Find gendered language in your JD before it costs you candidates.
Paste a job description. We flag gendered, ageist, ableist, culturally narrow, and jargony language, and rewrite each flagged phrase in plain, inclusive English. Free, no sign-up.
JD bias & inclusivity checker
Gendered language in JDs is the cheapest hiring leak to fix.
Gendered language in job descriptions consists of words subtly coded as masculine or feminine that shift who applies. Masculine-coded examples: rockstar, ninja, dominant, aggressive, competitive, decisive. Feminine-coded examples: nurturing, supportive, collaborative, sympathetic. The canonical research, Gaucher, Friesen and Kay (2011) published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, demonstrated across five experimental studies that masculine-coded language in job advertisements reduces women's perception of belongingness and lowers their interest in applying, even when the role is identical. Subsequent replications across Latin American tech (CEPR 2022) and the European Union (Tietoevry 2021) found similar effects, with measured shifts in applicant pool composition of 20 to 30%.
This tool scans across five bias categories: gender, age (digital native, energetic, recent graduate), ability (must be able to stand all day, when not relevant), cultural narrowness (native English speaker, must understand US culture), and excessive jargon. It is opinionated but not preachy. It flags the problem and offers a fix.
Three steps. No login.
Paste your JD
Full text. The tool scans every section: title, summary, responsibilities, requirements, nice-to-haves.
We flag in five categories
Gender, age, ability, cultural narrowness, and excessive jargon. Each flag comes with an explanation.
Get rewrites for every flag
Or get the full JD rewritten in one click, if you prefer.
Tips & tricks for best results
It takes 30 seconds. The cost of biased language compounds over the lifetime of the JD.
The widely cited internal HP report referenced in Tara Sophia Mohr's 2014 Harvard Business Review article found that women apply to jobs when they meet around 100% of listed requirements; men apply at around 60%. Long requirements lists shrink your applicant pool disproportionately. The tool flags requirements that look more like nice-to-haves.
These words are both gender-coded and a cliché. They also signal to senior candidates that the company is immature.
Digital native, energetic, fits our young culture all read as age-discriminatory and are increasingly legally risky in markets like the US and UK.
Bilingual candidates and non-native speakers can be excellent communicators. Fluent in English is fine; native English speaker filters out half the world for no reason.
When 3 people edit a JD, bias often creeps back in. Run the checker as the final step before publishing.
Frequently asked questions
What is gendered language in a job description?
Gendered language is wording that is subtly coded as masculine or feminine and shifts who applies. Masculine-coded examples: rockstar, ninja, dominant, aggressive, competitive, decisive, hands-on, fearless. Feminine-coded examples: nurturing, supportive, collaborative, sympathetic, sensitive, empathetic. Most JDs lean masculine without their authors realising, which can reduce female applicants by 20 to 30%.
How do I write an inclusive job description?
Five rules. (1) Remove gendered words (rockstar, ninja, nurturing) and replace with concrete skill descriptions. (2) Trim must-have requirements to the genuine essentials; long lists shrink your applicant pool disproportionately for women and underrepresented groups. (3) Skip age-coded phrases like digital native, energetic, or recent graduate. (4) Avoid native English speaker; say fluent in English. (5) Use plain language; jargon excludes career switchers.
Why does gendered language in JDs matter?
Applicant pools shrink and skew when JD language signals (consciously or not) that a particular group is preferred. The foundational research by Gaucher, Friesen and Kay (2011) in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology established that masculine-coded language reduces women's job interest by lowering their sense of belongingness, with applicant pool shifts of 20 to 30% measured across follow-up studies. For a company hiring 100 engineers a year, that is roughly 20 to 30 qualified candidates filtered out before they even consider applying. The bias is consistent across English, Spanish, and Hindi-context studies.
What is the difference between Gender Decoder and this tool?
Gender Decoder is a popular free tool that only flags gender-coded language and only in English. This tool covers five bias categories (gender, age, ability, cultural narrowness, jargon density), works in major languages including Hindi context, is calibrated for both US/EU and emerging markets like India, and rewrites the flagged phrases instead of just flagging them.
What are the most common biased words in job descriptions?
Top 10 to remove. Rockstar, ninja, guru (gendered + immature). Aggressive, dominant, competitive (gendered masculine). Nurturing, supportive (gendered feminine, when used as core competencies). Digital native, recent graduate, energetic (age-coded). Native English speaker (excludes bilinguals). Spearheaded, leveraged, synergised (jargon).
Will the rewrite weaken the JD's tone?
No. The tool replaces biased phrasing with stronger, more specific language. Rockstar engineer becomes top-performing engineer or specifies the skill that matters. The rewritten JD is usually shorter and more direct, not softer.
Is this tool legally compliant for US / EU hiring?
The tool flags language that is commonly cited in discrimination cases (age, ability, gender, race-coded). It is not legal advice. For high-stakes JDs (senior roles, regulated industries), pair the tool's output with a compliance review.
Does it work for non-English JDs?
Yes for major languages, though English is strongest. For non-English JDs, expect 80 to 90% of the accuracy you'd get on English content.
Can I integrate this into our ATS?
Not yet as a free integration. If you are a Weekday Subscription or Contingency customer, our JD generator and bias checker are built into the platform with team review workflows. Learn more at Weekday pricing.
Is the tool free?
Yes, free with no sign-up. Use it on every JD you publish.
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