Why inclusive job titles matter

Default-masculine job titles cut the female applicant pool by roughly 40% before anyone has read the role description. The data on this is consistent across every language with grammatical gender that has been studied — German, French, Polish, Spanish, Lithuanian — and it is large enough to swamp every other intervention you might consider.

The fix is mechanical: make the title pair-form. Below are the conventions used by serious employers in nine major languages.

English

The title itself is gender-neutral; the work is in the body.

• Use they/them when referring to the role.
• Replace "guys" with "team," "everyone," "folks."
• Replace "manpower" with "capacity, headcount, resources."
• "Salesman" → "Salesperson"; "chairman" → "chair"; "foreman" → "supervisor."

German

Append (m/w/d) — male / female / diverse — to the title. (m/w/x) is also common.

• Logistikmanager (m/w/d)
• Softwareentwickler (m/w/d)
• Vertriebsleiter (m/w/d)

In the body, use the Gendersternchen (*) or the colon (:): Mitarbeiter*innen or Mitarbeiter:innen. If your house style is conservative, the slash form Mitarbeiter/innen works too.

French

Two equally accepted conventions:

• The inclusive median dot: Chef·fe de logistique, Développeur·euse, Directeur·rice.
• The (H/F) suffix: Chef de logistique (H/F), Développeur (H/F).

Pick one and use it consistently across the post. In the body, prefer the écriture inclusive form (les candidat·e·s) or restructure to plural to avoid the question.

Lithuanian

Append (-ė) to the masculine form to indicate the feminine ending.

• Logistikos vadybininkas (-ė)
• Programuotojas (-a)
• Pardavimų vadovas (-ė)

In the body, use paired forms (kandidatas (-ė)) or restructure to plural (kandidatai).

Polish

Slashed paired form is the norm.

• Specjalista/Specjalistka ds. logistyki
• Programista/Programistka
• Kierownik/Kierowniczka projektu

The body uses paired forms for nouns and inflects verbs into the plural where possible.

Spanish

Slashed paired form, with the -a ending.

• Coordinador/a de logística
• Desarrollador/a
• Director/a comercial

In the body, the -x ending (candidatx) is sometimes seen but is academically discouraged. Stick with -o/a paired forms or restructure to plural (personas candidatas).

Italian

Two conventions:

• Slashed paired form: Sviluppatore/Sviluppatrice, Responsabile commerciale (M/F).
• (M/F) suffix is also widely accepted.

Body text usually uses paired forms. The schwa ending (ə) exists academically but is rare in commercial job posts.

Portuguese

Slashed paired form.

• Coordenador/a de logística
• Desenvolvedor/a
• Gerente comercial (M/F)

Brazilian and European Portuguese both follow the same convention; the -x ending is rare.

Dutch

Dutch has very limited grammatical gender, but professional titles still default-masculine in older usage. Modern practice:

• Use the (m/v/x) suffix on senior or operational roles where the masculine form dominates.
• For most titles, the noun is already neutral (ontwikkelaar, manager, ingenieur) — no suffix needed.

What this looks like in practice

Bad (Lithuanian): "Ieškome logistikos vadybininko." Good: "Ieškome logistikos vadybininko (-ės)."

Bad (German): "Wir suchen einen Logistikmanager." Good: "Wir suchen einen Logistikmanager (m/w/d)."

Bad (French): "Nous recrutons un développeur senior." Good: "Nous recrutons un·e développeur·euse senior."

Same role, twice the applicant pool.

Where Penroll fits

Penroll's job-description generator produces gender-inclusive titles automatically for every supported language — no tickbox to enable, no setting to find. If you write "logistikos vadybininke" it outputs "Logistikos vadybininkas (-ė)." If you write "sales manager" in German, you get "Vertriebsleiter (m/w/d)." This is on by default because the data is unambiguous.