'You could say there's bigger fish to fry for anything, but why not focus on what we can control, which is our language?' Ms Choy says. Ms Choy challenges that view, saying the use of 'guys' is part of a larger structure of exclusion facing women. 'If it's a contest between worrying about the use of the term 'guys' and actually taking seriously the disproportionate level of violence against Indigenous women, I know where we should be focusing our attention.' Language has the power to make people invisible, according to an expert in gender studies. Jessian Choy, a public speaker focused on inclusive language and environmentalism, has compiled thousands of tweets showing how the phrase can inadvertently make women feel invisible when used in phrases such as, 'This app was built by the guys at.' Similarly, women in tech can feel sidelined by the phrase.

'The word 'guys' can be used to mean both men and women - but not for everybody.'įor women in male-dominated industries particularly, 'guys' can reinforce their sense of being in the minority.įelicity Young, a receptionist in the automotive industry, explains the use of 'guys' has become the default at her workplace: 'It annoyingly does become ingrained,' she says. 'Some people do not feel excluded by the word 'guys', but some do,' agrees Lisa Annese, CEO of Diversity Council Australia. Linguist John Hajek, from The University of Melbourne's School of Languages and Linguistics, says the term doesn't always mean 'males in the plural' nowadays, but he acknowledges others take a different view.Ĭritics argue the term is sexist because, while claiming to be gender-neutral, it actually positions men as the 'default' (after all, 'guy' in the singular invariably means 'male'). The term 'guys' was originally a reference to British historical figure Guy Fawkes, but in the mid-1800s it began being used in the United States to mean 'men' generally. Ms Moore says it wasn't borne out of a 'patriarchal context', unlike other terms now widely recognised as exclusionary or sexist - such as 'chairman' or 'mankind'. Some of you think it's an example of political correctness gone mad, while others have started using alternatives such as 'everyone', 'team' or 'peeps'.

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