Kate Swift

Kate Swift (1923-2011) is an author, activist, and editor. She was best known for working to make English-language writing more equal for men and women. Swift invented a gender-neutral pronoun: "tey."

 Career 
Swift worked in the army as an education and information specialist during World War II. She was also a writer for the Port of New Orleans. Swift then worked as an editorial assistant at Time Magazine. She was also a news writer for the Public Relations Department of the Girl Scouts of America. Swift became a science writer on the public affairs staff of the Museum of Natural History. She was also the director of the news bureau of the School of Medicine at Yale, in 1965. 

Swift wrote two important books that brought attention to sexual discrimination in the English language. Swift worked with Casey Miller to edit a manual to make it gender-inclusive. Swift’s efforts resulted in Connecticut becoming one of the first states in the US to achieve same-sex marriage. Swift has helped women be recognized as “full-fledged members of the human race”.

 Legacy 
Because of their efforts, the Hartford Courant later titled Swift and Miller as "leaders in the women's movement of the 1970s" and a duo who "took on the pronoun he [...] along with the rest of what they and other feminists considered male-biased language in countless articles and speeches as well as in their books." Eventually people became aware of the "implicit discrimination in" the English language and "writing and speaking without using masculine-gender words" began to catch on. Furthermore, some of Swift and Miller’s actual proposals for non sexist language eventually found their way into everyday usage. For example, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "Some of the authors' proposals gained traction. Many newspapers, textbooks and public speakers avoid "fireman" and "stewardess" nowadays."

Swift and Miller’s personal papers and records are kept in the Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.

 Death 
Kate Swift died on  May 7, 2011 at 87 years old in Middleton, Conneticut.

 Burial 
Miller was buried in Madison, Connecticut and was later joined by Swift, upon Swift's own death in 2011.

 References 

Category:1923 births
Category:2011 deaths
Category:American feminist writers
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