All content in the Marketplace should be designed as uniformly as possible in order to achieve an optimal experience for customers and visitors. Therefore, we have summarized some guidelines on this page.
The guidelines are intended as a recommendation only. We will not adapt the content of our partners without consultation, but only make suggestions for possible adaptations.
Gender Guidelines
English
Use of the generic masculine is unavoidable, but try to take advantage of the language to make it as inclusive as possible
- Use the plural they/their instead of he/she, his/her, or him/her.
(e.g. A tenant wants to log in to his app → Tenants want to log in to their app). - Avoid possessive pronouns
(A tenant wants to log into his app → A tenant wants to log into the app). - Use paired forms
(A tenant wants to log into his app → A tenant wants to log into his or her app) - Rephrase sentences and use "one" or "you"
(If he wants to log into the app... -> If you want to log into the app...)
German
- Do not use a generic masculine, use instead
- Paired forms (Die Mieterinnen und Mieter),
- Gender-abstract forms (Die Mietpartei)
- Gender-neutral forms (Die Mietenden)
- Do not use the feminine only when you mean all genders.
- This is sometimes used in texts, but the generic feminine does not exist in German and is not understood as such by readers.
- If you have a choice, choose readability over gender equity.
- Make sure the text is readable, and avoid gender-abstract or gender-neutral forms if it limits readability.