> It's because it contains "man". In modern English "mankind" is often > percieved as having an emphasis on men and a corresponding demphasis on
OK, I understand. We have some similar issues in French. Not for "mankind" directly though we often speak about "l'Homme" when it comes at speaking about the specific animal we are all..:-) We have lot of such cases with several "occupations" (correct English work missing...I mean "métier"...ie your work) such as "professeur" (teachers : no special work for women doing this.....I always talk about my girl's "professeur d'anglais" even when this is a woman). Some other word such a "ministre" now have two genders : we speak about "le ministre" or "la ministre".....while the very first woman becoming a Minister in France (in 1947, IIRC) was named "le ministre de....whatever she was Minister for. Slowly, media began talking about "la ministre" in the 80's when women becoming Minister were more common. However, the only and only Prime Minister we had (Edith Cresson, 1991) has always been named "le Premier Ministre" and not "la Première Ministre"....and, btw, was treated very rudely which is a shame to all of us (gender equity in French politics is a shame for French people).
