Traditionally, the masculine form has been taken to be the unmarked form, that is the form to be used unless it is known to be inappropriate. This has dictated the masculine pronoun in cases such as:
* reference to an indefinite person, for example 'If anybody comes, tell him*…'
* reference to a group containing men and women, for example French: Vos parents, sont-ils arrivés ? ('Have your parents arrived?')
It is this property which has mostly led to the call for gender-neutral pronouns: the fact that the masculine form is used both for masculine referents, and also for those where the gender is unknown, irrelevant, or mixed.
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