a♥i♥p♥♥b♥♥♥p♥c::!je141r:aqdfu

  2. I do have to agree with the nix “you guys” instruction. It is an awkward yankee informality. In the US it only exists outside of the South so Southerners should relate that this does make sense in a professional sense to avoid. You don’t call a group of mixed children or adults “guys”.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.