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Photo: imago stock & people / imago / Eckhard Stengel
Gender equitable language is not subject to any compulsory or prohibition in German politics - the debate about it has nonetheless blossomed into a minor election issue.
Now a decision from Hamburg should bring new impetus to the dispute.
Because in the Hanseatic city civil servants will in future be able to use gender-sensitive language in their printed matter, emails and formulations.
The Senate added the principles of administrative language from 1995, announced the equality authority. This is intended to provide suggestions for a language that speaks to all people regardless of their gender. Thus, according to the information, in addition to gender-neutral formulations, a gender star or gender colon can now also be used. There are also suggestions for the salutation that do not include gender designation.
The suggestions can be used for all internal and external correspondence from the administration - for example for brochures, presentations, flyers and forms. "Many people no longer feel addressed when they talk about 'the police officers' or 'the nurses'," said Equal Opportunities Senator Katharina Fegebank (Greens). There are police officers and nurses and also people who practice these professions, but who do not classify themselves as men or women. Now »we are giving employees the freedom to decide for themselves how they want to address their environment«.
The background to this is a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court from 2017, according to which no one may be legally forced to choose between male and female gender.
Since the end of 2018, it has therefore been possible for intersex people to choose "diverse" in addition to the details "male", "female" or "no answer".
There is, however, one exception to the language rule: It does not apply to the issuing or amendment of legal and administrative regulations.
Hamburg CDU organizes a gender veto
Hamburg's CDU leader Christoph Ploß is strictly against gender language in state institutions. A party congress wanted to officially approve a corresponding proposal from the state executive on Tuesday evening. "The Hamburg CDU advocates that no grammatically incorrect gender language is used in all authorities, schools, universities and other state institutions," says the application. There should also be no discrimination and exclusion of people who do not want to use gender-appropriate language.
In a SPIEGEL interview, Ploß had previously spoken out in favor of a gender ban for state institutions.
According to the member of the Bundestag, this demand should become part of the Union's government program.
With his proposal, Ploß triggered widespread criticism from his own and other parties - but the conservative received support from the left (read more here).
mrc / dpa
