Gender Gap (Linguistics)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
everyone
The underscore as gender sign
for the including abbreviation
of Beidnennung "each / every"

Gender Gap ([ˈdʒɛndɐɡæp]; according to Duden, Gender-Gap ; from English gender “social gender”, and gap “gap, gap ”) or gendergap describes the use of an underscore within the word as a means of gender-equitable spelling in German , in addition to male and to make female also other genders and gender identities typographically visible and to include them (compare Divers , Third Gender ). The name is derived from the social gender gap between women and men (“gender gap”), but it is a sham Anglicism because personal designations are gender-neutral in English . The character is used to avoid the generic masculine (pupil) in order to abbreviate the denomination (pupils) . The underscore is inserted between the masculine name and its movied feminine ending (pupils) . In the singular , a person can be called that is not male or female ( non-binary ): Alex is ein_e Schüler_in . Incongruous is the underscore when there are no male readable name shows (for example, "Kolleg_in" colleague missing) or Umlautungen (such as "Ärzt_in" doctor missing). When speaking , the gap is pronounced with a “ gender pause ” like a hyphen : Schüler-innen[ˈʃyːlrərˌ ʔ  ɪnən], which corresponds to a glottic stroke . The spelling with underscores was proposed in 2003 in the field of queer theory as an alternative to the two-sex internal I (students) , but both capital letters and underscores are not part of the official spelling . The Society for German Language does not recognize the underscore and other gender symbols as a suitable means of implementing non-discriminatory language (see GfdS criticism ). Further developments of the spelling with underscore are from 2009 the gender asterisk (students) and from 2019 the gender colon (students) .

history

Already before 1900, a shortened bracketed spelling such as pupils or pupils developed . From the 1940s and increasingly from the 1960s a slash spelling developed : pupils . From the increased use of the slash from the 1970s in the course of the second women's movement , in order to expressly include women, the abbreviation developed from 1981 to internal I : pupils . The queer theory criticized early on that the internal I mentioned male and female, but also emphasized the binary social gender order . Other genders and gender identities such as non-binary or intersex people would be linguistically suppressed and would have to be subordinate to the bisexual norm .

The idea for the stylistic device of the underscore was presented by the linguist Steffen "Kitty" Herrmann in 2003 in his essay Performing the Gap - Queer Gestalten and Sexual Appropriation . The designation gender gap or underscore does not appear in the essay, only the character "_" as a space that leaves possibilities open:

“In contrast, I would like to set another place of sexuality, a place that needs to be explored and for which we should fight, it looks like this: _. [...] Set between the boundaries of a rigid gender order, it is the spatialization of the invisible "

- Steffen Herrmann : Performing the Gap (2003)

Herrmann continues to represent the gender gap, as in 2018: “The underscore graphically pushes the male and female forms apart in order to make space for something new in between. Namely for those who cannot or do not want to identify with the bisexual order. The underline therefore primarily serves to make it visible. "

After it became known, the underscore is increasingly used within queer , feminist and university contexts to express gender diversity. The queer theorist and philosopher Gudrun Perko declared in 2008 that it would be conceivable that “to show a blank” would turn into its “dialectical opposite”, and that the blank would thus indicate something that was already there. In this sense, the underline variant indicates people "who are made socially and structurally invisible".

spelling, orthography

The Duden online leads to a Gendergap or gender gap underscore designated with the meaning 2: "(when referring to people) by an underscore recognizable made distance between stem or masculine inflectional and feminine inflectional, to serve the linguistic equal treatment of all social gender".

In November 2018, the German Spelling Council analyzed the occurrence of the underscore in text types and existing guidelines, but did not make any recommendation itself; he noted:

“[B] Both forms of the gender gap (static as well as dynamic underscore) as marking the abolition of binary gender concepts are only widespread in certain groups and communities and for the most part do not meet the criteria that the Council believes must be placed on correct texts (Above all not the intelligibility, legibility and readability). "

However, the Council stated: “In accordance with the task description in the Statute of the Council to make recommendations on the basis of the observation of the use of writing, it makes sense, however, to develop recommendations not only with regard to the forms of labeling masculine and feminine when observing gender-sensitive writing , but also to include other genders if necessary. "

In April 2020, the Duden Handbook for Gender Equitable Language declared:

"Currently, in spring 2020, these possibilities, i. H. Inland-I , Gender Star , Gendergap, colon and Medio point not yet part of the official spelling, but the three first mentioned as a widespread and legitimate means of striving for geschlechtergerechtem writing skills are well recognized and also in the meetings of the Council for German Spelling at least discussed [...]. "

