Edinburgh University student union officials will hand out pronoun badges to freshers so they know whether to refer to each other as “he”, “she” or “they”.

The move is intended to avoid any potential “misgendering” of non-binary or transgender students who may display the physical attributes of one gender, while associating more closely with another or none at all.

Kai O’Doherty, the vice president for welfare at Edinburgh University Students’ Association, announced that pronoun badges will be available throughout “Welcome Week”, which takes place before the official start of term next month.

The students’ union also published a guide to pronouns, which explains why it is important to “normalise” the practice of sharing gender pronouns.

"Many people assume that the pronouns they should use for an individual are obvious: people who look like men should be referred to using he/him, and people who look like women should be referred to as she/her,” it says.

The guide explains that making these assumptions can be “frustrating and harmful” for transgender on non-binary students, who may in fact prefer to use gender-neutral pronouns.