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Doctor?
How language influences job selection
Photo: Martí Sans / Stocksy United
SPIEGEL:
Anyone who used to search for "doctor" in the online edition of Duden only found out that it was the "female form of doctor".
Now you can read straight away: "Female person who, after studying medicine and clinical training, has received state approval (license to practice medicine) to treat sick people."
Wasn't it long overdue to dedicate their own entry to female job titles?
Gabriele Diewald
: Job titles such as doctor or teacher have been listed in the Duden online dictionary for 20 years.
What is new is that the editorial team is gradually adding its own explanations to 12,000 female job titles.
So you save a click.
I keep in touch with the Duden editorial team, so I know that many users explicitly wanted to change that.
They didn't want the men to be simply referred to.
But it's also no surprise that language editors will endeavor to achieve gender-appropriate language in 2021 - after 50 years of debate.
To person
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Gabriele Diewald
, 60, works as a professor for German linguistics at the University of Hanover.
She is the author of several Duden books on gender-equitable language.
SPIEGEL:
Can language even lead the way?
Doesn't it first need more senior doctors and policewomen - only then does our language change?
Diewald:
This question is often asked for strategic reasons: Shouldn't we rather ensure that women have every opportunity and only then see what we call them?
But this is not how social change works, and above all language change.
Language cannot be viewed separately, it is always part of the process.
Incidentally, it has long been a matter of course that the Federal Employment Agency uses long lists of professional fields for its advice.
Thousands of job titles are listed there - in male and female form.
There is a glassblower and of course a glassblower, a master photographer and a master photographer.
Tests show clear results
SPIEGEL:
What effects does it have on young women's career choices if feminine forms are used?
Diewald:
There are numerous studies on this, for example from the psycholinguistic field or the educational sciences.
Such tests run, for example, as follows: The test subjects are presented with statements that contain a masculine form, for example: "The teachers of the upper school have a grade conference." This is followed by a sentence that refers back to "the teachers" with either female or male personal names - that is either "Today women handle the difficult cases" or "Today the men handle the difficult cases".
The test subjects have to react at the push of a button as soon as they understand the following sentence.
The result: Sentences that contain female characters as a resumption of the masculine form are accepted much more slowly.
The test subjects first have to think, so to speak, whether women really could be meant.
"Language plays an important role, but of course that's not all."
Gabriele Diewald
SPIEGEL:
Critics say: "The generic masculine already includes women." What do you reply?
Diewald:
It may be that many don't think badly and really mean women when they speak of "teachers".
Research shows again and again that women do not feel addressed.
This already applies to school children, as a study from 2015 shows.
When people with certain professions are mentioned and these are only presented in masculine form - "What do you think a pilot does?" Instead of "What do you think a pilot does?" - girls cannot deal with this Identify roles.
Time and again it has been shown that gender-equitable or gender-sensitive language scores better, especially when it comes to job titles.
That means: girls and women feel more addressed if the feminine form is also used.
And above all, they are more confident about doing this job themselves.
Start at different points
SPIEGEL:
Sounds like a simple solution for making career choices more gender-sensitive.
Diewald:
Language plays an important role, but of course that's not all.
The problem is and remains our patriarchal society.
There are two genders, one is more important, one is less important, that is the order in patriarchy.
And it's not gone yet.
If our society wants to achieve more equal opportunities at work, we have to start at different points.
Let's take school, for example: some textbooks carry stereotypes of roles and thus support the idea that boys have different interests and needs than girls - for example, that boys are more active and less empathetic.
SPIEGEL:
So schools are even slower than Duden?
Diewald:
I wouldn't say that.
School authorities have recognized the problem, which is why a lot is happening at the moment - both in terms of the linguistic and visual representation in school books.
But approval often takes a while.
I also have to emphasize that it depends heavily on individual teachers which role models and stereotypes they carry on - or not.
SPIEGEL:
What about universities?
Diewald:
Universities are not so closely tied to the plans of the education ministries.
You have the advantage of being free to design the language used.
Many universities are also aware that language has an impact on career choices.
If you want to attract female students to STEM subjects, you can no longer write: "As a physicist, you will also find a good job in business."
"Young people are already discussing different practices"
Gabriele Diewald
SPIEGEL:
17-year-old schoolchildren are probably more used to the spelling "physicist".
Diewald:
That is also my feeling.
Young people are already discussing different practices - the gender asterisk, the large interior I, the colon.
I don't think that young men are upset that women can now find their own job titles with explanations in the online dictionary.
SPIEGEL:
In October the Ministry of Justice drafted a legal text entirely in female form - for example there were women managing directors.
The Ministry of the Interior considered this to be unconstitutional.
The case shows how difficult it is to enforce gender-equitable language.
Diewald:
It must be said that legal language is once again subject to its own standards.
And yet, even among lawyers, there are always efforts to formulate gender-equitable.
In the past, for example, attempts have been made to change the text of the road traffic regulations.
This has led to huge storms of protest.
However, it is precisely these discussions that are necessary to drive the change forward.
And unfortunately they will not stop for a long time.
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