GSA to update its property management regulations to include gender-inclusive pronouns

The General Services Administration plans to update its regulations governing how the federal government manages real estate and related activities to include more gender-inclusive pronouns.

The final version of the regulations implementing these changes, along with several other grammatical errors, to the Federal Management Regulations, the rules that govern how the federal government manages its physical presence, is scheduled to be published in Federal Register Thursday. In the filing, GSA described the changes as “technical corrections” that are not significant enough to require a notice and comment period.

The vast majority of the changes appear to be a simple replacement of “his/her” with “their.” Elsewhere, the rule removes the presumption that the GSA administrator is male by replacing male pronouns with “administrator.” Robin Carnahan, the current Senate-confirmed GSA administrator, is a woman.

In its application, GSA said the update is part of the agency’s implementation of President Biden’s executive order that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in both the federal workforce and government services to the public. The change will come at no cost to the taxpayer, the agency said.

“The federal government must be a model of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, where all employees are treated with dignity and respect,” the agency wrote. “That is why GSA conducted a review of (Federal Management Regulations).”

According to Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab, using gender-sensitive language not only reflects changing cultural awareness of LGBTQ+ issues, but is also simply a better way to write.

“In addition to being respectful to people of all genders, it makes the sentence shorter and easier to say,” the post reads. “In fact, almost all of us use this language regularly without even thinking about it.”

The changes will go into effect Oct. 21. This is the second such update GSA has made in recent months, following a similar rule last April that updated federal travel regulations.