Jargon of the Week: **Girl child**, **Boy child**

Submitted by crinadmin on

Promoting the use of clear language among children’s rights advocates

 

In the NGO world we seem to have forgotten that girls and boys are in fact children, and so have coined the terms ‘girl child’ and ‘boy child’ to remind ourselves of this.

Not only are these terms redundant, as there are no girl or boy adults, but they are also grammatically incorrect, as ‘girl’, ‘boy’ and ‘child’ are all nouns.  



Sticking to the simple terms 'girls' and 'boys' will make your point more clearly.



If you feel the terms still need clarification, try using 'female child' and 'male child' - in other words, using an adjective to describe the noun - as correct alternatives.  

Organisation: 
Child Rights International Network

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