Gender

The term gender must first be distinguished from the term sex. While sex refers to the „physical-biological difference between male and female sexual bodies“ (Metzler Lexikon 2002, 357), gender refers to social sex: „What a particular sociohistorical community perceives and interprets as male or female is the result of interpretative attributions“ (Metzler Lexikon 2002, 357).

Gender research

The concept of gender thus considers gender identity not as innate, but as a sociocultural, historically and temporally bound construction within a society. So-called gender studies examine the relationship between the sexes in the different spheres of a culture. „The basic assumption here is that functions, roles, and characteristics that constitute masculinity or femininity do not result causally from biological differences between men and women, but are social constructs and thus changeable.“ (Metzler Lexikon 2002, 141) The research focus has shifted from women’s studies to gender studies, so that ‚masculinity‘ is also the subject of research (cf. Metzler Lexikon 2002, 141-143).

According to Kusterle, since there is a very close connection between language and thought, effects on cultural contexts and social coexistence can be observed (cf. Kusterle 2011, 66). Kusterle states that a change in language leads to a changed perception of the world. If women are disadvantaged in language, they also experience disadvantage in society (cf. Kusterle 2011, 80). „A changed, gender-equitable language system, on the other hand, leads to a changed, equitable reality“ (Kusterle 2011, 80).

Possibilities of gender-equitable language

From the noun gender, the verb gendern can be derived, which refers to the equal rights of women and men in language use. Diewald and Steinhauer offer numerous possibilities for the use of gender-inclusive language. Probably the most unambiguous variant is the detailed double naming, in which both genders are explicitly addressed. Here, the composition can be both singular and plural using the conjunction and, the conjunction or, or a slash (e.g., students).

A clearer and more linguistically economical form of gendering is provided by the so-called economy spelling for double nouns. This can be expressed by means of a slash (with hyphen) (e.g. doctor, staff, employees), by means of an indented I (e.g. employees) or by means of an asterisk (e.g. employees). The latter is considered more contemporary, as it does further justice to current transgender and intersexuality debates. „Gender [is] no longer understood as a binary system“ (Duden 2017, 46), but possible further categories are also implied.

Furthermore, substitute forms and rephrasings can serve gender-appropriate language. Examples of this would be substantivized participles or adjectives in the plural (e.g., students), an abstract instead of personal designations (e.g., Kollegium for colleagues), or gender-neutral expressions (e.g., der Mensch, die Person). On the basis of these possibilities, female persons are not only included – as with the generic masculine, where the masculine form also applies to a mixed group – but explicitly mentioned (cf. Duden 2017).