The Government of Javier Milei will prohibit inclusive language and “everything related to the gender perspective” in the Argentine public administration, as announced this Tuesday by the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni.
“It will not be possible to use the letter -e, the at sign, the -x and [we will] avoid the unnecessary inclusion of the feminine in all documents,” the official explained.
He later added: “Gender perspectives have also been used as a political business.”
The decision is in line with the far-right president's rejection of equality policies that he considers part of the “indoctrination” of “cultural Marxism” and that he intends to fight.
The announcement was communicated after the Cabinet meeting this Tuesday, hours after the Ministry of Defense prohibited by decree the use of the morpheme -e to replace the letters -a and -o in the communications of the agency, of the Armed Forces. and decentralized organizations.
The text published in the Official Gazette indicates that “the correct use of the Spanish language” will be imposed because “any deviation or denaturation” of the language “can lead to misinterpreting what you wish to provide or order.”
“It is simply extending this decision to the rest of the agencies,” said Adorni, who did not give more details about the announcement when a journalist asked him during the Government's daily press conference and pointed out that “there are sectors that do not feel considered.” ” in Spanish.
“The language that covers all sectors is Spanish.
It is a debate in which we are not going to participate because we consider that gender perspectives have also been used as a political business,” the presidential spokesperson concluded.
Adorni also did not explain what actions the Government foresees when it warns that it will eliminate “everything related to the gender perspective.”
Formulated this way, it could imply setbacks in the achievements of the feminist movement in Argentina, for example, in areas such as justice or work.
The movement now adds a new reason to take to the streets next March 8, in the 8M feminist march.
Feminist and human rights organizations have warned, after the announcement, that Argentina maintains “commitments assumed in international human rights treaties” and that eliminating the gender perspective “means destroying respect for diversities” and “calls into question many laws that are in force.”
For the Argentine president, who is confronted with the feminist movement, “gender ideology” and inclusive language “destroy the values of society.”
Aligned with other leaders of the global extreme right, such as former US president Donald Trump or the leader of the Spanish ultra party, Santiago Abascal, the Argentine president has put himself at the forefront of a “battle against left-wing”, that is, against the most progressives.
In December, she eliminated the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity and shortly after her party, La Libertad Avanza, presented in Congress a bill to criminalize abortion in Argentina, where it has been legal since 2020. The decision communicated this Tuesday in another step along that line.
Nobody expected Milei to address his
ministers
this Tuesday at the Cabinet meeting
or he will speak to the
deputies
at the opening of the legislative sessions next Friday, but the decision to prohibit inclusive language in the public Administration goes beyond not adopting it and marks further distance with the previous Government, of the Peronist Alberto Fernández, who He defended its use and implemented it.
“It is not a language problem, it is a problem of everyone feeling challenged.
Everyone
feels
challenged
.
“Is it well said?” said the former president, father of a non-binary person, at an official event.
The so-called inclusive language, which contemplates the use of -eu other morphemes as a way to make gender policies visible in Spanish, gained notoriety in Argentina during the demonstrations in favor of the legalization of abortion in 2018. It started in secondary schools and was spread, driven by feminist movements and in favor of sexual diversity, especially by young people and members of the LGBTIQ+ community.
The Royal Spanish Academy has rejected its implementation and has considered that the use of the grammatical masculine “does not imply any sexist discrimination.”
“The use of the @ or the letters 'e' and 'x' as supposed inclusive gender marks is foreign to the morphology of Spanish, as well as unnecessary,” defends the RAE.
For some academics, changes in the language have taken centuries and that form of expression is only “the mirror of a sociopolitical position,” as the president of the Argentine Academy of Letters, Alicia Zorrilla, expressed to EL PAÍS in 2019.
Despite opposition from academia, the use of inclusive language has grown and has been incorporated into government agencies, universities or international organizations.
A guide developed by the United Nations, for example, notes that language “determines cultural and social attitudes”: “Using gender-inclusive language is an extremely important way to promote gender equality and combat gender bias.” ”.
If Milei's decision advances, that option will be vetoed within the dependencies of the Argentine State.
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