Yahoo Finance Can a Chrome extension reduce sexual harassment at work?
There’s a new tool in the fight against sexism at work and it’s a Google Chrome extension called AutoCorrectHER by The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB).
Just in time for international women’s day, the software proofreads your email before you hit send, by looking for terms that could be considered sexist and suggesting alternatives.
At some point, many of us have been guilty of using words we consider harmless.
“Terms like ‘bossy’ and ‘moody’ are used to describe the women we work with but never their male counterparts,” said IAB in a news release.
“We all do it and often are not even aware we’re doing it. But, the fact is, daily language shapes the way we think consciously and subconsciously.”
It can be downloaded by going to the Chrome Web Store. AutoCorrectHER is still in the early stages of development. It only works when drafting emails and isn’t available for mobile devices yet. The company says full functionality will follow if AutocorrectHER is a success.
I decided to give AutocorrectHER a try and installed it on my computer. Offensive language is underlined with a blue dotted line. If you hover over the word a popup appears telling you to try the suggested word below. Instead of ‘bossy’, it suggests using ‘assertive’, instead of ‘feisty’ it suggests ‘determined’, ‘catty’ could be ‘unkind’. ‘Lady’ was also flagged and ‘woman’ was suggested as an alternative.
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