Australian airline Qantas has provided updated guidance to staff on what language is appropriate…and what language is not.
Qantas has embarked upon a “Spirit of Inclusion” initiative, which includes a new set of guidelines governing language. Produced by the Diversity Council of Australia, employees are no longer permitted to use the following words or terminology:
- Husband and Wife (use “partner” or “spouse” instead)
- Mum and Dad (use “parent” instead)
- Chairman (“reinforces the idea that leaders are always men”)
- Settlement (use “colonisation” or “occupation” or “invasion” instead)
- Guys, Love, Honey (gender specific terms)
The guide also instructs males to consciously eliminate “manterruptions” (when a man interrupts a woman when she is speaking).
As you might expect, not everyone supports this new initiate.
Former Prime Minster Tony Abbot deems these changes “political correctness gone way over the top”. In a radio interview, he claimed “love” and “sweetie” were terms of endearment and added–
Frankly, if companies like Qantas want to give their customers a better a deal, they can scrap all these inclusion units, just scrap them and save the money, because it’s just rubbish this idea that we need a corporate thought police. I mean really and truly, it is a complete and absolute utter waste of money…
Qantas staff are very good people, they are decent, sensitive people, and they don’t need this kind of nonsense. It is an insult to them. This is, I’m afraid Ray, the very weird and strange times in which we live.
CONCLUSION
I frankly love being called “love” or “honey” by airline staff. I think those terms should stay…
What do you think about the new Qantas language guidelines?
image: Qantas
I can’t believe that this language is enforced. You now cannot day husband and wife or mom and dad! How is this not hauntingly similar to 1984?
There is no limit to what can be policed if the criteria is someone will be offended by something you say.
The strange thing is that people who support this kind of censorship at the same time vehemently attacks religious or “conservative” censorship like what is done in Indonesia and many Islamic countries, as well as Russia and China. Either you support free speech (within reason) or you support censorship. If you support free speech for some people or ideas you support but censorship for people and ideas you don’t like, that’s the height of hypocrisy.
Most people are pretty decent, whether on the Left or Right, religious or not, and will usually treat others with respect, especially if you are a flight attendant. What is to be gained by forceably restricting language?
They’re going to have to change the name of their most exclusive lounges then! Somehow, the Qantas Chairperson’s Lounge doesn’t quite have the same ring to it…
Yet their highest tier membership is still called Chairmans Lounge despite having had a female Chairman in the past who signs off on all CL memberships…
@Ben
It’s not about censorship — it’s about common courtesy. I don’t think it’s too much to make an effort to NOT marginalize those outside of your comfort circle (male-female, straight-gay, white-non). It’s not about “enforcing” because Quantas staff…ARE EMPLOYEES. The company is choosing to encourage cultural values…which are more diverse than the views of any one person or traveler.
As usual, James, I have to disagree with you.
If I see a married man and woman, calling them husband and wife is not marginalizing anyone — it is simply a statement of fact and reality. By the same token, if I see 2 married men, I am not marginalizing anyone by calling them spouses or partners.
This rule presupposes that intolerant FAs are walking up to gay couples and rudely asking “which one is the wife,” or something. I highly doubt this is occurring and if it is those FAs should be disciplined or terminated.
@andy k, yes you hit the nail on the head. The assumption is that people, including the majority of Qantad flight attendants are being offensive and not using language that people prefer. I highly doubt that any flight attendants at Qantas or elsewhere would refuse to use the words parents or spouse if requested.
@James ok then by the same logic, I assume you are fine with how Qatar or other airlines treat their flight attendants because they are EMPLOYEES. It’s a voluntary work contract, they don’t need to sign and work for Qatar under those restrictive policies. And those of us in the West dare not be imperialistic, trying to impose our values on them.
Can you not see the logical inconsistency in your thinking and how it undermines any power you have to fight for what is good?
This sounds like a bunch of stupid.
Hear hear.
Sigh. This is what Qantas spends their time doing, thinking up stuff like this?
Where does ‘settlement’ come in??
Guilt over British imperialism…
And “colonisation” makes it better? *confused*
Funny…seems like I’ve been womanterrupted before…but that’s ok, right??
