It shouldn't be relevant but given the state of female involvement in many traditionally male fields it is always important to highlight women making a contribution. The idea is it will both change perceptions without and within the field and attract more women.
What it really highlights is how English desperately lacks a gender independent way of saying he/she. I can't tell if you are a guy or girl based on your name, I bet most people don't know if the K in my name is Kevin, Kyle, Kris (guy or girl!), Kathy, Katrina etc. (for the record, it's Kevin). But most people when talking about me will just assume I'm a guy and use he.
I'm not offended by people incorrectly using gender pronouns, it is just really awkward to write something without knowing the gender of the person you are talking about.
No, we have two. A kludge: "he/she" (which I personally despise and refuse to use), and something which people have used for a long time, but educational-America refuses to accept: "they".
>The singular "they" is widely used and accepted in Britain, Australia, and North America in conversation and, often, in at least informal writing as well. It is important to note that this is not recognized by the SATs and other standardized tests.
It's also less efficient for anyone who's listening to you. Gender-specific pronouns help ensure you're talking about the same person. Personally though, I find myself saying "that's what they said" (or similar, in a non-joke-related context) pretty often. Usually past-tense, for some reason. * shrug * to each their own.
I do boggle that "they" isn't technically acceptable for cases where gender isn't known, though. "He/she" seems like insanity, both in writing and in speaking, when "they" sits there waiting to be used. It's extremely rare that context isn't sufficient to determine if it's plural or not. Heck, Japanese essentially does without plurals entirely, and that's a functioning language.
It may not be important by itself, but it is important to be right. Her nationality may also not be relevant but if someone writes that she is Chinese and she is actually Russian (example), it is important that it gets corrected.
Fortunately this is not a common scenario, because the nature of the English language doesn't make it easy to inadvertently imply that someone is Chinese, Russian, or indeed any nationality at all.
(I am aware that singular 'they' is grammatical. Doesn't stop it from sounding really awkward when the referent is a specific individual.)