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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Diverse people team with social chat bubbles

Pronouns

Hello, my pronouns are...

Why pronouns are important

As you may have noticed, many Durham University staff and students choose to specify their pronouns in their email signatures and online profiles.

Pronouns are the words we use to refer to someone like – “he”, “she” and “they”. Everyone has pronouns and these reflect gender identity which refers to a person’s sense of their own gender, whether male, female or something else (such as non-binary). You can find out more here.

This gender identity may or may not correspond to a person’s sex assigned at birth. People who are transgender or gender nonconforming may use pronouns that don’t conform to binary male/female gender categorizations, such as “they, them, theirs”.

If you have never had to worry about which pronoun others use for you, gender pronouns might not seem important. But when someone is referred to with the wrong pronoun it can make them feel disrespected, dismissed, undermined, or dysphoric. Knowing and using someone’s gender pronouns is a way to support the people you work with.

We include our pronouns in our emails and profiles because:

  • It is a way of practising inclusive language by being respectful of how people want to be referred to in terms of gender identity or expression
  • It allows us to use the correct terms in our communications with people by avoiding guesswork or assumptions that can result in misgendering
  • It encourages an inclusive environment by normalising the use of gender pronouns with which people most identify
  • It means that trans or non-binary or gender non-conforming colleagues are not made to “out” themselves by being the only ones who share their pronouns
  • Using gender pronouns in email signatures and online profiles is a consistent action and reminder (internally and externally) that people’s identity should be respected