So ridiculous. Treat others with respect and they’ll generally return the same treatment. If they don’t, be a grown-up about it and move on.
This is the highest form of bullsh*t PC gone wrong. Unbelievable.
The first few are not at all unexpected but the “settlement” ban is quite interesting. First of all, is this a common word in Australian culture? More importantly, it is ironic that certain words are prescribed to foster so-called inclusion and diversity, while this one is clearly purposes to bring undue shame upon Colonial powers without regard to a true reading or history (where would Australia be without the British?)
There was one college (I can’t remember which one) that banned “manmade”. You must write synthetic. Mankind is banned also you must say People. So they dont’ want any gender identity. There’s no man or woman. Just like me as a gay man I resent LGBT. Bisexuals are different and they let everyone know. Transgender is a
choice that people make and they are not gay nor have anything to do with gay.
Once they make the sex change they have different friends. They either go form gay to straight or straight to gay but a different gender. Transgender/trans sexuals should have their own group.
I used to go to pride parades but now they are just “pride”. To me that makes no sense.
So a small group of people are working behind the scenes to blur gender lines. It’s really scary. I could go on but that’s all for now.
Isn’t Qantas’ invitation only top level frequent flyer status called the chairmans lounge?
This is ludicrous. They’re veering towards an extreme which isn’t healthy at all
Perhaps a more relevant stat for Qantas to contemplate: only 3 female execs in senior management ( 3/14). Maybe some self reflection is in order rather than pc tokenism.
I don’t object to those terms , although I don’t use them myself outside family/close cronies. But when I go to my local deli/market, I’m called, inter alia, dear, pet, sweetie, hon(ey), love, darl, sometimes even my name. It’s just generational and who could complain?
As a retired airline employee there were times when people stepped in front of me and I honestly didn’t know if I was talking to a man or a woman – this, while (in my job description) I was supposed to address people by their names “Mr Smith, “Ms Jones”, etc throughout the day. I was once “corrected” (of my gender mistake) by a woman who looked and dressed completely like a man and was insulted as well.
I shouldn’t have to decipher or be scratching my head while doing mental machinations trying to figure out what gender I am talking to – if you look like a man, dress like a man, act like a man, have all the trappings of a man, I’m addressing you like a man. Likewise for a man who shows every indication of being a woman. STRESSFUL to the rest of us.
The headline “QANTAS BANS “GENDER-INAPPROPRIATE” LANGUAGE, OTHER “OFFENSIVE” TERMS” is just plainly false. If you’d have taken the time to actually read the guidelines that the airline has published, rather than just recycling news articles that have gone down the same lazy path as you have, you’d perhaps come to the correct conclusion.
The guidelines purely state that it is important to be considerate of people from background other than your own, whatever that may be. That you shouldn’t assume the gender of someone’s partner or parents, nor refer to someone purely based on their ethnic background or what they look like.
Anything for some clicks and engagement through comments, I guess. Indicative of the rest of your coverage to be honest. Please cover more of Oscar’s lovely and heartfelt emails to his employees as he strips away bonuses and benefits left, right and centre.
It’s not British imperialism you idiots, it’s the attempt at the almost compete and utter destruction of indigenous Australian culture by white Australians. You must also know that virtually all Australians refer to their wife, husband, boyfriend or girlfriend as partner anyway, so it’s not even a big stretch for Qantas to recommend this.
@Oliver thank you for your perceptive comments on this issue and the (in my opinion) completely undeserved love for Oscar.
Perpetrated by _________?
(British imperialists who became Australians)
You’re splitting hairs…
My Mom was just fine being ‘Mom’. QF’s PC garbage is Pure Crap.
Perhaps we can ban the words “female” “feminist” “empowered female” “gay” “transsexual” as well. I find them deeply offensive and i might add 90% of the world does too.
Ok, so when anyone refers to the ‘settlements’ on The West Bank they’re now to be corrected and told to say ‘invasion’ or ‘colonisation’ instead? Well at last that’s a silver lining to a daft directive. Oh wait…is that allowable?