I was taught to use masculine collective pronouns as well, but 'mankind' is perhaps not the best example. It dates to Old English, when 'man' was a gender-neutr

I was taught to use masculine collective pronouns as well, but 'mankind' is perhaps not the best example. It dates to Old English, when 'man' was a gender-neutral term meaning 'human'. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=man&allowed_in_frame=0 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=man&allowed_in_fram...