Genders
Gendern or gendering (from English gender "social gender": for example "genderization") is a Germanized word formation from the Anglo-Saxon language area and describes the consideration or analysis of the gender aspect in relation to a population of people, for example in science, statistics and teaching . In a special sense, gendering stands for a gender-conscious use of language which , in the interests of gender equality, goes hand in hand with changes in conventional ( written ) language. In social media is gendern often with the use of special characters such as the gender asterisk based (user * s) , designated partly disparagingly as "Genderei".
Gender in the German language
In Linguistics (Linguistics) referred gendern , the effort, the gender equality in the language to establish and possible sexism counteract by texts in a possible gender-neutral and gender - the including be written form. Gender follows two paths: On the one hand, it is about making the genders visible by naming them both (pair form, double naming) or additional gender symbols to include all genders; on the other hand, the use of gender-neutral formulations is recommended in order to avoid gender distinctions.
Types of gendering
In order to implement gender-appropriate language usage, the following spellings have been developed for personal and professional designations - for some, formulations in the singular are avoided as unsuitable:
1. Both naming (pair form, double naming)
- Complete mention of the masculine and feminine word form instead of the generalizing generic masculine (all students, many colleagues):
- Schoolchildren (polite variant)
- Colleagues ... a colleague
- Abbreviations (forms of savings)
-
Gender bracket
- Students ... a student
- Colleague - no singular possible
-
Gender slash
- Abbreviation with a slash :
- Students ... a student
- Colleagues ... a colleague
- official spelling rule (according to Duden only with a supplementary line ):
- Schoolchildren ... a schoolchildren
- Colleagues ... a colleague
-
Inland I
- Abbreviation using a capitalized "i" and sometimes a capital "e" in the singular:
-
Students ... a student (
SchülerIn
) -
Colleagues (
KollegInnen
) - The official spelling rules do not provide for inner capital letters .
2. Inclusion
-
Gender gap
- Both word forms are shortened with an underscore ( gap: "gap"), which should also include non-binary gender identities and intersex people ( social inclusion , diversity ):
- Students ... a student
- Female colleagues
-
Gender star
- Abbreviation with asterisk to include all genders:
- Students ... a student
- Female colleagues
-
Gender colon
- Abbreviation with colon for all genders:
- Student: in ... a: e Student: in
- Female colleagues
3. Gender neutrality
-
Neutralization through a gender-neutral designation:
- Student body ... a school child
- College
-
Rewording without personal designation:
- Participants → take part
- the audience → the audience
- Pedestrian walkway → sidewalk
These and other types of gendering, such as preferring direct salutation instead of "Mr / Ms" (see gender-neutral salutation and pronouns ) are possible and sometimes recommended by various sources (see dissemination of gender stars and colon ), but are also controversial in public opinion discussed (see also gender language in the media ).
restrictions
In March 2018, the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) denied an obligation for service providers to formulate “gender-equitable” in an individual case: The highest German civil court dismissed the lawsuit of the 80-year-old women's rights activist Marlies Krämer , who asked her local savings bank to be in personal cover letter to be addressed as “customer” instead of using the grammatically masculine word form “customer” as a generic masculine . She also claimed the feminine word forms “account holder, recipient” instead of “account holder, recipient”. However, the language of the forms may remain masculine, and the BGH does not believe that women suffer any disadvantage if they are addressed in forms using the generic masculine. The linguist Carolin Müller-Spitzer criticized the grounds for the judgment of the BGH: “However, this view contradicts a large number of empirical studies a. deal with the question of how the generic masculine is understood. ”The President of the German Association of Women Lawyers , Maria Wersig , regretted the decision of the BGH and said that much remained to be done in terms of gender-sensitive language . Marlies Krämer announced that she would go to the Federal Constitutional Court and, if necessary, to the European Court of Justice . In July 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court dismissed the lawsuit due to a lack of reasons for the application. The now 82-year-old plaintiff stated that she was going to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR): "I will not give up, I will continue until the race is over".
The German party Die Linke stated in September 2019: “In the interest of fluent reading and machine readability, 'gendered' spelling should not be used. So it is always to write about 'users'. ”By gendern , however, only the special characters Genderstern , Binnen-I and Gender Gap were meant, which are sometimes incomprehensibly translated by reading devices and make it difficult for people with disabilities to view documents on the Internet read. Program and flyer texts are not affected by this decision.
Gendering in Science
In history and social sciences will gendering or Gendering used to indicate that a subject is examined from a gender-specific issue and perspective and shown to express. It is assumed that gender plays a role in almost all areas of life and that relationships of power are gendered. Gender shapes thinking, ideas, social and political world, and these constitute the "social generation" ( gender ).
For example, around 1800, the American science historian Londa Schiebinger traced the various gendering processes within the natural sciences. It showed how the prevailing gender images and dichotomies at the time shaped scientific thinking. The legal historian and sociologist Ute Gerhard and the historian Joan Scott described the woman discriminatory basic structure of the citizenship concept as for the first time in the French Revolution was realized as male gendering ( "male gendering").
In the area of research and teaching, the term “integrative gendering” is used to denote the integration of gender aspects on all university didactic levels and in all university fields of action. The following gender categories are used in these contexts:
- Gender Studies (gender studies: e.g. feminist theories of science )
- Gender competence as a key competence
- Gender as content (anchored in the course)
- Diversity (social science)
- Gender didactics, gender modules (e.g. women-specific seminars)
- Study organization and framework conditions
See also
![Current collection of materials Current collection of materials](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Folder.png/17px-Folder.png)
- Gender linguistics (sub-area of sociolinguistics)
- Feminist Linguistics (Critical Linguistics)
- Gender knowledge (all socially available knowledge about gender relations)
- Gender order (social dimension of the social classification according to gender)
literature
- 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 .
