Most Canadians think that sharing gender pronouns on work calls and in video meetings has either no impact or actually “encourages stereotypes,” according to a new national survey.
The Leger poll found that 36 per cent of people agreed with the former and 29 per cent with the latter.
Jack Jedwab, who commissioned the poll for the Association for Canadian Studies, called the finding the survey’s “biggest takeaway.” The president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute said the “results put some of the onus on those insisting on the benefits of pronouns to explain why they’re persuaded about their effectiveness when a large majority believe they don’t have the desired outcome.”
The poll found that even among the youngest respondents, those aged 18 to 24, a narrow majority (33 per cent) say the use of personal pronouns in work calls or meetings reinforces gender stereotypes rather than helping to break them down (32 per cent).
Highlighting one’s gender pronouns in email signatures, Zoom meetings, and LinkedIn bios has become popular in recent years as more people identify with the LGBTQ community. Polling published by Ipsos in 2023 found 10 per cent of Canadians identified as LGBTQ, skewing in favour of younger cohorts. Nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of Gen Z individuals identified as LGBTQ compared with 13 per cent of Millennials. Similar figures are seen in America, where Gallup revealed the overall number of American LGBTQ adults has doubled (to 7.6 per cent) in the last 12 years.
The uptick in diverse gender identities different from one’s birth sex – such as those who identify as transgender, non-binary, or gender fluid – has prompted academia and corporations to adopt various style guides and recommendations for best practices when communicating with such individuals.
The federal government now offers a writing guide for “individuals whose genders do not align with the man-woman binary.” Likewise, the University of Toronto’s Sexual & Gender Diversity Office has a detailed online resource encouraging members to start meetings by introducing “your pronouns as a part of your introductions so that others know how to correctly refer to you in and outside of the meeting.”
The idea that sex and gender are distinct concepts has become a political flashpoint in Canada. Jordan Peterson rose to prominence in 2016 after publicly criticizing a federal law seeking to enshrine gender identity and gender expression in the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Opposition to broader diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in Canada and America has accelerated in recent months following Donald Trump’s election in the U.S. In late December, Pierre Poilievre spoke with Peterson, outlining a vision that immigrants should embrace a national identity rather than highlight differences.
“Most people come here to get away from those things. So by getting back to a common sense of values and identity, and reminding people that they are — when they get here, they are Canadian first. Canada first. Leave the hyphens; we don’t need to be a hyphenated society,” Poilievre said on Peterson’s podcast. He encouraged Canadians to “put aside race, this obsession with race that wokeism has reinserted.”
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The Conservative Party leader’s comments were in line with the Leger poll showing few Canadians see similar disclosures about religious affiliations (10 per cent), ethnic background (16 per cent), spoken language (17 per cent) and disability status (19 per cent) as a constructive step towards breaking down stereotypes. By comparison, more Canadians believe such statements encourage stereotypes when it comes to identifying one’s religion (32 per cent), ethnicity (27 per cent), spoken language (22 per cent) and disability status (25 per cent).
For his part, President Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders rolling back federal DEI programs. On Tuesday, PBS, an American publicly funded broadcaster, shuttered its DEI office, with the sentiment trickling into the business world as well. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Target and McDonald’s have all begun scrapping corporate diversity policies.
Jedwab believes that the limited number of Canadians who believe personal pronouns are an inclusive measure for combating stereotypes (17 per cent) foreshadows a deeper struggle unfolding across society regarding, “How we make society more equitable and inclusive in constructive ways.”
The online Leger poll surveyed 1,578 Canadians between Jan. 17 and 19. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. A probability sample of 1,578 respondents would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
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