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Gender Neutrality

by ntquigley » Tue Feb 09, 2016 7:26 pm
SC Question this post is in reference to:

After many years of feeling separated by a great divide, the doctor now finds himself (besides the lawyer, working with one another) against HMOs and big tobacco.

A besides the lawyer, working with one another
B besides the lawyer, working with each other
C beside the lawyer, working with each other
D beside the lawyer, working with him
E beside the lawyer, working with one another


The correct answer choice is D. While I agree that the correct answer is the best phrasing of the sentence, I think it changes the meaning. The answer inserts/assumes a masculine gender of the lawyer. I would hope the GMAT/GMAC would be a bit more gender neutral. What do people think is the best approach to avoid this mistake in the future? Note: This question is from a 2012 Kaplan practice test.
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:25 am
ntquigley wrote:SC Question this post is in reference to:

After many years of feeling separated by a great divide, the doctor now finds himself (besides the lawyer, working with one another) against HMOs and big tobacco.

A besides the lawyer, working with one another
B besides the lawyer, working with each other
C beside the lawyer, working with each other
D beside the lawyer, working with him
E beside the lawyer, working with one another
besides means IN ADDITION TO.
beside means NEXT TO.

A and B: the doctor now finds himself besides the lawyer
Conveyed meaning:
The doctor now finds himself IN ADDITION TO the lawyer.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate A and B.

Generally, the agent of a COMMA + VERBing modifier must be the PRECEDING SUBJECT.

C: The doctor now finds himself beside the lawyer, working with each other
Here, COMMA + working serves to refer to the doctor -- the preceding subject -- implying that the doctor is WORKING WITH EACH OTHER.
This meaning is nonsensical.
each other must serve to refer to TWO elements, as follows:
THE DOCTOR AND THE LAWYER are working with each other.
Eliminate C.

E: The doctor now finds himself beside the lawyer, working with one another
Here, COMMA + working serves to refer to the doctor -- the preceding subject -- implying that the doctor is WORKING WITH ONE ANOTHER.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Generally, one another serves to refer to MORE THAN TWO elements, as follows:
THE DOCTOR, THE LAWYER AND THE ACTIVIST are working with one another.
Eliminate E.

I'm a bit skeptical of the OA.
OA: The doctor now finds himself beside the lawyer, working with him
Here, himself serves to refer to the doctor, while him serves to refer to the lawyer.
While the referent for each pronoun seems clear, two forms of the SAME PRONOUN should generally have the SAME REFERENT.
While I agree that the correct answer is the best phrasing of the sentence, I think it changes the meaning. The answer inserts/assumes a masculine gender of the lawyer. I would hope the GMAT/GMAC would be a bit more gender neutral.
In the original sentence, the usage of one another conveys a nonsensical meaning.
In the correct answer choice, the meaning MUST be altered to something sensical.
That said, it seems impolitic to employ masculine pronouns (himself and him) to refer to professionals who could just as easily be female (doctor and lawyer).
The GMAT would find a way to convey the intended meaning while avoiding this sort of sexism.

I would ignore this SC.
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by ntquigley » Fri Feb 12, 2016 7:38 pm
Thanks, that's a relief! No one wants to have to focus on being politically correct in addition to all the other GMAT studies!
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by danielle07 » Sun Sep 03, 2017 2:06 pm
The answer is D because of the sentence gender sensitivity
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by ceilidh.erickson » Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:17 am
ntquigley wrote:Thanks, that's a relief! No one wants to have to focus on being politically correct in addition to all the other GMAT studies!
Interestingly, the GRE recently removed all questions that have a gender binary (e.g. switching "in a certain classroom, there are 18 girls and 14 boys" to "there are 18 seniors and 13 juniors," etc.). I suspect that the GMAT will follow suit soon.

That said, I do no recall ever seeing a GMAT question that required the test-taker to specify the gender of a subject (and believe me, I would have noticed!).

This is not a very GMAT-like question. Ignore it!
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