system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
This is the issue. The English language is binary when referring to certain thing which can be very difficult for people who are female, trans, non-binary etc. It’s much simpler to change the words we use than it is to change the meaning of words. 

For example, “Stewardess” was changed to “Flight attendants” when men began to move into that profession. There was a short time where people got it wrong but now it’s a normal term that basically everyone uses now (bar a few older people here and there). But changing the meaning of “man” would take much longer- I realise that technically, man can refer to humankind but the implication is still male rather than human. 

As a woman, I definitely struggled as a child understanding what was “allowed” for me. I always preferred playing with the boys (a bit of a tomboy in certain ways and girly in other ways) and I actually remember wanting to be a garbage man (I think I just liked the idea of hanging off the back of the truck- it looked fun). I remember telling my mum that I was sad that I couldn’t be a garbage man and she asked me why I couldn’t so I said it was because I wasn’t a boy. She then explained that the “man” in any job title didn’t mean that a woman couldn’t do it and if I wanted to be a garbage man I could. (I love my mum) But that didn’t stop me from feeling like society wouldn’t accept me wanting to be in a “man” profession. And as a shy child, I always felt like it was best to just go with the flow, in case someone told me what I wanted wasn’t appropriate. 

This is the effect (plus much more) that language can have. By simply changing one word, we actually better the lives of 50+% (the plus includes the trans and non binary folk out there) of the population. 

And as an aside- I also dislike “male nurse” but I dislike it because “nurse” is not a binary term- it’s just assumed that it is the job of a female which is sexist to both men and women for different reasons. We don’t have to change that to “nurse-person”, we just need to keep calling it nurse. I feel the same way about changing “nanny” to “manny” for male nannies.
gpt
Gender roles present themselves in such an innocuous way as well. My son used to love flicking through the argos catalogue, looking at hoovers and lawnmowers. I hadn't realised that all the mowers had men posing with them and all the hoovers had women posing with them - until my son, who was 3 told my mum off for mowing the grass.