LE PECQ, France (AP) — The fight to make the French language kinder to women took steps forward, and back, this week. The government banned the use in schools of a method increasingly used by some French speakers to make the language more inclusive, by feminizing some words. But, at the same time, the education ministry also accepted the use of feminized job titles — like “présidente,” instead of “président.” And it encouraged the simultaneous use of both masculine and feminine forms to emphasize that roles are filled by both sexes. In France, proponents and opponents of inclusive writing split down political lines. Arguments over gender-inclusive language are also raging elsewhere in Europe.
