A language has some degree of gender distinction among its independent personal pronouns.  Generally, male referents take masculine pronouns and female referents take feminine ones, while inanimates and other beings may be classed as neuter, grouped with either the male or female, or arbitrarily split between the genders.

<br><br><b>Reference</b><br>
Siewierska, Anna. 2008. Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns.
In Haspelmath et al (2008), chapter 44. Available online at <a href="http://wals.info/feature/44">
http://wals.info/feature/44</a href>.
