Anna Herbst Mar 2, 2009:

Since you asked: chairman

noun (plural chairmen)
1. a male chairperson.
2. → chairperson.
--chairmanship, noun

Usage: Moves to replace chairman have produced gender-free alternatives such as chair, chairperson, convener, coordinator, moderator, leader, presiding officer, president, all of which have some currency.

chairperson

noun 1. the presiding officer of a meeting, committee, board, etc.
2. Qld the elected leader of a local government body.

Bibliography: The Macquarie Dictionary Online © 2009 Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd.

As far as he/she go, (your brought them up, I didn't) there are ways to avoid being sexist there as well. A passive phrase might work well, particularly in more formal texts. Or let me quote Macquarie again:
"Usage: The use of they, them, and their as non-gender-specific singulars (as in a doctor and their patients) has always had currency in spoken English and is now increasingly accepted in written English. This use of they gives rise to the form themself for the reflexive pronoun by analogy with myself, himself, etc."

Language is a living thing that is constantly changing, reflecting the time and the place we live i

George Hopkins Mar 2, 2009:

Standard dictionaries To avoid pointless discussions, whether political, religious, sexist, or otherwise, I stick to standard dictionaries. As you suggest, I have several style guides, none of which stand higher than the said dictionaries. If you will, check 'chairman', 'he' and 'she' in any good dictionary of the English language. Let us stick to our knitting.

Anna Herbst Mar 1, 2009:

An answer from her Please, George, any modern style guide (and you need a style guide for good usage) will steer you away from using gender specific language. Yes, "he" and "man" can refer to male and female alike, but it is not the preferred manner of expression in this day and age. Women don't particularly like to be referred to as "man" or "he", so if there is a simple way to avoid sexist language, eg. using "chair", "chairperson" etc. rather than the perceptibly masculine "chairman", why not do so? As you say, a non-specific word is useful.

George Hopkins Mar 1, 2009:

He Referring to Anna's reference to unesco, I prefer, as always, to refer to standard dictionaries, eg, Collins, which regarding 'he' gives several choices. 3. refers to a person or animal of unknown sex. 4. a male person or animal. There you go. As you will have noticed it is not always possible in the Swedish to interpret whether a male or female is indicated. A non-specific word is therefore useful; instead of the unnecessarily long 'he or she', male or female.