Gender neutral forms

Lianne L.B2Kwiziq community member

Gender neutral forms

A challenging topic I've been trying to learn about recently is finding gender neutral terms to use for non-binary people's jobs. For example, "Iel est bibliotechnician." In this case, using -an as an alternative to the masculine -en and feminine -enne.

I don't really have a question. I'm just expressing that this is a difficult aspect of this French topic!

Asked 1 year ago
AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Lianne !

This is indeed a very interesting new field, and particularly tricky for "gendered" languages such as French :) I must admit that I have very little knowledge of it beyond the use of "iel".
My first instinct would be to use l'écriture inclusive (technicien.ne), but I agree it doesn't feel quite right when it comes to non-binary people who are neither gender... 
A very interesting discussion to start on this forum :)

 

Lianne L.B2Kwiziq community member

Merci pour votre réponse, Aurélie ! :)

Using l'écriture inclusive is definitely helpful in writing! My problem is that I'm more likely to use spoken French than to write something, and as far I can tell there isn't a way to pronounce "technicien.ne".

Gender neutral forms

A challenging topic I've been trying to learn about recently is finding gender neutral terms to use for non-binary people's jobs. For example, "Iel est bibliotechnician." In this case, using -an as an alternative to the masculine -en and feminine -enne.

I don't really have a question. I'm just expressing that this is a difficult aspect of this French topic!

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