Sexism in Grammar
To avoid sexism in writing, the grammar instructor advised us against using an exclusive gendered pronoun. She corrected me when I refer to an employee as a he instead of a he or she, which is too cumbersome. She pointed out that he would be correct if the company employed only male employees. Then I read this sentence in The New Yorker from Rebecca Mead:
The next President, whoever she is, will in any case have a smaller role to play in determining education policy than did her predecessor: the bipartisan Every Child Succeeds Act, which reduces the role of federal government in decisions related to schools, and grants larger autonomy to the states, was signed into law by President Obama almost a year ago.
Is Mead endorsing Hillary?