In August 2020, the 28th edition of the spelling dudens was published with three-page information on gender-appropriate language use , which do not specify any rules or norms, but only show options that are currently used in German for gender-appropriate wording. The Duden editorial team writes about the underscore: “The official set of rules does not cover spellings such as the following: [...] with gender gap (underscore; colon): pupils; Students: inside ”.

distribution

In 2008, the queer theorist Persson Perry Baumgartinger described an increasing spread of the underscore, especially in Germany, but also in Austria. It appeared in some organization names, for example in Austria: Action Critical Students (from 2010), Greens & Alternative Students (from 2016) or Association of Socialist Students (from 2016). The German documentary Viacrucis Migrante - Kreuzweg der Migrant_innen used the gender gap in the title in 2016 to explicitly include women and transgender people.

In February 2020, the media company news aktuell found in an online survey of German press offices and PR agencies that only 1% of the 415 communicators surveyed use the underscore. 92 communicators were surveyed in Switzerland, none of them use it (see evaluation table ).

In 2020, many of the university guidelines will still contain the gender gap as a means of spelling abbreviated forms in official communication in a gender-inclusive manner (see list ). Some city administrations also use the underscore, sometimes in addition to gender asterisks and slashes; In April 2020, the Stuttgart administration switched entirely to spelling with gender asterisks or neutral formulations in order to avoid bisexual forms.

criticism

A problem arises with the use of an underscore in printing units or sites relative to the typestyle by underlining (backing of text with a line), because the gender character is unrecognizable and thus the word formation seems divided into individual components:

  • Students, one pupil

The linguist Luise F. Pusch , pioneer of gender-equitable language , found the gender gap interesting and good in its approach in 2008, but was not entirely convinced of it. He reminds me very much of the structure of e-mail addresses, is better than the slash , but not as good as the internal I , “which cleverly suggests a feminine reading that should nevertheless also be acceptable for men, since it graphically clearly differs from the purely feminine form of 'female readers'. "Overall, she spoke out in favor of a consistent work towards neutral forms as in English and of" a rigorous abolition of the essentially discriminatory derivation of 'secondary' forms from the 'main forms' . All genders, including those not specified, are entitled to the basic shape and should not be pushed off with any worm appendages in corners ”. Since 1984, Pusch has advocated the sole use of the generic feminine , in which feminine personal designations generally stand for all genders (see also Pusch's criticism of the gender star ).

The queer theorist Persson Perry Baumgartinger pointed out in 2008 that underlining the diversity of gender between man and woman, only a small space is allocated. Also, through the mandatory first mention of the masculine word form, the hierarchy from man to woman remains and is shown as the only recognized and noteworthy variant - compared to the "other", to whom only a small placeholder is assigned.

The Society for German Language (GfdS) announced in a press release in August 2020 that “gender asterisk and co. Do not conform to German spelling”, which also meant the underscore: “The GfdS therefore expressly advises against using the gender asterisk and to use similar problematic forms ”(compare GfdS criticism of the gender star ). The guidelines of the GfdS on the possibilities of gendering had already appeared in mid-2020, listing specific problems with the use of the gender gap:

" Assessment by the GfdS
The gender gap is not recommended by the Society for German Language, as it is not part of the current spelling . In addition, the same problems arise as with internal capitalization , insofar as omitting the underscore or even the entire ending may not result in a grammatically correct and legible word:
This is the case with umlauts - not: doctor, farmer .
[...] with inflected forms - not: colleague, doctors, the students .
[...] better not: the student and her / his parents, a good student . […] Better not: the pupil and her parents […].
If personal names with gender gap are read out, they give the impression that only the female gender is meant. "

See also

Current collection of materialsfPortal women: gender language  - current materials

