Key Points
- In France, some politicians are seeking to ban the use of gender-inclusive language in official communications.
- Inclusive neologisms such as iel – a combination of the male and female pronouns il and elle – are at the centre of much debate.
- The Australian government provides a style manual on using language that is culturally appropriate and respectful of the diversity of Australia’s people.
The Senate in France in early November voted in favour of a proposed bill and MPs will vote to cement it into law later this year, although no date has been announced.
The bill – proposed by Pascale Gruny, a Senator from the liberal-conservative Les Republicains party – intends to ban gender-inclusive language from official communications.
French is traditionally a gendered language, and the introduction of inclusive neologisms such as iel – a non-binary pronoun that combines the male and female pronouns il and elle – has sparked much debate.
“Inclusive language” adds the feminine ending to a noun, so rather than the masculine form standing in for both male and female, both genders are represented.
Gruny said her bill was an attempt to protect France “from the excesses of the inclusive writing”.
“Inclusive writing weakens the French language by making it unreadable, unpronounceable, and impossible to teach,” she said when submitting the proposed bill in front of the Senate on 30 October 2023.
The vote came six years after the then Prime Minister Edouard Philippe issued a restriction on inclusive writing in official documents, though this request was never turned into law.
Natanael Bloch, political analyst and former French government adviser, explains how the vote passed the Senate.
“Historically, the Senate has always been more conservative than the National Assembly, which is seen as more progressive,” he said.
“Despite the fact that they have lost 12 seats at the latest elections, the right-wing party Les Republicains remains the first political power at the Senate and the right President of the Senate, Gerard Larcher, has been re-elected.”
Speaking as he inaugurated the Cite Internationale de la Langue Francaise just hours before the Senate was due to debate the proposed law, French President Emanual Macron said, “France must not give in to fashionable trends.”
The proceedings are a “very polarised right vs left debate”, according to Bloch.
“Most of the left parties and personalities support inclusive writing: Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, is one of its main supporters. And the full spectrum of the right political landscape is against it,” he said.
“President Emmanuel Macron plays the classic ‘At the same time’ political (strategy): he is asserting he is against it but uses some of its rules for official speeches.”
‘A new version of expression’
Senior lecturer in French Studies at the University of Melbourne Diane de Saint-Leger said the culture war over inclusive language was a “… form of conservatism”.
“According to French politicians willing to ban the use of inclusive writing, we’ve done things a certain way for a very long time, and it works. Why would we change?”
Unlike the English language, French uses binary nouns. Most of its vocabulary is either male or female, which makes gender-neutral writing very difficult to put into place.
“The male pronoun is the primary gender in France when you need to be neutral,” stressed de Saint-Leger.
“So, inclusive writing is a way to make minorities exist. Not only non-binary people but also communities such as elders, people with disabilities and women.
“I keep telling my students that women are not a minority, but still, inclusive writing is mainly for them.”
Saint-Leger said she believed that inclusive writing “makes visible” people who would otherwise “disappear”.
“You don’t say ‘old people’ anymore. You say ‘seniors’,” she said.
“Inclusive writing could be seen as a new version of expression.
“The goal of inclusive language is to avoid prejudice, to prevent stereotypes from being perpetuated, and to avoid discrimination.”
Differences between France and Australia
The Australian government provides a on using language that is culturally appropriate and respectful of the diversity of Australia’s people.
In 2022, the Attorney-General introduced to the ACT Legislative Assembly the Statute Law Amendment Bill 2022, which updated almost 40 pieces of ACT legislation with gender-neutral language, in line with current legislative drafting practice.
References in the acts and regulations to “he” or “she”, “his” or “her”, “him” or “her” and “himself” or “herself” have been deleted in favour of “they”, “their”, “them”, “themself” or the relevant noun.
A few months later, the South Australian Parliament introduced gender-neutral titles and pronouns as well, as part of a series of workplaces reforms.
While the reforms received support from the government and Opposition, some members of the upper house have objected to the change in language.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said the “run of the mill” language change, which was recommended by a cross-party parliamentary committee, simply modernised the parliament’s standing orders.
In France, the common argument among parties in favour of inclusive language is that “he” or “him” pronouns, even if commonly used and perceived as neutral, refer to the male, while in Australia, the use of “they” or “them” does not indicate any identity.
“To stop using male as a gender-neutral pronoun, a new pronoun has been created: iel,” de Saint Leger explained.
“It is a contraction of ‘il’ (‘he’ in English) and ‘elle’ (‘she’ in English).”
But this has not been enough to solve the problem of inclusive writing in France, the expert said.
“There’s a fundamental difference between English and French,” she said.
“’They’ already exists in English, so we just have to use it instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’ but it does not change the construction of the sentences.
“‘Iel’ does not exist in the French language. It has been invented from scratch. How do you build the sentence behind that pronoun? How do you do that given the fact that most of the French nouns are binary?”
‘Centre of debates since the 2000s’
The movement to ban inclusive writing in France is not new.
“Inclusive writing has been at the centre of debates since the 2000-2010s,” Bloch said.
“But we can say it really became a political topic of debate in the 1980s, under the influence of feminist movements.”
Indeed, a commission for the feminisation of job titles and functions was established in 1984, chaired by Benoite Groult. This led to the circular of 11 March, 1986, which aimed to impose the feminisation of job titles, functions, titles, and ranks in administrative documents.
Benoîte Groult, 23 May 1984. Credit: Daniel SIMON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
In 1961, Charles de Gaulle gave a speech stating: “Françaises, Français, aidez-moi!” (“Ladies and gentlemen from France, help me!”).
De Saint Leger argued that this reference was among the first times a French president had used inclusive language in a speech.
He could have used a gender-neutral formulation such as “People of France, help me!”, but voluntarily did not, she stressed.
“Charles de Gaulle was not a feminist,” de Saint Leger said.
“But he knew he had to meet the female community halfway. By doing that he said, ‘I saw you, I heard you’.
A family is watching Charles De Gaulle on television, 23 April 1961. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
“Things are slow to change, but they can change.
“Fact is, in France, male pronouns have not always been used as gender-neutral pronouns.
“It is an ideology from the 18th century because male pronouns were regarded as nobler, and stronger.
“We just need to teach in school that it is a practice, from three centuries ago, a norm, but it has not always been like that, and it can change.
“Language evolves.”
