{"id":11828,"date":"2022-02-11T12:11:41","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T11:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.versioninternationale.com\/?p=11828"},"modified":"2025-08-14T15:15:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T14:15:39","slug":"how-does-gender-inclusive-writing-work-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/blog\/how-does-gender-inclusive-writing-work-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"How does gender-inclusive writing work around the world?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gender-inclusive writing refers to all the grammatical and syntactical attention paid to ensure equal representation of men and women when writing. In practice, the concept is fraught with controversy and it\u2019s not always easy to know how to use it. Here\u2019s a quick overview of inclusive writing practices around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gender-inclusive writing in French<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Inclusive writing in France often gives rise to debate, notably about the use of the midpoint (\u00b7) or the gender-neutral pronoun \u2018iel\u2019,<\/em> which was recently included in the Le Robert dictionary. However, there are plenty of ways to write inclusively in French.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of all the French-speaking territories, Quebec stands out for its forward-thinking approach to the matter, with discussions about inclusive writing emerging as early as the 1980s. The issue took longer to come to light in France, but one shared point is the lack of unanimity regarding the rules to be applied.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consequently, there are different ways to write inclusively in French, including:<\/span><\/p>\n

The doublet: \u2018toutes et tous<\/em>\u2019, \u2018les travailleurs et les travailleuses<\/em>\u2019 which allows the writer to include both the feminine and masculine forms of the terms (\u2018all\u2019 and \u2018workers\u2019 in this example). You can also classify gendered terms in alphabetical order so that the masculine form is not necessarily the first listed: \u2018elles et ils<\/em>\u2019 or \u2018les femmes et les hommes<\/em>\u2019, meaning \u2018they\u2019 and \u2018women and men\u2019 in English.<\/span><\/p>\n

A variant of this is the shorthand doublet: \u2018le joueur\/la joueuse<\/em>\u2019, \u2018l\u2019expert(e) comptable<\/em>\u2019, \u2018les adjoint[e]s<\/em>\u2019, indicating in different shortened styles both the masculine and feminine forms of \u2018player\u2019, \u2018accountant\u2019 and \u2018deputy\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gender-neutral expressions and periphrases: \u2018le personnel\u2019<\/em>, \u2018le corps enseignant<\/em>\u2019 and \u2018la direction<\/em>\u2019, encompassing as single bodies the concepts of \u2018personnel\u2019, \u2018teaching staff\u2019 and \u2018management\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Use of the midpoint: \u2018les traducteur\u00b7trices<\/em>\u2019, \u2018les salari\u00e9\u00b7es<\/em>\u2019 include all agreements required to designate both male and female \u2018translators\u2019 and \u2018employees\u2019. To add a midpoint, just press and hold \u2018Alt\u2019 and type in 0183 on a PC or \u2325 (option) + \u21e7 (shift) + f on a Mac. (You get the hang of it quickly, honestly!).<\/span><\/p>\n

Inclusive writing in other languages<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The challenges about how to write inclusively vary depending on the language.<\/span><\/p>\n

In English, language is naturally more neutral and nouns do not have a gender. English speakers can also use \u2018they\u2019 as a gender-neutral singular personal pronoun instead of \u2018he\u2019 or \u2018she\u2019, as well as its variants \u2018their\u2019 and \u2018them\u2019 in inclusive phrasing.<\/span><\/p>\n

In German, there are several ways to write gender neutrally. Neutral expressions can be used, such as \u2018Elternteil<\/em>\u2019 for \u2018parent\u2019 instead of \u2018vater<\/em>\u2019 or \u2018mutter<\/em>\u2019 (\u2018father\u2019 or \u2018mother\u2019). You can also use a semi-colon or a capital letter to form a word that includes both the male and female genders, e.g. \u2018Sch\u00fcler:innen<\/em>\u2019 or \u2018Sch\u00fclerInnen<\/em>\u2019 (\u2018students\u2019, in English).<\/span><\/p>\n

Inclusive writing in Spanish uses similar methods to French. The Madrid City Council has published a guide on inclusive writing which encourages the use of periphrases and gender-neutral expressions, doublets and the passive voice to avoid gendered expressions. In less formal settings, we also see the use of the \u2018x\u2019 or \u2018@\u2019 sign, for example in the expression ‘latinxs’\/’latin@s<\/em>‘. This spelling is not one of the Madrid City Council\u2019s recommendations, however, particularly because it raises several questions about pronunciation.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Italian, beyond the gender-neutral expressions already mentioned, the asterisk (*) is generally used to avoid gendered word endings. To address the problem of pronunciation, the use of the schwa symbol (\u0259), a middle vowel in the international phonetic alphabet, is also emerging.<\/span><\/p>\n

In several languages, gender-neutral pronouns are also emerging and entering the dictionary, such as \u2018iel\u2019<\/em> in French and \u2018hen<\/em>\u2019 in Swedish (entered the Swedish Academy’s dictionary in 2015). \u2018Hen<\/em>\u2019 is a gender-neutral pronoun contrary to \u2018han<\/em>\u2019 (he) and \u2018hon<\/em>\u2019 (she).<\/span><\/p>\n

Case-by-case application <\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Of course, inclusive writing is not always suited to all content, especially software interfaces and technical documentation, since it can make phrases difficult to read. Using doublets or gender-neutral expressions can make sentences longer and potentially incompatible with character limitations. Plus, the midpoint is not recognised by all interfaces and may not display correctly. It is therefore essential to take account of your technical constraints before choosing the right approach for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

We hope this article has helped you to have a clearer view of the topic. If you want to use inclusive writing in the translation of your documents, do not hesitate to contact Version Internationale. We will be happy to assist and advise you on the most suitable approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gender-inclusive writing refers to all the grammatical and syntactical attention paid to ensure equal representation of men and women when writing. In practice, the concept is fraught with controversy and it\u2019s not always easy to know how to use it. Here\u2019s a quick overview of inclusive writing practices around the world. Gender-inclusive writing in French […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-stakes-of-translation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11828"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29024,"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11828\/revisions\/29024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.versioninternationale.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}