A few days ago I was copied on a mail by an American woman law firm partner who is a visiting prof at a top US law school. She wrote "She/Her" at the end of her email signature. So people who are saying here that pronouns are not important are wrong. Maybe it is not a popular practice in India yet but top people in America are doing it. This will surely catch on in India in future, once the present youth become the leaders of the legal profession.

An American university has explained the possible pronouns we should use to create a safe space. All of you posting should read this first before making ignorant and bigoted comments.

https://wou.edu/wp/safezone/pronouns/

We all unfortunately attended heteronormative schools where we were taught that he/him and she/her are the only possible pronouns. Children in progressive schools in the US nowadays learn the table below and we too should learn this table.

I feel it is very important these days to put your pronouns on your CV and social media. It shows you believe in gender equality and are not a homophobe. It is especially important for Indians, because there is rising homophobia from the RW and people abroad will feel safe and reassured after knowing that you are not one of them.

Honestly, it depends upon the firms you're applying for.

I know of a young, overachieving PA in a T1 who put their pronouns in their first mail to me. I'm sure they would've appreciated the pronouns if someone had sent them a CV asking for recommendation etc.

However, as people have noted above, most firms have age-old hiring practices which don't care. That said, I doubt it would do you harm. HRs are so much more used to forgetting the existence of everything else apart from your college & GPA, in any case. Even if they don't recognise it as a good practice, I doubt they'd penalise you for that in any way.

Keep in mind that foreign [EU & US] firms are a different matter altogether. Most have diversity hiring policies, so you'd probably benefit with the pronouns there.

1. Don’t have one size fit all CVs.

2. No need for pronouns for an Indian law firm job.

3. Not really needed for an international law firm job either. But, you may want to put them in depending on the feedback you might have received from your seniors about the place.

4. Not really needed for an LLM application in Europe, UK or Australia. However, again tailored the CV for specific places depending on the people there which you’ll need to figure out from seniors who went there.

5. Possibly put them in for an American LLM application. Not everyone will agree out there, but you’ll be on the safer side with it. It’s cosmetic and you may not believe in the crap but it is here to stay.

6. Absolutely must for a Canadian LLM application. It’s not as if you’ll be selected because of it or rejected in the alternate. However, it will be a nice touch.

7. For a PhD application, know that your documents will go down to the prospective supervisors irrespective of the country. Figure out who these people might be and try to suss out what they might believe in. Then make the application accordingly.

Point 2 is certainly not true. You can mention your preferred pronoun and still be a bigot. You can choose to mention it and still not be a bigot. It is a cosmetic practice and has got nothing to do with your values. Asking others if they would like to be addressed by certain pronouns as a matter of courtesy, now that may reveal something about your values.

As a bleeding heart liberal, my pronouns are strictly part of my personal life and have no place on my CV, the same way as my sexual orientation and other ancillary information. By all means, others may start putting in their pronouns as they please, so my chances at getting a job can increase.

Pronouns is an American nonsense. It doesn't matter in India.

Anyways firms don't care whether you have sex with a man or women. What organ is inside your undergarments etc or whether you identify yourself as a man or women or car or even as an attack helicopter.

These days people are even identifying themselves as cat, alien and attack helicopter.

So yeah.

The first thing on a CV is obviously your name. Increasingly we see many NLU students adding their pronouns in brackets. The reasons are:

1. Some names can sound both female and male. For foreigners, they don't have a clue, so helpful when applying abroad for jobs or LLMs.

2. It gives a message you are social aware and believe in liberal values. That you are not a bigot.

But I wonder how many people actually do this? Also, can it backfire if your CV is read by a RW person?