Using inclusive writing in your business communications: For or against?

At a time when laws promoting gender equality are succeeding one another, the fight against discrimination is still current and the societal problem is having an impact on the French language with the question of gender and, among other things, the feminization of job names. With the creation of inclusive writing, whose first objective is to represent genders equally, a controversy arose between feminists, defenders of the evolution of the language and purists, curators of the Académie française, who went so far as to proclaim the idea of a masculine generic. What are each other's arguments? What does the law say? What are the impacts for business and recruitment? Overview.

How inclusive writing works

The question of genres in the language is typical for French-speaking countries because it is linked to the absence of the neutral in French. She contributed in part to the birth of inclusive writing.

Definition

Initially, inclusive writing consists of a “set of graphic attentions and Syntactic making it possible to ensure equality of representations between men and women ” 1. It also serves the cause of people who define themselves as “gender fluid”, for example, but perhaps not sufficiently that of non-binary or transgender people, hence the appearance of M/F/X after certain job titles. X wanted to be the representation of the neutral, even if here again the choice of the letter may be open to discussion.

It can take various forms, including midpoint which is controversial and is used to refer to the masculine and feminine gender, within the same word. For example: entrepreneur.

How do you write inclusively?

Inclusive writing is not just about the middle point and its followers provide writing tips for writing in inclusive language:

• The double flexion, expression used by linguists, i.e. the juxtaposition of female and male genders to some words. Example: candidates.
• La parenthesis, to integrate the Female gender. Example: the French.

• The point median, Graphing used to include in a single word the male and female genders. Example of inclusive writing:” collaborators” involves a doubling of genders.
• A term Epicene designating both indifferently Sexes And remaining invariable At singular, Whether it is from Male or female gender. Examples: a student, child, journalist, captain.
• For lighten the text, the defenders ofWriting called inclusive also recommend replacing any gendered term with a wording ” neutral” : instead of writing “human rights”, prefer “human rights.” At the same time, it prevents everything sex stereotype. Likewise, in business communication, it is possible to employ “colleagues”, instead of collaborators or employees.

In 2015, the High Council to equality between women and men recommended to public organizations the feminization of words and the use of double flexure2.

Why is this a divisive subject?

To understand the controversy around inclusive writing, it is interesting to identify its origin and the issues it raises.

The historical context

La Masculinization of the language reflects societal culture and the discrimination that women have been victims of for centuries. Au 17th century century, women were compared by some to the ignorant. For Scipio Dupleix, in 1651, “the Male gender is the most noble”, “because of the superiority of male On the female”, the academician Beauzé added in 1767.

Thus, initially, many nouns did not exist in the feminine form, in particular professions, Grades, titles and functions linked to power. In 1944, some were even banned from the Official Journal, such as colonel, ambassador, magistrate, president. It was not until 1986 that a circular was signed on the refeminization of trade names in regulatory or administrative documents that the Académie française denounces3.

Even today, Put in the feminine Some words involve creating neologisms that upset stereotypes and uses and call into question a set of rules fixed by the academicians and this, despite the various laws on parity, the equality between The men and the women, which should be able to be reflected quite naturally in the language.

The political framework

Many politicians oppose inclusive writing, such as the former prime minister, Édouard Philippe. Although he admits the need to “not mark a gender preference”, he specifies in his circular that “In regulatory texts, the masculine is a neutral shape that should be used for terms likely to apply to both women and men [...]”, for example, French citizens and he “proscribes inclusive writing in cases where it would replace the masculine form which is used in “a generic meaning ” 4. This is equivalent to preferring a Generic masculine. What to make the jump feminists ! Since then, the Council of State has decided that inclusive writing should not apply to official texts5. Finally, on October 30, 2023, the Senate voted on a bill aimed at “protecting the French language from the excesses ofinclusive writing6”. The latter is prohibited in instructions for use, employment contracts, internal company regulations, but also legal acts (under penalty of nullity), in the education code as well as in all documents concerning the public service.

The “against” arguments

The blocking points would be mainly due to the use of the midpoint and brackets to include the feminine in a nominal group generally represented by a masculine word. Example: recruiters/recruiters. Detractors of inclusive writing, including the current government, blame it for a lack of readability and the fact that it distorts the French language. For purists ofAcadémie française, The so-called “inclusive” writing is an aberration that puts the French language in Mortal peril 7. In addition, it is impossible to read aloud certain types of content interspersed with points medians, whose abusive use, among others, comes Make the text heavier. For some linguists, inclusive writing represents a regression and is an obstacle to reading by dyslexic, visually impaired or blind people who use software not designed for this type of writing.

Finally, the inclusive style does not at all facilitate referencing by a search engine like Google, which is a barrier to recruitment. Moreover, who would type project manager in their job search?

The arguments “for”

• An overly dominant male

According to the grammar rules French, one pronoun 3rd person staff of plural or even a qualifying adjective Fits the masculine If it refers to a Substantive masculine and to a feminine noun. Example: technicians, “experts” in their field, are “numerous”. “They” [...]. In short, the masculine is omnipresent and sometimes makes the feminine gender invisible. Even today, the government imposes the generic masculine gender.

