Founding father/mother or founding figure?

Question

I'm quoting an author who is known as the "founding father" of a scientific discipline. However, I feel that I want to make it sound less patriarchal. Of course, many disciplines had women leaders, but I have seldom heard "founding mothers". I was wondering if it would be better to talk about influential people in these disciples as "founding figures" than "founding fathers/mothers"?

Paddy · Accepted Answer

The term "founder" is the most appropriate gender-neutral term for "founding father".
This and other gender-inclusive terminology can be found in Boston University's guidelines for inclusive language available here.

Founding father/mother or founding figure?

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