Arts Council of Wales denies ditching gendered pronouns

Arts Council of Wales has denied claims that it is banning the use of gendered pronouns at the organisation after critics accused it of 'misgendering' those who use he and she pronouns.

A news story in The Telegraph headlined 'Anger as gendered pronouns stripped from all of arts body's literature' has claimed that the use of he and she has been 'purged' from all 'official documentation' at the organisation.

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Joan Smith, an author and adviser to the campaign group Sex Matters, told the newspaper it was "not the job of publicly-funded organisations to change the language when the public is so clearly against gender nonsense".

She also accused the arts council of misgendering "all of us who use correct pronouns like he and she".

Updating HR policies

In a statement, an Arts Council of Wales spokesperson told Arts Professional that the changes only relate to internal HR documents and that there is no move to ditch the used of gendered pronouns.

The spokesperson said: “We are currently updating our internal HR policies and part of this work includes replacing references to staff as unspecified individuals with the term ‘they’ to avoid unnecessary and inappropriate use of gendered language.

"All staff can select the pronouns of their choice.”

The story, since picked up by the Daily Mail, follows a recent high-profile court case involving a former Arts Council England employee.

Denise Fahmy, who had been employed by ACE for more than 15 years, claimed she had been harassed by fellow staff over her gender critical beliefs.

The court upheld two of her claims of harrassment, while rejecting several other claims of harassment and victimisation.