JPMorgan Chase Has Removed Gender-Specific Language From Its Bylaws: Here’s Why It Matters
As featured last month in Bloomberg Equality, JPMorgan Chase has eliminated gender-specific language from its bylaws, including replacing “chairman” with “chair” and removing gendered pronouns like “his” and “her.” This announcement is consistent with the bank’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, which includes a $30 billion commitment to advance racial equity and a commitment to expanding a diverse workforce.
The gendered terms traditionally embedded in corporate language cater predominately to men. This is harmful for several reasons:
It excludes women and non-binary individuals.
It can promote unconscious bias among leadership; if bylaw language indicates that only men can hold certain roles, hiring practices may follow suit.
Women and non-binary individuals may not see themselves reflected in bylaw language and therefore may feel discouraged to apply for leadership positions.
Language is a powerful tool for inclusion. A 2019 Swedish study discovered that promoting the use of gender-neutral pronouns “reduces biases favoring men, which encourages more positive views of women, homosexuals, and transgendered people...allowing the nonmale group to become more pronounced.” The gender neutrality conversation is becoming more acknowledged with “about one-in-five U.S. adults knowing someone who goes by a gender-neutral pronoun.”
JPMorgan Chase’s effort may encourage other corporations to create more inclusive cultures and advocate for their LGBTQ+ employees. In June 2020, with the backing of more than 206 well-known American corporations from Amazon to Zillow, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers in all 50 states. Before this ruling, more than 50% of LGBTQ+ employees lived in states where they could be fired because they were homosexual, bisexual or transgender.
Since the 1990s, IBM (one of the 206 supporters of the ruling) has been a steadfast pioneer for the LGBTQ+ community. They’ve redefined their corporate structure and cultivated a safe work environment through their LGBTQ+ efforts, which include:
A global non-discrimination policy which includes sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.
LGBTQ+ benefit coverage for gender transitions, same-sex domestic partner benefits and gender-affirmation treatment.
LGBTQ+ programs and initiatives that cover LGBTQ+ and diversity topics.
Employee-wide educational LGBTQ+ eLearning courses.
Making employees feel seen, valued, trusted, and respected is beneficial not only to individuals but also to a company’s bottom line. Recent research from Catalyst revealed that when companies focus on building their diversity and inclusion, employee turnover drops. Not only that, key profitability metrics like job satisfaction, productivity, and performance all increase.
A recent 2020 Gallup poll update revealed that 5.6% of individuals identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, increased from 4.5% in 2017. The poll attributes the growth to “younger generations being far more likely to consider themselves to be something other than heterosexual.” One-in-six Generation Z adults (ages 18 to 23) identifies as LGBT.
Over the past five years alone, there have been significant shifts in the way corporations and the nation are normalizing gender-inclusive language. Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year (decided by its user’s highest dictionary searches) was “feminism” in 2017, “justice” in 2018 and most recently, the gender-neutral pronoun “they” in 2019.
JP Morgan has changed the language of its bylaws, an important step. The world will be watching as companies like JP Morgan work to put their inclusion efforts into practice.