Given “a player” as antecedent, when should the pronoun be “he” or “she”?

I am learning game theory. I always see that professors write (in text books):

• a player chooses her strategy


• If she chooses a strategy

Also some professors use he instead of she.

There other names also like player, but I forgot about them now.

How can I know when to use she versus when to use he in these situations?

Answer

This is an area where English is transitioning. Until thirty or forty years ago, almost every writer wrote he in this sense, without thinking any further about it.

Now, there is no generally accepted answer. If you write he, some will complain that females are being ignored or excluded. If you write he/she the result is ugly or unwieldy.

I prefer they, which has been used in this sense for centuries, but some people object to it.

Some writers use she, or use both he and she either alternately or at random.

A few writers have tried to popularise neologisms such as ze.

As I say, there is no generally accepted solution to the problem.