Ford drops the use of ‘chairman’ title, adopts other neutral language

Because words matter. Ford Motor Company notified federal regulators that the 118-year-old automaker has officially replaced the use of "chairman" with "chair."

And they're not the only ones making language changes.

The Board of Directors voted on July 8 to amend Ford's bylaws effective immediately and adopt genderneutral language throughout, including the title "chair" in place of "chairman" as well as various others revisions. The company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated July 9 shows the actual editing of the original company document with the use of markups.

So now Bill Ford is known as executive chair rather than executive chairman of the company his greatgrandfather founded.

Ford spokeswoman Marisa Bradley told the Free Press on Monday, "Our roles at Ford aren't genderexclusive and these changes help limit ambiguity, and drive the inclusive and equitable culture we're striving for."

The company had to file notice because it's publicly traded and investors must be alerted to any modifications to bylaws, regardless of what the updates are.

Back in mid-March, JPMorgan Chase & Co. updated its bylaws to reflect gender-neutral language, replacing "chairman" with "chair" and gender-specific pronouns like "he" and "his" with non-gender-specific terms such as "director."

The largest U.S. bank "scrubbed its gender designations as pressure grows from both society and investors on global businesses to show they are diversifying and becoming more inclusive," Bloomberg reported.

This is part of an ongoing pivot from non-corporate gender-specific terms such as fireman, policeman, stewardess, mailman and waitress to firefighter, police officer, flight attendant, mail carrier and server.

Meanwhile, General Motors is no longer using "chairman" either. Spokesman David Barnas, company spokesman, said the automaker made the transition back in May. While the bylaws haven't been changed or submitted to the SEC, company protocol has changed and the updates are made on the GM website.

"Mary Barra's title adjustment from chairman and CEO to chair and CEO is just one of many changes at General Motors in our journey to be the most inclusive company in the world," Barnas said.