According to the World Happiness Report, published annually by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Unit, the happiest people have lived in Finland for four years – from 2018 to 2022. Finns don’t even care about their own language and can simply use the gender-neutral pronoun “hän”, which simultaneously expresses three genders – he, she and that, and in a certain context also gender. So in this case, they don’t have to worry about linguistic gender equality.

And in Germany, there are proposals to introduce similar terms to make the language gender neutral. However, this also exacerbates the debate about how the desire for gender equality makes language fairer, and therefore society itself. Or perhaps such a desire, on the contrary, contributes to the division of society?

“If I understand that certain terms cause harm to individuals or groups, then I should try to express it differently – as a sign of respect,” current Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told German publication Tagesspiegel a year ago. But there are others who consider the change of linguistic norms established for reasons of gender an insult to the German language. Controversy sometimes escalates, especially on social media. Former ZDF news anchor Petra Gerster faced hostility as she began to change gender-neutral story lines.

“Language variants themselves are not uncommon in Germany,” points out Anatol Stefanowitsch, professor of linguistics at the Free University of Berlin, in an interview with DW. He recalls that in Germany, historically, there are many regional dialects that today are also found in other contexts. “Trying them out isn’t bad at all, because it can be an impetus for constructive discussions.”

Asterisk against patriarchy

Either way, language tends to change. And language development occurs under the influence of social processes, emphasizes Professor Stefanovich. Much of what is used today in our everyday language was tried and tested in some communities 20 or 30 years ago. The main problem is that the use of the category “gender” in a social context has turned out to be more complex than previously thought.

The discussion is not limited to Germany. In Romance languages, endings in “o” or “a” indicate gender and gender, and alternatives are also discussed in these languages. What is often forgotten in discussions in Germany is that nobody wants to interfere in the private sphere. The debate on changes to a gender-neutral language mainly concerns communication in the public, state and economic sectors.

In June 2022, Deutsche Bahn was forced to sue a non-binary passenger for moral damages due to limiting passenger appeal in the online ticketing system to two gender categories – “female” or “male”. At the end of July, the manager of the VW Group lost another lawsuit. The claimant was bothered by the dash in the word “Mitarbeiter_innen” (employees_tsy), which was used in the internal communication of the Audi subsidiary, emphasizing the simultaneous appeal to both sexes. The manager filed a lawsuit but lost the case: Audi can continue to use this gender appeal in its business language. In other words, the dispute revolves around officially recognized norms.

However, many institutions follow gender-neutral language and messages, using asterisks – Student*innen (student *ki), or capital letters in between words – KollegInnen (meaning both male and female colleagues) in written messages. These appeals generally take into account all genders, including non-binary people who do not identify as male or female.

Universal forms of addressing

The German Language Society (Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache, GfdS) recalls that equal treatment of men and women in society is enshrined in the Basic Law. His official speech gives this example: “According to the study, women take longer than men to understand text that uses the masculine address, because they always have to check the context to make sure that this address is exclusively about men. That’s why new and clear ways of approaching both sexes are needed.”

This is where the controversy begins. Opponents of the gender definition cling to the masculine gender, using the appropriate pronouns and nouns – doctor, colleague, student, and at the same time claim that they mean representatives of all sexes. However, at the same time, they forget that gender is not equivalent to gender, so grammatical gender does not imply a person’s gender.

1.6 million gender language video clicks

Among opponents of the gender-neutral treatment is 26-year-old Alicia Joe (Alicia Joe), whose YouTube video is followed by around 470,000 subscribers. In January of this year, she posted a half-hour video on this social platform called “Why Gender Language Doesn’t Work”.

In it, she discusses the pros and cons, clarifies your doubts and suggests ways to solve the problem. It is her most viewed video on YouTube to date, with over 1.6 million clicks.

“One of the solutions is that everyone may or may not adhere to gender-neutral messages and language – at their discretion,” she told DW. Alicia herself, according to her, continues to use the masculine gender in names of, say, professions, but on one of the talk shows she made a reservation that she wants to be an astronaut. “If equality comes down to just the language of gender, there is a danger that this equality is not in reality. As long as women are not promoted, no change will happen”, is sure Alicia Joe.

In many cases, the gender-neutral address doesn’t work grammatically. “Also, the German language, which is already difficult, becomes even more difficult for those trying to learn it,” says a blogger from Germany. In addition, she refers to the results of polls, according to which most Germans reject gender-neutral appeals and language.

“Language is largely recycled and changed unconsciously,” explains Professor Stefanovich. Those who used the common masculine often referred to other genders – women and non-binary people. Research, however, shows that the corresponding forms of treatment are also subconsciously interpreted as male-specific addresses. “For decades, we are used to speaking in a certain way and we want to use the common masculine gender to refer to all genders. However, the meaning of our language is not determined by what we desire, but by what and how we express it.”

Studies show that sexing makes women more visible, says the linguist. But this is still not the case for non-binary people. However, approaching people from a position of gender equality contributes to their awareness and eliminates the stereotypes of the past. “Only in this way, processes of emancipation that go beyond the usual categories of ‘woman-man’ can become a social norm in the future”, Professor Stefanovich is certain.