Gender

Nouns and pronouns are classified into three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. In English, nouns generally have the same gender as the things or people they name.

Masculine: John, father, bull, his
Feminine: Mary, mother, cow, her
Neuter: tree, telephone, book, its

Traditionally, the names of ships and countries have been regarded as feminine rather than neuter. Although this is still acceptable, treating these nouns as neuter is now preferred.

Acceptable: As soon as the ship docked, her passengers began to disembark.
Better: As soon as the ship docked, its passengers began to disembark.

See also Gender-Specific Pronouns, Agreement and; Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement in Gender