- Gabriele Diewald, Anja Steinhauer: Duden: Gender - very easy! Published by the Duden editorial team. Dudenverlag, Berlin March 2019, ISBN 978-3-411-74335-3 ( reading sample on duden.de).
- Gabriele Diewald: Linguistic criteria and arguments for gender equitable use of language. In: Sabine Berghahn , Ulrike Schultz (Ed.): Legal handbook for women and equality officers: Law from A – Z for women and equality officers in public administration, in companies and in advice centers. Loose-leaf collection. Dashöfer, Hamburg 2001-2019, ISBN 978-3-931832-44-5 , chapter "Basics: 1.3".
- Council for German Spelling (RdR): Report and proposals 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 ( PDF: 455 kB, 11 pages onrechtschreibrat.com).
- Jasmin Siri : Gender battle zone: On the politicization of scientific expertise. Nicolai Publishing & Intelligence, Berlin October 2018, ISBN 978-3-96476-003-6 ( DLF review ).
- Anne Wizorek , Hannah Lühmann: Gender ?! Equal rights in language - a pros and cons. Published by the Duden editorial team. Dudenverlag, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-411-75619-3 ( reading sample on duden.de).
- Anja Steinhauer, Gabriele Diewald: Changing gender correctly: How to write appropriately and understandably. Published by the Duden editorial team. Dudenverlag, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-411-74357-5 .
Web links
Portals:
- Association of female journalists : Genderleicht.de (funded by the German Federal Ministry of Women ).
- Johanna Usinger: Skilfully gendern - the gender dictionary (with extensive word collection).
- Open Digital Gender Studies (ODGS), University of Leipzig : Gender Glossary (free transdisciplinary online reference work).
- Freie Universität Berlin : Toolbox Gender and Diversity in Teaching (practical tips and suggestions on university teaching ).
Items:
- Michael Ehlers : Do you know the gender asterisk? What makes sense in gendering from a rhetorical point of view and what doesn't. In: Focus.de . July 16, 2020 (rhetoric trainer).
- Sabine Rennefanz : Column: Gender does not change the discrimination against women. In: berliner-zeitung.de . May 16, 2020 ("In the meantime there is gendering everywhere ... There are hardly any changes in society as a result, as the Corona crisis shows").
Individual evidence
- ( D ) Gabriele Diewald , Anja Steinhauer : Duden Handbook for 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 (2019: ISBN 978-3-411-74335-3 ; 2017: ISBN 978-3-411-74357-5 ).
- ↑ Duden Handbuch 2020, p. 8, quote: "We use the expression gender synonymously with 'design language gender- equitable '."
- ↑ Duden Handbuch 2020, pp. 118–122: Detailed denomination: “Pupils” .
- ↑ Duden Handbuch 2020, pp. 122–124: Abbreviated denomination (slash with hyphen): “Students” .
- ↑ Duden Handbuch 2020, pp. 124–125: Binnen-I: “Schülerinnen” .
- Other documents
- ↑ Gabriele Diewald , Anja Steinhauer : Duden: Gendern - very simple! Published by the Duden editorial team. Dudenverlag, Berlin March 2019, ISBN 978-3-411-74335-3 , p. 7 ( page preview on duden.de: click on "Blick ins Buch"); Quote: “In very general terms, gender is a linguistic process to achieve equality, that is, equal and fair treatment of women and men in linguistic usage. Gender therefore means the use of gender-sensitive language . "
- ↑ Wolfgang Janisch: Decision at the Federal Court of Justice: How Marlies Krämer fights against the savings banks. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . February 20, 2018, accessed July 1, 2020.
- ↑ Report: Gender dispute - BGH: Women have no right to be addressed by women. In: SüddeutscheZeitung.de . March 13, 2018, accessed November 24, 2019.
- ↑ Message: Federal Court of Justice: Forms can remain male. In: Faz.net . March 13, 2018, accessed November 24, 2019.
- ↑ Carolin Müller-Spitzer: Customer - Gender equitable language revisited. In: Verfassungsblog.de . May 21, 2018, accessed November 24.
- ↑ Report (dpa): BGH decision: Customer remains customer: Plaintiff is subject to the dispute over forms. In: The time . March 13, 2018, accessed July 1, 2020.
- ^ Message (dpa): Marlies Krämer: Sparkasse customer is subject to the dispute over forms. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . March 13, 2018, accessed July 1, 2020.
- ↑ Report: Federal Constitutional Court: Sparkasse may initially address the customer as a customer. In: Der Spiegel . July 1, 2020, accessed July 1, 2020.
- ↑ Report: Court complaint about gender unsuccessful: Salutation remains male. In: morgenweb.de . July 2, 2020, accessed on August 10, 2020 (behind a paywall ).
- ↑ Anna Lehmann: Barrier-free communication on the Internet: Left wants to do without gender. In: taz.de . September 3, 2019, accessed November 24, 2019 .
- ^ Claudia Opitz-Belakhal : Gender history. Campus, Frankfurt / M. 2010, ISBN 978-3-593-39183-0 , p. 45.
- ^ Claudia Opitz-Belakhal: Gender history. Campus, Frankfurt / M. 2010, ISBN 978-3-593-39183-0 , p. 140.
- ↑ Bettina Jansen-Schulz, Kathrin van Riesen: Integrative gendering and gender diversity competence: Requirements for an innovative university teaching. In: Sven Ernstson, Christine Meyer (ed.): Practice of gender-sensitive and intercultural education. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-531-19798-2 , pp. 217-237.
- ↑ Bettina Jansen-Schulz: Integrative Gendering in Teaching. In: Social Technology. Volume 3, 2006, pp. 19-21 ( abstract ).