In respect of gender, Arabic nouns are divisible into three classes; (a) those which are only masculine [muḏakkar-un]; (b) those which are only feminine [mu’annaṯ-un]; (c) those which are both masc. and fem., or, as it is usually phrased, of the common gender… None of the Semitic languages has what we call the neuter gender.

(Wright’s Grammar of the Arabic Language, p. 177)

Common gender embraces all gender. Neuter gender spurns all gender. For the third-person singular pronoun that’s applied to humans and some mammals, English has long used he for both masculine and common gender, she for feminine gender. The pronoun it is neuter, referencing what’s inanimate. (Unlike Arabic and many other languages, non-life has no English gender.)

Here is longstanding usage:

(01) Oisín is a writer who uses metaphors in his prose. (His is masculine.)
(02) Siobhan is a writer who uses metaphors in her prose. (Her is feminine.)
(03) A writer who uses metaphors in his prose can be challenging to read. (His is common, could be an Oisín or a Siobhan.)

Many modern speakers resist using common he as follows:

(04) A writer who uses metaphors in his or her prose can be challenging to read.

The they workaround has gained much ground as well:

(05) Oisín is a writer who uses metaphors in their prose. (See the contributor profiles in Poetry for instances of this cutting edge.)
(06) Siobhan is a writer who uses metaphors in their prose.
(07) A writer who uses metaphors in their prose can be challenging to read.

It bears mention that they is plural in number as well as common in gender. Applying they to a he or a she equates mathematically to 1 + 0 >= 2.

Why have speakers passed over singular-neuter it in favor of plural-common they for non-gendered reference to a single person? It would look like this:

(08) Oisín is a writer who uses metaphors in its prose.
(09) Siobhan is a writer who uses metaphors in its prose.
(10) A writer who uses metaphors in its prose can be challenging to read.

The answer hides in plain sight and will reveal itself in this space.

Still small voice.
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