BVI News

Turnbull calls for gender-sensitive language to be reflected in HOA policies, constitution

Turnbull

Second District Representative Melvin ‘Mitch’ Turnbull has made a call for gender-sensitive language to be reflected in public policies; particularly documents such as the Virgin Islands Constitution and the Standing Orders that govern the House of Assembly.

Turnbull urged the Standing Orders Committee and Premier Andrew Fahie to consider changing the language to reflect what he described as a new era.

“I believe the time has come. I believe we are far past the time where we address the gender equality, the gender discrimination and the sensitivity to how the language of the Standing Orders and even the constitution is written,” Turnbull said.

He said words such as ‘his’ and ‘chairman’ should be amended “to take into consideration the evolving nature and development … [of] women taking office”.

He further challenged the Standing Orders Committee to change the language before the House is dissolved.

“I think it is also in the wisdom of the members of the committee to not just look at the current situation and in the current component on how this Honourable House is now comprised but take into consideration other scenarios that might possibly come,” Turnbull argued.

Shares

Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

23 Comments

Disclaimer: BVI News and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the comments below or other interaction among the users.

  1. Good move says:

    But I don’t see this happening for a while because of the ignoramos that is set in their ways and can’t adapt to change.

    Like 7
    Dislike 3
  2. Anonymous says:

    Mankind has a lots of correcting to do relative to this issue.

    For example, many have a a very serious issue with referring to the woman and or man the love love as “my wife” or “my husband.”

    Now, the none thinker or shallow thinker would dismiss this as small pickings, but it is? will the discussion go any further at the moment? No!

    But suffice it to say, think about it. Does a man or woman become property when she/he go through a man made ceremony?

    My wife. My husband. Those words conjures up such possessiveness of which humans should not be entitled to. FFT.Of course the christian view would bwould be diametrically oppose to this.

    Like 2
    Dislike 16
    • Overeducated says:

      “This is my family.” Do you own the people you consider family?
      “This is my country.” Do you own the country to which you have citizenship?

      Make sense out of nonsense, not the other way around. Possessive nouns serve a grammatical and logical purpose. We need language to communicate with one another. We agree to definitions of words to ensure everyone understand what word belongs to what idea. Being disingenuous about semantics just makes it more difficult to communicate with one another and creates ambiguity where there once was none.

      This has nothing to do with religion. This PC nonsense has gone too far. Mitch, don’t you have other better things to do with your time? If this is the best you can do for your country and your people, you need to be removed from office right now. If you want to see what happens when leaders are too concerned about being liked and ‘on the right side of history’ instead of using their brains or actually serving the people in any meaningful way, look at Justin Trudeau of Canada. He’s a real laughing stock. Do we need a VI Justin Trudeau? I think not.

      Nothing is wrong with the language. If the people can’t understand general terms and why generality needs to exist then we have bigger problems on our hands than correct nouns and pronouns. That would mean the education system has failed us and the narcissism levels are too darn high.

      Like 11
      Dislike 1
  3. VIsLander says:

    In these times that’s the best you could come up with? Okay but that is a major priority that will get us on track right now. I have no objections against it but prioritize man

    Like 10
    Dislike 1
  4. Ok says:

    Your wife or husband should be known as your partner or your life long partner.That my wife or my husband sounds possessive or personal property. Same as people say I love my wife or I love my husband, where it should be I’m in love with my wife or husband. Being in love with your wife or husband is not the same as I love my wife or my husband.

    Like 3
    Dislike 4
  5. Hah says:

    We have become way too sensitive since the start of the last decade. Words that were not meant as insults like retarded and midget are now derogatory. You cant even call people fat anymore without being accused of being a fat shamer. Soon you will be following the new trend of waiting until the child is 18 so that they can choose their gender. The world is slowly moving towards disfunction while claiming freedom and wokeness. We have men taking female hormones then competing and beating women in sports and bragging. Jesus take the wheel.

    Like 35
    Dislike 3
  6. baldheaded says:

    and sometimes we mistakenly says madam speaker instead of mister speaker …

  7. E. Leonard says:

    A needed and easy housekeeping item and is low hanging fruit. The number of women in the workforce is nearing a critical mass and women are a critical and important cog in the workforce. Out of respect for and to ensure gender neutrality, our grandmothers mothers, sisters, daughters, nieces, cousins, and friends, gender neutrality terms should be used both in the public and private sectors. Undoubtedly, the BVI seems inadvertently slow in addressing this gender issue in a timely manner. This is not a heavy lift and the change can be done soonest.

    Further, terms like chairman(chairperson), fireman(firefighter), policeman( police officer); workman( worker), housewife(homemaker), secretary(office assistant), businessman( businessperson), man-hours(work hours), Councilman(Council member), maiden name(former name, landlord(land owner)……etc can be easily changed. Handicap terms can also be changed, ie, instead of handicapped, persons with disability is preferable.

    Like 11
    Dislike 4
    • Ridiculous! says:

      That’s PC gone mad! The Chairman refers to the position in the meeting not the gender – i am female and have taken the chair on many occasions.

      What next – change our species mankind to personkind!!

      Like 10
      Dislike 8
  8. Don't forget says:

    A flight attendant is now called Air hostess,A bartender is now called a mixoligist,A doorman is now called a door attendant,A person who style wigs is called a wigoligist.

    Like 4
    Dislike 1
  9. X says:

    It this is what we are now dwelling on, I’m sorry for us a s country. Next you will be telling us that we are whatever we identify ourselves as (male/female/etc). Right now we have more pressing matters to deal with.

  10. Anonymous says:

    They remake Ghostbusters with all female and cast an all female Ocean 8 all to push this feminist agenda and both flopped. They put a more “inclusive” pro feminist twist on Charlie’s Angels they flopped. Every show trying to cast a one of each now and it feels forced not natural.

  11. Well says:

    The feminist thing is taking over big time. The Me Too movement have men shaking in their boots.

  12. Guy Hill says:

    Sometimes I don’t speak “right” but yet you and I know what I am talking about. I’ll just rest this here. Breath in, Breath out, move on.

    Like 5
    Dislike 2
  13. Good gosh says:

    This sounds sooooo gay

    Like 1
    Dislike 5
  14. The Truth says:

    Please keep the PC, liberal, over sensitive nonsense in America.

    Like 1
    Dislike 1
  15. Jane says:

    Language is powerful. There are words which society agrees no longer have a place, the N Word is one of these. Many people say that the relegating that word to the history hooks is political correctness gone mad too. Lets us all be sensitive to others in the choice of language we use.

    Like 2
    Dislike 1
    • :) says:

      Don’t be dumb the N word was a racist insult. Chairman is not derogatory or an insult to men or woman. Comparing that and the n word is stupid.

  16. A man of God you say says:

    What does the Bible say about this pasta boy?

  17. Nikita says:

    Hehe!! Just now he is going to ask to change the way the bible the book of book is writte ,to reflect gender equality. The Honourable needs to address the language in the criminal Code as well for example the definition of rape.it starts by a man commits the offence of rape ,it should be a a man/woman or a person .?food for thought.

Leave a Reply

Shares