Originally Posted by
ORAC
The term man is not gender specific - “What a piece of work is man!” In Hamlet applies equally, as does mankind and manslaughter.
I always thought the trend to use terms such as chairperson was manifestly silly, as with attempts to eliminate the use of term as a prefix or suffix b6 those ignorant of the etymology.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/man
"a featherless plantigrade biped mammal of the genus Homo" [Century Dictionary], Old English man, mann "human being, person (male or female).
Going out on a limb ORAC, I'd guess that you, like I, are male. I can assure that as far as a significant number of females are concerned, "man" is very gender specific and they do not wish to be described as such. Whilst males might not see the issue, it doesn't mean there is one.
In this case an issue exists that does everything from gently rubbing someone up the wrong way that they won't feel the need to say anything about, all the way to an issue big enough to stop people from joining. Indeed there are some women who genuinely don't give a crap, but that doesn't mean the organisation shouldn't change to bring the rest on board. Especially when that change costs literally nothing, why would one not?