• A return to neutral

The masculinization of language is one of the reasons why the neologism iel, iels, was created, although much maligned. Used as a pronoun, it refers to a person without gender. The police paraded yesterday. They were in uniform. Without having to invent new words, it is also possible to use a Neutral term such as “the person you are looking for”, which means enriching your vocabulary with synonyms.

• Recognition of women's jobs

If some professions have long been reserved for men, today job names have their female equivalent — and vice versa. Thus, pharmacist, which until recently referred to the pharmacist's wife, is now included on women's diplomas. Contrary to popular belief, the Male form midwifery, who is initially a female profession, exists! A new Occupation name Was it created, by maieutician, by machismo? Midwifery is an epicene term, which refers to the wise person who helps a woman give birth. Some names of crafts are easy to feminize, like Professor. Others less so, like a plumber or a fireman. As for women's titles, they have been discreetly “feminable” since the 1986 circular: Madam Minister, Madame la Maire (preferred to the Mayor).

• The fight against stereotypes

THEUse of writing inclusive is not incompatible with grammatical rules and participates in the fight against stereotyping gender. Indeed, inclusive writing clearly reduces the mental representations linked to a domination of the masculine gender, if only through the use of the generic masculine form. Thus, it is difficult for women to identify themselves with a “director” position.

An inevitable mutation

Legislation has certainly evolved, but less rapidly than language and societal demands. Today, some teachers refuse to transmit this ancient Grammar rule, enacted in 17th century century, which states that “the Male wins On the feminine”, when it comes to granting two Substantives of a different gender.

While inclusive writing is still far from being accepted, it is notThere is no obstacle In principle to the feminization of nouns of trades. In the majority of cases, it is the feminization of the profession Who changes the grammatical form of the trade name. One Academy report French, guardian of Good use of the language, is in fact entirely devoted to the feminization of nouns jobs and functions8. However, the rules of agreement are far from having changed and the current issue of gender is more profound. The reintroduction of gender neutral, which already existed in Latin, could it be considered?

Inclusive writing and recruitment

Inclusive writing also has impacts in the field of human resources.

Are there legal obligations on this subject for businesses?

Yes and no. Since job offers must be non-discriminatory, they must take into account both women and men. To do this, the term M/F is frequently used between parenthesis following the job title. But it is not enough to help women project themselves. Indeed, “we are recruiting a commercial director M/F” does not have the same scope as “we are recruiting a sales manager or a sales director”. Some businesses are happy to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion, by systematically using the Masculine and feminine in the job title. Others, like Doctolib, go even further since they added the X to designate non-binary or transgender people, like Germany, Canada and Italy. This includes: recruitment officer X/F/H. However, some recruiters oppose inclusive writing because the mention of gender is not enough to demonstrate inclusive practices. From their point of view, they prefer to limit themselves to the mention of skills.

Should it be used in job ads?

Inclusive writing or not, by systematically declining the name of the position at male and female In the job offers, the number of female applications is increasing, as women are able to project themselves more easily. Several forms are possible: director general; director general/director general; director general to represent the feminine and the masculine with a single word. En Epicene language, all you have to do is specify the gender with the determinant that precedes: a person responsible. New shapes grammatical also appeared with the attribution of Female names to jobs such as project manager, developer. So, the feminization of titles of jobs and functions develops the attractiveness of the company.

What are the practices in startups and tech jobs?

The under-representation of women in startups and tech jobs does not facilitate parity, professional equality between the sexes and even less recruitment, in a sector that is nevertheless in tension. The current flop of inclusion is linked both to mental representations associated with jobs that are mostly occupied by men, to the self-censorship of women themselves and to stereotypes. sexist partners and investors.

The figures clearly illustrate the problem: 36% of entrepreneurs are women9 and in 2022, only 10% of European startups were created by women10 or 20% in mixed teams, as far as France is concerned. In addition, cognitive biases are still very present among major investors, 85% of whom are men, since they grant 70% of fundraising to men.

Thus, few small structures (startups, VSEs, SMEs) practice inclusive writing, unless they have a manager who is convinced by the subject. Indeed, these companies rarely have a dedicated HR department, able to write inclusive job offers and train employees. By showing their commitment in a “too” pronounced way, young startups also fear the reactions of their customers.

In summary, the difficulties of inclusive writing in gaining acceptance reflect the persistence of certain stereotypes as well as the resistance to change by French language purists. It is questionable whether a “lighter” version of this practice (without midpoints or brackets) would be a more readable solution and would ensure a public communication without stereotypes. Nothing is less certain, especially since the bill passed in the Senate must soon be submitted to the National Assembly. In addition, when job offers are written in an inclusive manner, they should also truly reflect the company culture. It is indeed essential for the employer brand to display only the promises that the company is able to keep.

Chez Skillink, we chose to use inclusive writing in our ads. It is obviously not perfect, difficult to use in all texts and does not solve all problems by itself. Of course, we will be listening to regulatory developments on this subject and very open to even more effective solutions. But, if only because of the number of reactions it elicited, inclusive writing was, in our opinion, a big step in highlighting a fundamental problem that has been rooted in our culture for too long and that does not allow everyone to thrive properly.

And let's be happy to see our beautiful language evolve because the only languages that no longer evolve are dead languages!