Recommendation for Gender-Sensitive Language

In addition to the traditional tasks of knowledge transfer and qualification, universities also stand for dialog, discussion and controversy. Social changes are reflected in academic discourse and become visible and tangible in everyday university life.

With the adoption of the draft law to amend the Civil Status Act on 15 August 2018, “diverse” can now also be entered in the birth register alongside “female” and “male” or a gender indication can be dispensed with completely so that people cannot be assigned to either the female or male gender. 

This development also gave the gender debate a new dynamic.

“Language is the medium of all media, it underlies all other media (L.F. Push 2022)” 

In written and spoken language, corresponding changes are also evident and a greater sensitivity can be seen. For example, the gender asterisk has replaced binary variants and the underscore. Recently, however, the colon has also become very popular in universities and scientific contexts. Among other things, these developments have led to the desire for uniform and coordinated linguistic means being expressed.

The Recommendation on Gender-Sensitive Language at the HSMW is a response to this request. It is a recommendation for gender-responsive verbal and written communication and is intended for all members of the University and other interested parties who seek guidance on gender-responsive language at the HSMW.

Empirical Findings and Publications

    • The book "Macht Sprache" explains how we can express ourselves sensitively and with little discrimination in order to pave the way to a fairer society with our language:
    • Gasser, Lucy, & von Rath, Anna (2024). Macht Sprache: Ein Manifest für mehr Gerechtigkeit. Strategien für ein sensibles, diskriminierungsarmes Sprechen. Berlin: Ullstein Verlag.

    • The website machtsprache.de is a fun way to look at new terms, discuss them or check texts for offensive or insulting content.

    • The European Institute for Gender Equality offers the “Words Matter” guide to gender-inclusive language. This can be downloaded as a PDF from ther Institute's website. There is also an interactive section with games and quizzes that are available directly online.
    • Another study comes to the conclusion that gender-sensitive writing does not restrict readability:

      Friedrich, M. C. G. & Heise, E. (2019): Does the use of gender-fair language influence the comprehensibility of texts? An experiment using an authentic contract manipulating single role nouns and pronouns. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 78, 51-60.

    • A study in Germany and Belgium shows that when professions are presented in a gender-sensitive way, e.g. engineer, girls and boys consider these professions to be more accessible:

      Dries Vervecken, Bettina Hannover (2015): Yes I can! Effects of gender fair job descriptions on children’s perceptions of job status, job diffi-culty, and vocational self-efficacy. In: Social Psychology. Band 46, Heft 2, 2015, S. 76–92. doi:10.1027/1864- 9335/a000229.

    • Similar study results, which point to the importance of considering male and female job titles, can be found in Karin Kusterle:

      Kusterle, Karin (2011): Die Macht von Sprachformen. Der Zusammenhang von Sprache, Denken und Genderwahrnehmung. Frankfurt am Main: Brandes & Apsel.

    • Blake (2010) emphasizes in his study on news texts that, in addition to an improved perception of both genders, gender-equitable writing styles do not lead to a reduction in readability and linguistic aesthetics:

      Christopher Blake (2010): Geschlechtergerechte Formulierungen in Nachrichtentexten. In: Publizistik. Band 55, Nr. 3, September 2010, S. 289–304. doi:10.1007/s11616-010-0093-2

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