Guidance

Make job descriptions inclusive

Published 4 March 2026

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Purpose of this action

The aim of this action is to attract a more diverse pool of applicants. You could help to encourage greater gender balance among your applicants by:

• removing words typically associated with gender stereotypes from job adverts – see examples and evidence
• clearly outlining requirements with behaviour-based criteria

This action may be useful if you have identified recruitment bias or under-representation of certain groups in your organisation. This includes women in mid-to-senior roles and those returning to work after a career break.

You should also consider this when starting a new recruitment campaign.

Benefits and evidence

Inclusive hiring offers mutual benefits. Inclusive job descriptions could help you find candidates who are better suited to your business needs by attracting a broader group of people. A process which is inclusive can enable candidates to feel confident in applying.

Research suggests that using words typically associated with male stereotypes can lead women to assume roles are in male-dominated teams and they may not fit in.^{[footnote 1][footnote 2]} This language can make jobs less appealing to women^{[footnote 3]} and may stop them from applying.

Implementing this action

To develop an inclusive job description, consider the following steps:

Use neutral language and titles

• apply a standard inclusive language checklist to every draft
• use a neutral tone and avoid terms associated with male stereotypes such as ‘competitive’ and ‘dominant’^{[footnote 4]}
• use gendered language bias tools to verify that your language is neutral
• develop neutral job titles

Review your requirements

• reduce long lists of ‘must-haves’ to make jobs more appealing to more candidates
• use open language for desired qualities, such as ‘familiarity with’ or ‘if you have any combination of these skills’
• remove phrases that might deter carers or returners, such as asking to explain gaps in CVs
• list specific behaviours and competencies instead of character traits –  for example, say ‘you keep confidential information to yourself’ instead of ‘you are reliable’^{[footnote 5][footnote 6]}

Focus on accessibility and inclusion

• add a short equality, diversity and inclusion statement and invite applications from all groups
• make sure job descriptions are readable on different devices and use accessible formats
• provide options for candidates to request adjustments
• train hiring managers in how to write inclusive job descriptions, including the difference between essential and desirable criteria

Use artificial intelligence (AI) responsibly

AI models often learn from historical data. If past recruitment practices contain gender biases, AI may repeat them.^{[footnote 7]} This could lead to vague or gendered language in your job descriptions.

Prospective employers are responsible for ensuring that recruitment is non-discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010. You must review and adjust AI outputs to ensure they do not break these laws.

See the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s guidance on responsible AI in recruitment for more information.

Tracking progress

You might want to consider tracking the progress of inclusive job descriptions by measuring:

• the proportion of new adverts that use features of inclusive job descriptions (above) 
• the breakdown of all applicants and successful candidates by sex – including the combination of sex and other characteristics (such as ethnicity or disability status) to highlight specific trends for different groups of men and women
• the retention of new staff at particular milestones – for example, at 6 and 12 months after starting
• surveys of candidates about their recruitment experience

Where possible, you should compare any data you gather with ‘baseline’ data from previous recruitment campaigns.

You should also conduct regular audits to ensure job descriptions follow the inclusive job description framework and data rules.

Data privacy

Some or all of the equality information you collect is likely to be ‘special category personal data’, meaning it has special legal protections. 

Ensure that you are complying with the UK’s data protection legislation when you collect and analyse employees’ data.

Get advice and approval from your organisation’s privacy or data protection expert before you start.

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1. The Behavioural Insights Team (2025). How to improve gender equality in the workplace: actions for employers.  ↩

2. He JC and Kang SK (2025). Debiasing job ads by replacing masculine language increases gender diversity of applicant pools. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 122(7). ↩

3. The Behavioural Insights Team (2025). How to improve gender equality in the workplace: actions for employers.  ↩

4. The Behavioural Insights Team (2025). How to improve gender equality in the workplace: actions for employers.  ↩

5. Wille L and Derous E (2018). When job ads turn you down: how requirements in job ads may stop instead of attracting highly qualified women. Sex Roles, 79(7-8), 464-475  ↩

6. Wille L and Derous E (2017). Getting the words right: When wording of job ads affects ethnic minorities’ application decisions. Management Communication Quarterly, 31(4), 533-558. ↩

7. The Alan Turing Institute (2021). Where are the women? ↩