He, him, his: Masculine language in professional guidance and assessed equity and inclusion of women and LGBTQ+ people in the profession

Abstract

Three experiments examine how the use of masculine language in professional guidance affects assessments of the equity and inclusion of historically marginalized gender and sexual orientation groups in the accounting profession. Experiment 1 manipulates the pronouns used in auditing standards as masculine vs. gender-inclusive, and finds that masculine pronouns reduce accounting professionals' assessed equity and inclusion of women and LGBTQ+ people in the audit profession. Participant gender also has an effect, with women making lower overall equity and inclusion assessments. In Experiment 2, college students read a neutral-language accounting job ad as well as professional guidance that uses masculine vs. gender-inclusive pronouns, and assess the accounting profession's equity and inclusion of women and LGBTQ+ people. Masculine pronouns reduce students' equity and inclusion assessments, and this effect is stronger for women and LGBTQ+ participants. In Experiment 3, LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ U.S. residents assess the equity and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in accounting. Pronouns have a stronger effect on LGBTQ+ than non-LGBTQ+ participants. Further, for LGBTQ+ participants, the effect of pronouns is not conditioned on participant gender; however, pronouns affect non-LGBTQ+ women's, but not non-LGBTQ+ men's, assessments of LGBTQ+ equity and inclusion.