Question on "fellow"/"fellowship"

[Sarah Adams]

Hi all,

As part of my company's (Cadence) Words Matter initiative, we recently changed all "chairman" references to "chair". (Yes, even for our Executive Chair of the Board!) In the wake of this, we are being asked if "fellow" (the title for our VP-level individual contributors) should be changed to something gender-neutral.

My limited research indicates that while "fellow" is often been used for men, the original term is gender-neutral and is still used as such—for example, “Jane and her fellow members of the Women in Technology group”. In fact, the ACES editorial association uses the term in their diversity award: The Richard S. Holden Diversity Fellowship.

This explanation has been met with some skepticism and a request that we list it as "under discussion". I'm fine with listing it as such but am wondering if this has come up for anyone else.

~ Sarah Adams