[BUG] Model defaults to male pronouns when referring to people in technical contexts

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

When summarizing a colleague's technical input (e.g., ML architecture discussion), Claude defaults to "he/him" pronouns even when no gender information is available. This is especially pronounced for names that
don't map to Western gendered naming conventions.

What Should Happen?

Claude should default to "they/them" or use the person's name when pronouns are unknown.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

## Steps to reproduce

1. Ask Claude to summarize or paraphrase input from a person whose gender is not specified
2. The context should be technical (software engineering, ML, etc.)
3. Claude will often default to "he/him" rather than "they/them"

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.119

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

## Why this matters

• Misgenders colleagues, especially women and non-binary people in engineering
• Reinforces the stereotype that engineers are male by default
• The bias is stronger in technical contexts, suggesting occupational stereotyping from training data

#54127