Why I state my pronouns

One of Eunomia’s core values is to be actively inclusive; value everyone’s contribution and strive to better reflect the diversity of human experience. This includes the human experience of gender and the diversity of this experience. Eunomia supports its staff who wish to use their email signatures or social platforms to communicate their pronouns to each other, our clients, and other stakeholders if they wish to.

What are pronouns?

Gender is a personal identity and defines who a person is, it is not visible, and can not necessarily be determined by a person’s name or physical appearance. Some people do not identify with the same gender as the sex they were assigned at birth and may identify on a binary scale, as either male or female; non-binary, neither male or female; or identify as both male and female.

Pronouns are used in everyday conversation to refer to yourself (“I”), the person you’re talking to (“you”), or someone/something that you’re talking about (“she”, “he”, “they”, “it”).  When talking about someone we often use gender pronouns; for female (“she/her”) and for male (“he/him”), which has historically been based on a person’s physical appearance or name. This association is not always correct, as some people may identify differently, or use gender-neutral pronouns such “they/them” or “ze/hir”.

Why state pronouns?

Sharing your pronouns alongside your name is a clear way of communicating how you prefer to identify and be referred to. If you identify as cisgender (i.e. the sex you were assigned at birth matches the gender you wish to be identified as), then it may at first seem unnecessary to share your pronouns. However, there are several reasons why you might wish to still do this:

• To create inclusivity within the organisation and provide a safe space for everyone.
• To normalise the use of correct pronouns within the company, as well as with our clients and others.
• To indicate your own gender to others to avoid someone getting it wrong (i.e. you may have a name which is not gender specific).

What can you do?

Our aim is to normalise the use of pronouns which is why we invite you to share your pronouns within your email signature and social platforms. Not only will this make your pronouns clear, it helps to create a supportive, inclusive and respectful environment for everyone at Eunomia.

If you want to get in touch with Eunomia’s Diversity and Inclusion Group please contact diversityandinclusiongroup@eunomia.co.uk