People's Park in Berkeley, where officials voted unanimously this week to replace about 40 gender-specific words in the city code with gender-neutral terms. Photo: AP
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https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3019229/say-goodbye-manholes-berkeley-removes-gender United States & Canada
Say goodbye to ‘manholes’ as Berkeley removes gender-specific words from city code
- More than two dozen terms, including ‘craftsman’ and ‘manpower’, to be replaced with gender-neutral alternatives
Berkeley councilman Rigel Robinson inside the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Centre. Officials in the liberal city this week passed an ordinance to replace some terms with gender-neutral words in the city code. Photo: AP
A manhole will become a maintenance hole, artisans will replace craftsmen and firefighters and police officers no longer will be identified by their gender in Berkeley’s city code under an ordinance passed by city leaders on Tuesday.
The City Council voted unanimously to replace more than two dozen terms often used in the city’s municipal code with gender-neutral words.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “she” and “he” will be replaced by “they”. The word “manpower” will become “workforce”.
“In recent years, broadening societal awareness of transgender and gender nonconforming identities has brought to light the importance of non-binary gender inclusivity,” council member Rigel Robinson, 23, wrote in a letter to the council in March.
Berkeley’s current municipal code contains mostly masculine pronouns, according to a city staff report.
“It is both timely and necessary to make the environment of City Hall and the language of city legislation consistent with the principles of inclusion,” Robinson said.
Broadening social awareness of transgender and gender nonconforming identities has led to sweeping changes across the state.
In 2014, then governor Jerry Brown signed into law a measure that replaced “husband” or “wife” in state law with the gender-neutral term “spouse”.
In 2017, California became the first state to provide a third gender option on state driver’s licenses, identification cards and birth certificates with the passage of Senate Bill 179.
Berkeley has also instituted some other changes. In February, the city began extending the option to all employees to receive a name badge with a preferred pronoun printed alongside their professional title.
Additional reporting by Associated Press