There is no denying that everyone has a role to play in the fight against discriminations—discrimination against race, gender, sexual orientation, or ability. In this battle for inclusion, more and more conglomerates are stepping up their efforts to create a safe, inclusive, and diverse environment that fosters collaboration, growth, and change.
Google is no exception. Reports suggest that Google Docs will now provide users with gender neutral terms to steer clear of gender masculine language. According to diversity.google, “Google is committed to continuing to make diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do—from how we build our products to how we build our workforce.” And according to their 2020 diversity report, data continues to inform Google’s efforts to lead in building a workforce that represents their users and their world. In fact, in the report, chief inclusivity officer, Melanie Parker said, “We made a wide array of investments to strengthen the diverse communities both within and outside Google.”
Part of their endeavours includes steering clear of gender masculine language across Google Docs. This means, their latest tool developed has the ability to identify gender masculine terminology and suggest inclusive alternatives to users, encouraging them to adopt a more gender inclusive dialogue.
For example, words like ‘Chairman’, if used on a google document will now prompt you to use ‘Chairperson’ instead.
What’s more, the report also states that, “As Google continues to grow, we have a responsibility to scale our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and increase pathways to tech in the cities, sites, and countries Google calls home.”
The company’s 2020 diversity report also states, “Building a culture of belonging empowers people to do their best work. Google is a company where people of different views, backgrounds and experiences can come together and show up for one another.”
This message is exactly what the world needs right now!