[New York Diary] "Call Me 'They' Instead of He or She"

Wellesley College Faces Debate Over Gender Identity and Women's College Status
Language and Social Change: Gender-Neutral Terms Gain Ground in the U.S.
Everyday Life in New York Reflects Shifting Attitudes Toward Gender and Inclusion

Last week, Wellesley College, a prestigious women's college in the United States known as the alma mater of Hillary Clinton, drew nationwide attention with an anonymous campus vote on its "women's college" status. The entire community voted on whether to expand admissions, currently limited to "women," to include all transgender and non-binary individuals.

At Wellesley, admission is already open to women whose gender identity is "female," including transgender women. However, this vote not only addressed the admission of transgender men (those assigned female at birth who have transitioned to male) but also considered changing the school rules by replacing the word "women" with gender-neutral terms such as "students" and "graduates." This effectively expanded the debate to the college's identity as a women's institution and its founding principles.

Students supporting the revision of the school rules base their stance on support for sexual minorities such as transgender and non-binary individuals. Just as women's colleges historically served as refuges from educational gender discrimination for female students, they argue that these institutions should continue to be spaces that educate those with marginalized gender identities in the present era. Considering that there have already been students admitted to Wellesley who later transitioned to male, some claim this is a "realistic update" of the rules. For them, non-gender-neutral rules represent discrimination and exclusion. On the other hand, opponents emphasize Wellesley's founding principles as a college established for women's education. President Paula Johnson also maintains that the identity as a women's college must be preserved.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Hearing about Wellesley College first reminded me of a moment last year when I had just arrived in New York and was briefly taken aback by someone's request. A person whose biological sex is female told me that their pronouns were "they, their, them." For a moment, I asked, "But 'they' is plural, so why do you use it as singular?" After asking this ignorant question, I immediately realized the intent behind it. This was one of the moments that made me deeply reflect on my own lack of consideration regarding sexist language and binary gender distinctions.

In recent years, Western countries including the United States have seen a growing movement toward gender-neutral language and words. For example, the German airline Lufthansa has removed the in-flight greeting "Ladies and Gentlemen," and Ford Motor Company revised its internal rules to replace the term "Chairman" with "Chair" to denote the position of company president. These changes stem from the concern that everyday words, regardless of intent, may carry biases against someone and can discriminate or exclude others. In South Korea, too, words like "ansaram" and "bakkansaram" (terms referring to a wife and a husband’s family, respectively) have been criticized as sexist, indicating that this atmosphere is gradually spreading.

However, there is also resistance to discarding many words that have been used for a long time as "sexist" and forcibly creating new terms. Language is also a social convention based on agreement. While not absolute, its social nature cannot be ignored. Moreover, some people wonder if anything really changes at all.

Personally, living in New York, often called a "melting pot of diverse cultures and races," as a "minority" and "outsider," I feel that these movements, which once seemed like the fluttering of a few wings, are gradually taking root in many aspects of daily life.

In Manhattan’s restaurant districts, cafes, offices, and university buildings, it is sometimes possible to find signs next to gender-designated restrooms that say, "You may use this according to your gender identity." When issuing domestic flight tickets, passengers can select a third gender option, "Gender X," for non-binary or intersex individuals (those with physical characteristics not defined as male or female) instead of male or female. The U.S. Department of State has also added a Gender X box on passport applications. On social media platforms like Instagram, as well as in university lectures and corporate seminars, it is becoming common to introduce oneself with the name and preferred pronouns. Recently, at the bottom of an inquiry email from a Columbia University graduate student, I saw their name, affiliation, and the pronouns "she, her, hers."

Most importantly, these words and language reflect an awareness behind them: a commitment to reducing discrimination and not excluding minorities. While it may be difficult to immediately answer what has changed, language ultimately reflects the world.