The text, which wants to prohibit the use of the midpoint or neutral pronouns like “iel” and “celleux” in a large number of documents of daily life, nevertheless risks not being adopted by the National Assembly.
“Deadly ideology” Or “path to equality” ? The Senate voted, Monday, October 30, for a very broad ban on the use of inclusive writing, encouraged by the president, Emmanuel Macron, who had said, earlier in the day, that he feared seeing the French language “give in to the spirit of the times”. The senators adopted by 221 votes to 82 the bill “aimed at protecting the French language from the abuses of so-called inclusive writing”, carried by Les Républicains (LR) senator Pascale Gruny. Franceinfo summarizes what you need to know about this text.
1 What is inclusive writing?
Inclusive writing is a writing technique that encompasses rules of grammar and syntax aimed at ensuring a more egalitarian representation of women and gender minorities in the French language. To achieve this objective, several main principles can be applied, relates the guide for public communication without gender stereotypes (PDF), published in 2022 by the High Council for Equality between Women and Men (HCE). Here are a few.
The feminization of vocabulary. This technique consists of feminizing job names, titles and functions to designate a woman. Clearly, favor the wording “the president” over “Mrs. President”.
Double bending. This involves declining nouns and adjectives that vary in gender, as when a president begins his speeches with “Françaises, Français”.
The midpoint. It involves the insertion of a period, different from the final period of sentences, into a word, to signify that we are in fact referring to both the masculine and feminine form of that word. We then write “the student” to mean “the student and the student”. The High Council for Equality recommends the midpoint, shorter than double inflection, for written practice only. He also believes that only one midpoint is necessary, even when these words are made plural. He therefore advises writing “the citizens”, and not “the citizens”.
The use of epicene words. This involves favoring terms whose spelling does not vary between the masculine and feminine form. Rather than writing “the students”, this technique suggests instead writing “the student world” or “the student community”.
The proximity agreement. When a feminine term and a masculine term must be granted at the same time, this rule suggests making the agreement according to the gender of the term closest to the granted word. This gives for example: “Actors and actresses were satisfied.”
Gender neutralization. It is the use of words that do not specify the gender of the person they designate, either because they do not wish their gender to be mentioned, or because they are a non-binary person. – who does not recognize themselves strictly as feminine or masculine – or because it is a group of mixed people. These are, for example, the pronouns “iel(s)” – a contraction of “il(s)” and “elle(s)” – or “celeux”, a contraction of “celles” and “those”.
2 What does the LR bill contain?
The text of Senator Les Républicains Pascale Gruny calls for a ban on “editorial and typographical practices aimed at introducing grammatical words constituting neologisms or replacing the use of the masculine, when it is used in a generic sense, with a spelling highlighting the existence of a feminine form”. The text does not target the feminization of titles, the use of double inflection or epicene words, but words such as “iel” or “celleux” and the midpoint, explains the report of the Senate Culture Committee (PDF) on the text.
Its scope of application is vast: the bill plans to ban these uses for all “documents which the law requires to be written in French”such as instructions for use, employment contracts, internal company regulations, collective agreements, etc. Also covered are legal acts, such as laws or court decisions, which would be considered inadmissible or void in cases of use of prohibited forms of inclusive writing. “The documents relating to teaching, exams and competitions and theses and dissertations” are also covered by the text. On the other hand, it would always be possible for a party, a union or an association to produce leaflets using inclusive writing.
Some of the uses targeted by the proposed law are already prohibited by two circulars. The first onetaken in 2017 by former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, “guest” the ministers, “in particular for texts intended to be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic, not to use so-called inclusive writing”. The second, taken in 2021 by the former Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, prohibits the use of inclusive writing in teaching. Here again, these two circulars mainly target the use of the midpoint, and not the feminization of professions, functions or titles, or double inflection, which on the contrary they encourage. However, the deputies behind the LR bill note that these circulars, if they are “welcome”could be “easily questioned” And “only cover part of the subject”.
3 What are the arguments of those who defend inclusive writing?
The general idea of inclusive writing is “to make women and non-binary people visible, orally or in writing, by opposing the idea that the masculine and men represent the universal”summarize researchers Marie Loison, Gwenaëlle Perrier and Camille Noûs, in the journal Notebooks of the genre. They add that it consists of “ban the use of language that reproduces gender relations”.
“The words we use to describe our environment reveal our relationship to the world”also estimates the HCE, adding that “research has shown that (…) a masculine grammatical form [employée comme neutre en français] automatically refers to a masculine representation.” “LLanguage structures our thinking: it not only reflects it, it directs it!”also wrote Eliane Viennot, language historian and author of the book No, the masculine does not prevail over the feminine!(ed. iXe) in an article on franceinfo in 2017.
Its defenders also point out that inclusive writing is not a modern fad. The HCE thus underlines that until the 17th century, “all women were named in the feminine form, whatever their profession, function or dignity”. And that the proximity agreement “remained officially tolerated until the Haby reform”in 1975. “The disappearance of these women, or their specialization in ‘conjugal’ employment [la préfète désignant alors la femme du préfet]is a process initiated in the 17th century, under pressure from the French Academy (born in 1635)”explains Eliane Viennot in her column.
4 What are the arguments of those who oppose inclusive writing?
The Senate Culture Committee notes three “difficulties” relating to inclusive writing, in its report on the proposed law aimed at banning it. She first considers that it is the fruit of a “militant approach”. “With so-called inclusive writing, language loses its intrinsic neutrality to become a political and ideological marker” of those who designate themselves as “progressives”, “young people” And “modernists”writes senator LR Cédric Vial.
Furthermore, the commission believes that the multiple practices of inclusive writing make it “a significant constraint” in language learning, already “threat” by other developments in the language, such as “Franglais”. Finally, she considers that it constitutes a “threat to the intelligibility and accessibility of texts”, particularly legislative. And this, in particular for those who suffer from “dys” disorders (dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysphasia).
5 Does this text have a chance of succeeding?
After the adoption by the Senate on Monday evening, the National Assembly must now put the text on the agenda, then vote on it in the same terms, for it to come into force. The majority, which abstained on the text on Monday evening, and which already has a busy legislative agenda, has no interest in requesting examination of the right’s bill. The entire left is opposed to restricting inclusive writing and so won’t do it either. The LR group in the Assembly could, however, put this on the agenda of its parliamentary niche, in December. “There is a high probability that this will be the case”slips to franceinfo a parliamentary source LR, specifying that the final decision would be known “next week”.
However, even if it were to be debated in the hemicycle, it is unlikely that the text would be adopted in the Assembly, due to the balance of forces present, less favorable to the right than to the Senate . On October 12, a similar bill from the National Rally had thus been withdrawn during examination by the deputies, while it was heading towards rejection.