New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation that removed the term “salesman” replacing it with “salesperson.” This is the latest in New York’s bid to ban language that isn’t gender-neutral.
“Jobs have no gender, but unfortunately, many of our state’s laws still use gendered language when discussing professions that are practiced by people of all genders,” state Sen. Anna Kaplan said of the bill she sponsored with Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell.
We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.
The new law also removes some instances of “her” or “his” in several statutes related to the real estate industry.
“We want our workplaces to reflect the diversity of New York, and the best way to achieve that goal is by making sure all realtors feel that they belong and the profession is accessible,” O’Donnell said.
Hochul also signed another legislation sponsored by Democrat State Sens. Carrie Woerner and Samra Brouk which removed gendered terms for local government office-holders, like “councilman” to be replaced with “council member.”
Other laws have replaced “inmate” with “incarcerated person,” and “mentally retarded” with “developmentally disabled.”
