'He' vs 'She'

Disclaimer: This is not a sexist post and I am not a MCP!

Well, then what is this? This is just an observation on how the word 'She' has taken over the word 'He' in all references to common man (?) in articles, textbooks, etc.

I have joined ISB and more than a month has passed already. Quite a lot of things happening such as mid-terms getting over, GSB president getting elected, final term schedules getting published, etc. If you leave apart the gruelling class and assignment schedules, it has been a wonderful time interacting with an amazingly diverse group of people and learning from the very best professors from Wharton and Kellogg. This one year is sure gonna be a great year!

So, coming back to the topic, I first heard this usage in one of our classes from the professor. The first time I heard it being used, I was trying to figure out if the prof had said some woman's name before its reference. But no, it was a general reference to a consumer!

Few years back I heard this being suggested to us in one of the presentation skills training (or was it some other class?) in my ex-company but I never encountered it being really used. After this incident, I started to pay more attention towards the usage and I see it in quite a lot of places!

It's a nice development, I would say.

Here are few other thoughts on the topic (to smile about):
1. Can this extra letter ('s') in the most common word lead to cutting of more trees, since more of space will be used in the books, papers, etc? (Very far sighted...huh?)
2. Will there soon be an introduction of the word 'huwoman'? (Oh...some more trees gone!)

Have fun!