Microsoft Word has been accused of ‘censoring’ the term ‘maternity leave’ because it’s not inclusive enough

Microsoft Word has been accused of “censoring” the term “maternity leave” because it doesn’t have enough content.

Instead, authors using the software are advised to enter “maternity leave,” “maternity leave,” or “maternity leave” when referring to time off from work that a woman can take after giving birth.

They are also advised to refer to “parental leave” rather than “parental leave” when describing the equivalent for new fathers.

Free speech activists say the software censors words and terms related to a person’s gender, calling it an “insidious form of language control” reminiscent of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.

Microsoft Word makes recommendations as part of its “inclusivity” tool, which encourages writers to avoid using certain words and suggests more acceptable replacements. Users can enable or disable this feature.

If a word or term is considered insufficiently complete, a dotted blue line will appear below it and the author will be presented with a list of alternative words approved by the software.

The software was launched in 2019 and has been criticized since then, but a new surge of outrage was sparked by a recommendation not to use “maternity leave” after it was highlighted on social media.

One user X, formerly of Twitter, said: “Yes, you can ignore or disable this feature, but the point is the messaging; that the words “tat (sic)” referring to sex are bad, that there are many genders, etc.

“This is indoctrinated into millions of people. Many will ignore, but some will comply.”