Australian Airline Qantas Bans Staff From Using ‘Gender-Inappropriate’ Language

The Australian airline Qantas has told staff to stop using gender inappropriate language that might cause offence to the LGBT community.

Employees have been instructed to say “partner”,“spouse” and “parents” instead of gender-specific words like husband, wife or mum and dad.

They have also been told to refrain from using potentially offensive terms such as “honey”, “love” and “guys” and male staff have been told not to “manterrupt”

The creator of the bizarre guidelines says it’s just about making workplaces more welcoming to everyone.

RT reports: The airline issued the instructions to its 30,000 employees via an information pack sent to staff as part of its ‘Spirit of Inclusion Month.’ The pack advised staff to refrain from using potentially offensive terms like “husband” and “wife” because they “can reinforce the idea that people are always in heterosexual relationships,” according to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

Hey will #Qantas now have to rename the cockpit #auspol

— Michael Tiyce (@MichaelTiyce) March 5, 2018

Who or what are the Diversity Council of Australia??? Telling us to remove words like “guys” and “mankind” and “husband” from the workplace in order to build inclusion. And Qantas agrees!!!

— Alan Jones (@AlanJones) March 6, 2018

“[A]lways referring to ‘mum and dad’ can make many families feel excluded — both same-sex couples and single-parent families… Words like ‘love,’ ‘honey’ or ‘darling,’ even when used as terms of endearment, often offend. In the workplace, it is best to avoid these sorts of words.”

Male employees were also told not to “manterrupt” women and speak over them, nor refer to colleagues as “abrasive” or “bubbly” as the terms are generally only used to describe women. When speaking of men, staff were encouraged to favor “humanity” instead of “mankind”, and when addressing a group they were advised to forgo “guys” for terms like “team,” “folks,” “people” or “you all.”

The instructions even included historical terms like “settlement,” when speaking of the 1700 arrival of the British down under, staffers were asked to use “invasion” or “occupation” to accurately describe the colonization of Aboriginal people.

Qantas has its own word police apparently, telling staff the arrival of Europeans in Australia was not a settlement, but an occupation or invasion. And staff have to avoid ‘man-terruptions.’ Is it too much ask they just stick to flying aeroplanes?

— Michael McLaren (@mclaren2gb) March 4, 2018

My wife and I will no longer be flying Qantas, neither will my Mother and Father. Our Son and Daughter also prefer to fly with other airlines who are not run by idiots.

— bluecee (@bluecee4) March 6, 2018

The instructions, developed by the Diversity Council of Australia, were “intended to start an internal discussion about how language choice can impact how inclusive (or not) a workplace is,” according to an airline spokeswoman. Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot called the pack “political correctness that’s gone way over the top.”