A-Z House Style Guide

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gender #

Use gender inclusive language eg firefighter (not fireman), chairperson (not chairman), police officer (not policeman or policewoman), host (not hostess), shooter (not gunman) and so on.

Never use ‘his/he’ or ‘her/she’ if you’re guessing or assuming gender eg use ‘If students want to get good marks, they must study hard’, but not ‘If the student wants to get good marks, he must study hard.’ 

Refer to women and men, not ladies and gentlemen.

Refer to parents rather than ‘mothers’ or ‘mums’ unless you really are speaking in about mothers or fathers specifically.

Avoid the term ‘women and children’ as this can infantalise women. Alternatives include: parents and children, single-parents and children, children and women. 

Don’t use ‘to man’ when it comes to a role. Use something else eg ‘to operate’. Avoid gender stereotypes when you can: be aware. 

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geographical labels #

Use capitals for recognised regions: the Far East, the West Country, South-East Asia, the South of France, Red Leicester, Wensleydale, Cheshire cheese, Belgian bun, French windows. But: north London, south-east England, geordie, cockney, cheddar (cheese).

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Gift Aid (noun) #

Capitals, no hyphen eg Gift Aid enables us to…

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Gift Aid declaration #

Capitals, lower case for ‘declaration’. Avoid the word ‘form’.

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Gift-Aid (verb) #

Capitals, hyphen, eg Gift-Aid it!

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Global Britain #

It is important not to use language that is associated with colonial times such as Global Britain, or to describe the United Kingdom as a ‘global leader’, ‘global superpower’, or ‘force for global good’. However, in some campaigns we might want to ask the UK government to show global leadership, for example. So this language can be used when directed at the UK Government (to reflect their own language). But in most circumstances it is better to use expressions such as UK playing its part or UK working in solidarity with, UK playing a positive role in the world, UK working in partnership. Similarly with ‘British values’ or ‘British expertise’, it is better to say shared human values or British experience.

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Global north/south #

Avoid using. See Developing countries for further information.

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god/God #

Note where we use capitals and where we don’t: the Father or ‘Father, we pray…’; Son, Son of God, Son of Man; Holy Spirit, filled with the Spirit; Lord, King of kings, Lord of lords; he, his, himself; Jesus is our saviour; the Saviour teaches us that…; the Messiah, the one.

But: They made a god out of their ambitions (lower case ‘g’) 

Refer to Holy Spirit as ‘he’.

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godly #

Lower case ‘g’.

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gospel (noun or adjective) #

Lower case ‘g’.

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Government/government #

Lower case ‘g’ when general, eg We agree that governments must do more.

Upper case ‘g’ when specific, eg The UK Government must do more.