unless the generic antecedent is known to be inherently female (as in "(an unspecified) woman").

Gender in English pronouns

If an antecedent is a thing, either specific or generic (such as a snowman), rather than a person, the appropriate pronoun to refer back to it is it, and no difficulty arises. Likewise, if the antecedent is more than one thing, again either specific or generic, the pronoun they is used to refer back to it, and again no difficulty arises.

When the antecedent is a specific person (whose gender is therefore

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