literature

  • 2020: Society for the German Language (GfdS): Guidelines of the GfdS on the possibilities of gendering. In: The Language Service. No. 1–2, 2020, section d) Gendergap ( online at gfds.de).
  • 2020: Gabriele Diewald , Anja Steinhauer : Duden Handbook Gender Equitable Language: How to Gender Appropriately and Understandably. Published by the Duden editorial team. Dudenverlag, Berlin April 2020, ISBN 978-3-411-74517-3 , pp. 126–127: Underline u. A .: "Students, students" .
  • 2019: Gabriele Diewald, Anja Steinhauer: Duden: Gendern - very easy! Published by the Duden editorial team. Dudenverlag, Berlin March 2019, ISBN 978-3-411-74335-3 , p. 30: Students: Underscore (compact guide).
  • 2018: Council for German Spelling (RdR): Report and proposals of the working group “Gender Equitable Spelling” to the meeting of the Council for German Spelling on November 16, 2018 - Revised version ... Mannheim, November 16, 2018 ( PDF: 455 kB, 11 pages on Rechtsschreibrat .com; press release ).
  • 2017: Anja Steinhauer, Gabriele Diewald: Duden: Correct gendern - How to write appropriately and understandably. Published by the Duden editorial team. Dudenverlag, Berlin October 2017, ISBN 978-3-411-74357-5 , p. 47/48: Underscore ( page preview in the Google book search).
  • 2016: Duden editorial team: gender-equitable use of language. In: Duden - The dictionary of linguistic doubtful cases: Correct and good German (= Duden. Volume 9). 8th, completely revised edition. Dudenverlag, Berlin December 2016, ISBN 978-3-411-04098-8 , pp. 387–395, here pp. 390–391: capital I, asterisk and underscore ( page previews in the Google book search).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gendergap, Gender-Gap, der (2). In: Duden.de . Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c d Persson Perry Baumgartinger: Dear [schtean] Les [schtean], [schtean] you're reading this ... From emancipation and pathologization, empowerment and language changes. In: Liminalis - Journal for Sexual Emancipation. No. 2, June 26, 2008, pp. 24–39, here p. 24 ( PDF: 183 kB, 16 pages on liminalis.de ( Memento from December 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive )).
  3. ↑ a b c Beate Hausbichler: Gender / Language: Room for _ !. In: dieStandard.at. October 26, 2008, accessed March 26, 2020.
  4. ↑ a b Steffen "Kitty" Herrmann (alias S_he): Performing the Gap - Queer Design and Gender Appropriation. In: Arranca! No. 28, November 2003, pp. 22-26 ( online at arranca.org).
    Profile: Steffen Herrmann, Institute for Philosophy. In: FernUni-Hagen.de . 2020, accessed March 26, 2020.
  5. ↑ Steffen Herrmann: Debate Language and Gender: Using the underscore means to position yourself politically. In: Federal Center for Political Education . August 8, 2018, accessed May 25, 2020.
  6. ↑ Gendergap, Gender-Gap, der. In: Duden online . Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  7. ↑ a b Council for German Spelling (RdR): Report and suggestions of the working group "Gender Equitable Spelling" for the meeting of the Council for German Spelling on November 16, 2018 - Revised version ... Mannheim, November 16, 2018, pp. 1 and 10 ( PDF: 455 kB, 11 pages onrechtschreibrat.com ).
  8. ↑ Gabriele Diewald , Anja Steinhauer : Duden handbook gender-equitable language: How to gender appropriately and understandably. Published by the Duden editorial team. Dudenverlag, Berlin April 2020, ISBN 978-3-411-74517-3 , p. 127: Note on standardization .
  9. ^ Duden -Redaktion: Duden: The German orthography. 28th edition. Dudenverlag, Berlin 2020, ISBN 978-3-411-04018-6 , pp. 112–114: Gender equitable use of language , here p. 112 ( online at duden.de).
  10. ↑ news aktuell - press release: No uniform regulation: How PR deals with gender-sensitive language. In: Pressessprecher.com May 7, 2020, accessed May 8, 2020.
  11. ↑ Editorial text: How PR deals with gender-sensitive language. In: Werbewoche.ch May 7, 2020, accessed May 8, 2020.
  12. ↑ Stuttgart , Department for Equal Opportunities and Diversity: Instructions for implementing gender-sensitive language for the administration of the state capital Stuttgart. April 28, 2020 ( PDF: 1.1 MB, 10 pages on stuttgart.de; info page ).
  13. ↑ Gender Equality Officer at the University of Hamburg : Recommendations on gender-equitable language. Hamburg, May 2019, p. 2 ( PDF: 1.1 MB, 32 pages at gb.uni-koeln.de ); Quote: “ Gender gap: […] With the formulation, other genders should also be taken into account. The omission in legibility can be a disadvantage, especially with underlining. "
  14. ^ Society for German Language : Press release GfdS: Gendersternchen and Co. do not conform to German spelling. In: GfdS.de. August 13, 2020, accessed August 15, 2020.
  15. ^ Society for German Language (GfdS): Guidelines of the GfdS on the possibilities of gendering. In: The Language Service. No. 1–2, 2020, section d) Gendergap ( online at gfds.de).