EasyJet defends pronouns on plane crew name badges in bid to provide ‘inclusive environment’

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Airline easyJet has defended its move to introduce pronouns on name badges belonging to their plane crew.

EasyJet has defended its policy of letting its plane crew include their preferred pronouns on name badges despite criticism. The move, which has been in place since November last year, reportedly allows airline staff to choose over 25 pronouns, including ‘she/her’, ‘he/him’ or ‘they/them’.

According to a report by a major newspaper daily, up to 25 other titles are also available and they include ‘ze/zir/zirs’ ‘xe/xe,/xyrs’ ‘ze/hir/hirs’. The pronouns will also be translated into other languages, like French or Italian.

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However, the move has received backlash from Sir John Hayes, chair of the Tories’ Common Sense Group, who reportedly said that the move was ‘out of touch’ and ‘pointless’ to implement on its staff.

He said: “This is another example of out-of-touch, profit greedy plutocrats expecting their hardworking staff to endure this kind of pointless posturing - and customers to take seriously an organisation that can’t grasp the English language.”

In response to this, easyJet said the move was part of their effort to provide an ‘inclusive environment’ for everyone.

An eastJet spokesperson said: “Like many organisations, we support our crew should they identify with a specific pronoun and have given them the choice to add this to their name badges should they wish. We want to ensure we provide an inclusive environment for everyone onboard.”

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In 2019, the airline was reported to have directed its staff to move away from using the phrase “ladies and gentlemen” to be more inclusive. It had said: “We want our crew to be welcoming to everyone onboard and so have provided some guidance to them on how to best do that in a way that is inclusive for everyone.”

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