Proposed U.S. House rules eliminate gendered terms like ‘father’ and ‘daughter’

/ January 4, 2021

By Kaylee Greenlee and Mary Margaret Olohan

The Rules Package for the 117th Congress includes a proposal to replace gendered language referring to a representative’s family members with gender-neutral terms, House leaders announced Friday.

Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Massachusetts Rep. James McGovern, chairman of the Rules Committee, announced changes to the House rules that will “honor all gender identities” by modifying the pronouns and familial relations references in the rules, the Committee on Rules announced.

The resolution would change “pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral or removes references to gender, as appropriate, to ensure we are inclusive of all Members, Delegates, Resident Commissioners and their families – including those who are nonbinary,” McGovern’s announcement said.

The new rules also change “seamen” to “seafarers”, “chairman” to “chair” and “submit his or her resignation” to “resigns,” according to the resolution.

References to fathers, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and in-laws would be changed to “parent, child, sibling, spouse, or parent-in-law,” according to the resolution. Extended family members would be referred to as “child’s parent” instead of aunt or uncle, stepparents, and siblings-in-law.

“Thanks to the leadership of Chairman McGovern and our Members, Democrats have crafted a package of unprecedented, bold reforms, which will make the House more accountable, transparent and effective in our work to meet the needs of the American people,” Pelosi said in a statement.

The rules package will be voted on when the new Congress assembles and includes reforms to ethics, accountability and inclusion, according to the Committee on Rules.

Pelosi, Who Just Announced Elimination Of Gendered Family Terms, Still Has ‘Mother, Grandmother’ In Her Bio

Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced a resolution calling for the elimination of gendered terms for the 117th Congress Friday, but the California Democrat still has the terms “mother” and “grandmother” in her Twitter bio.

Pelosi and Democratic Massachusetts Rep. James McGovern announced a resolution Friday intended to “honor all gender identities” by modifying pronouns in the House rules and references to family relations, such as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister. These words would be changed to “parent, child, sibling, spouse, or parent-in-law,” according to the resolution.

Though Pelosi herself announced the changes, the California Democrat’s Twitter profile retains language that does not follow these guidelines. As of 1:30 pm Saturday, her profile said, “Speaker of the House, focused on strengthening America’s middle class and creating jobs; mother, grandmother, dark chocolate connoisseur.”

Screenshot, Twitter.

Screenshot, Twitter.

Her office did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation as to why her profile contains the words “mother” and “grandmother.” She has often referred to herself using both of these words to describe her relationship to her children and grandchildren.

The resolution would change “pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender-neutral or removes references to gender, as appropriate, to ensure we are inclusive of all Members, Delegates, Resident Commissioners and their families – including those who are nonbinary,” the announcementsaid. Extended family members, such as an aunt or uncle, would be referred to as “child’s parent.”

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Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore

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4 thoughts on “Proposed U.S. House rules eliminate gendered terms like ‘father’ and ‘daughter’”

  1. What a load of lunacy. So, to which parent am I speaking? The male sperm donor or the female birther? “Parent” is cold and emotionless, and so are all the other terms. The politicos make it sound like people can’t decide for themselves how to refer to family members, that they are stupid and challenged and their lives are going to hell in a hand basket because of it.

  2. Some names have rather strong gender association. May I expect the Progressives to pass a bill requiring people to instead be addressed by a number like in a science fiction B movie? If you think “That’s absurd,” what’s the current proposal?

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