LinkedIn has seen an increase in users who list preferred pronouns despite 'woke' backlash

• LinkedIn has seen a 29% increase this year in users who list their preferred pronouns.
• The platform added a pronoun feature in March 2021, reflecting societal gender shifts.

Detractors might consider it woke, but more professionals are including their preferred pronouns on their LinkedIn profiles.

Globally, some 38 million people on the platform now list their pronouns on their profiles, a 29% increase since January, a LinkedIn spokesperson told Business Insider.

LinkedIn added space for users to include their preferred pronouns in their profiles in March 2021. The spokesperson said that, since then, the platform has seen a "steady uptick" in adoption.

Growth in the number of people who display their pronouns comes as some employers are downplaying or retreating from their embrace of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Big-name companies, including Lowe's, John Deere, and Harley-Davidson, have reduced or scrapped their DEI efforts following criticism from a conservative activist.

To some degree, the increased use of preferred pronouns on LinkedIn signals that the practice is becoming an unremarkable part of office life, researchers who have written about gender issues told BI.

The pronoun proliferation on LinkedIn, which has some 1 billion users, comes as it's become more common to include such information in email signatures and on business cards. Displaying pronouns has also remained a political flash point.

An easy decision for some

Michael West, who works on issues of public health and social policy in Australia, wrote in a recent LinkedIn post about using he/they pronouns.

"Articulating my pronouns publicly also creates space for others to reflect on, discuss and consider what feels best for them," West wrote. He went on to add that "stating your pronouns is a small but powerful action that can make a significant positive difference to many other people."

A survey conducted on behalf of LinkedIn around the time the platform added the pronoun feature found that 70% of job seekers believed it was important that recruiters and hiring managers knew their gender pronouns. Seventy-two percent of hiring managers agreed.

The online survey, conducted in late February and early March 2021, involved about 2,100 adult job seekers in the US and some 1,000 hiring managers.

A tool for efficiency

Kathryn Bond Stockton, a distinguished professor of English at the University of Utah, told BI that even for people who might identify as nonbinary, trans, or genderqueer, pronouns aren't an ideology or "an identity in and of themselves."

Instead, she said, many people have come to view preferred pronouns in workplace settings as a navigational tool.

"A lot of people are now seeing the acts of listing and respecting pronouns in that light — as a type of kind, efficient way to refer to each other instead of having people have to ask that question," Stockton said.

She said that having to specify them in professional settings should remain optional and not something prescribed by employers. However, respecting what people do specify should be required, she said. Stockton identifies as genderqueer yet said that, in her case, she doesn't care what pronouns others use to describe her.

"They're all equally right or wrong for my life trajectory. So, you know, have at it," Stockton said. She said that because most people, understandably, have strong feelings about their pronouns, others should respect that.

Stockton added that many of us already use "they" in a singular way colloquially, so it's not as difficult to use alternate pronouns for others as some people might fear.

She said that in her experience, the people most likely to protest the rise of people sharing their preferred pronouns would "potentially feel the most offended if their pronoun was not respected."

Ultimately, Stockton said that in the workplace or other settings, if people don't want to specify their own pronouns, that should be respected, too.

The overall reaction to the pronoun feature has been positive, LinkedIn's spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the platform wasn't able to share insights at this time on industries, geographies, and other characteristics where users tend to display their preferred pronouns most often.

Minjae Ormes, VP of marketing at LinkedIn, wrote in a 2021 post that a person's profile is "more than just a career highlight reel."

Ormes added that letting users add their preferred pronouns "is another form of self-identity and -expression that plays a fundamental role in acknowledging and celebrating what makes us strong together."

We don't always use pronouns

Davina Cooper, a research professor in law and political theory at King's College London, told BI that the increase in the number of people posting their preferred pronouns on a platform like LinkedIn or in email signatures partly reflects societal shifts toward recognizing diverse gender identities.

Cooper, who said she doesn't indicate preferred pronouns, said that for some people sharing their pronouns can signal support for marginalized groups.

Yet, in practical terms, listing pronouns might not have that much of an impact in something like an email correspondence, she said. That's because if she's writing to someone, she's not going to address the person in the third person.

"So, in a lot of contexts, it is more about someone saying something about where they're situated within a debate," Cooper said. "When they say 'she/they,' they're communicating a political commitment, including one of solidarity."

She said she respects the importance of people "feeling recognized" and the value of developments that shift traditional understandings of gender.

"This allows societies to evolve and to have shared conversations about what gender should be about," Cooper said.

She said that, ultimately, while some people find comfort in sharing their preferred pronouns, what that says about a person might be limited.

"At a certain point, is it just like knowing someone's name?" Cooper said. "It's, 'I'm John,' but what it means for me to be John you can't apply to anyone else."