Assuming Gender in Email
Well, you know what happens when you assume? It rarely works out well.
Making assumptions is often brought up when it comes to email. Assuming never leads to anything positive. Assuming intent, tone, seriousness, and sense of humor is often the cause of misunderstandings. If you are unsure, ask.
“Unisex” names are all the rage nowadays, but there have always been names that could go either way. Combine that with the global environment in which we are all playing, and assume that whether the contact is male or female can cause you not to make a very good impression.
Here’s an example:
My name is Nikita. It’s a typical Russian male name, but when I send emails to other countries, people got some problems with identifying my gender when looking at my sig. As a result, in response, I got messages starting with “dear ms. Nikita” Can I put “mr” somewhere in the sig to avoid misunderstanding?
I have had that happen to me as well. Generally, I tend to take that inquiry as spam from an automated system. Judith is a female name, after all.
But say I give the benefit of the doubt to people who do not take the time to read my site to know I am a female, or those from other cultures that don’t know my name is one only used by females (that I know of). I simply correct them when I reply, stating, “BTW, I’m a Miss, not Mr.” and include a 😉 to soften the correction.
Putting a Mr. in your sig file is just fine. However, that may make you appear more formal than you may prefer. If you are a formal guy — that’s okay then. Given your unique and cool name, if someone misidentifies your gender, all you have to do is kindly set them straight.
Don’t Assume; Ask
Now that I think about it, I email folks with gender-neutral names all the time (Pat, Chris, Logan, Kerry, Robyn, Frances…) and have never thought about their gender in how I communicate with them. Nikita’s situation further emphasizes that if you are unclear about anything in an email, including gender, do not assume. Just ask!
