Inclusive writing has become the object of a political debate for several years now in France as people have started to question grammatical practices. Indeed, encouraged by environmentalists, Lyon’s new mayor, Grégory Doucet, has announced that they will use this form of writing for their communication.
The aim of this writing is to promote gender equality in the french language. Consequently, it does not have the grammatical rule that the masculine dominates the feminine and instead both masculine and feminine forms can be seen. Inclusive writing can be seen in various manners:
1. Both feminine and masculine forms are shown
- Give the masculine and feminine forms in alphabetical order
Eg. Elle et il (e comes before i), celles et ceux
- Use the ‘middle dot’ (le point milieu)
This ensures that the masculine and feminine forms are both seen. To use the middle dot, you must:
Take the root of the noun + masculine ending + middle dot + feminine ending + S (if plural) Eg. militant·e·s, les ingénieur·e·s, les agriculteur·rice·s, un·e délégué·e de classe The middle dot is preferable to using parentheses because it suggests that the masculine and feminine forms are equal whereas when parentheses are used it seems that the masculine is more important. Eg. Acteur (-trice) —> acteur·rice·s 2. Use terms which do not change according to gender Eg. Artiste, cadre, membre 3. Stop using masculine terms to refer to a large group of people, instead use a neutral term
‘Les Droits de L’Homme’ —> in this instance, ‘l’homme’ is referring to french people not just males. Therefore, we should use ‘Les Droits Humains.’ The same applies for saying ‘les hommes’ to refer to humankind. Instead try to use ‘l’humanité.’
Despite this being a good principle, it has sparked a huge debate in French society. In 2014, the Académie Française was not particularly happy with the feminisation of occupations and in 2017 they stated that it was a “danger mortal pour la langue française.” While in 2019, they declared themselves in favour of this movement, some key issues have been raised concerning the new written language. For example, there is the argument that it would cause problems for the readability of a text. Not only would it take up more room on paper but it would also take considerably longer to read. There are also people who argue that the feminine forms of occupations ‘just don’t sound right’ out of the habit of using the masculine forms.
I believe that inclusive writing should be adopted into the French language to promote equality between men and women. This aim is more important that the small inconvenience which it might bring. What do you think?
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