Scotland’s International Development Alliance (SIDA), funded by the Scottish government, has unveiled an ‘inclusive language guide’ suggesting the terms ‘mother’ and ‘father’ foster oppression.
The organization views the traditional family terminology as potentially “reinforcing existing power structures,” and argues for a change to ‘parent’ and ‘guardian.’
SIDA also recommends eschewing terms like ‘girls’ and ‘guys’ in favor of ‘colleagues’ or ‘everyone’ and replacing ‘chairman,’ ‘spokeswoman,’ and ‘manpower’ with genderless alternatives.
“With this language guide we hope to ensure our language is contributing to — not getting in the way of — the fundamental changes we are looking to make in the world: equality, inclusion, fairness, decolonisation [sic], and global justice,” the document proclaims.
SIDA’s guide also contends terms like ‘global warming’ and ‘climate change’ are insufficiently urgent, proposing ‘climate crisis’ and ‘climate emergency’ as replacements, and denounces ‘third world’ and ‘the West’ as “problematic phrases.”
A spokesman for the Free Speech Union argued, “the real reason these red-pencil wielding zealots want to ban words like mother and father is to enforce radical progressive dogma. “
