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Summary

The language used in the academic and industrial world, as in much of society, is biased toward male terms. A girl must have a strong vision to see herself in a career considered masculine, and a woman must have strong character not to be affected by all the masculine assumptions about her. Still, there are some things to be thankful for. As Grace Murray Hopper has pointed out, when the computer industry began, many women worked with computers, so job titles, like ``programmer'' and ``analyst'', were gender neutral. That is one barrier less to fight. Additionally, the ambivalence about whether to use gender neutral English and the empirical, as opposed to principled, arguments used by many to support the old way, suggest that changes may be made for the better.



ellens@ai.mit.edu