Colon, underscore and asterisk in the word: Controversial debates about gender are constantly being held. The Council for German Spelling is advising on gender-sensitive writing this Friday in Eupen, Belgium – and wants to make a recommendation.
So far, the Council has been against including the gender star in the official regulations. Most recently, in 2021, he recommended not including asterisks, underscores, colons or other forms to identify multi-gender designations in the middle of a word. In relation to its recommendation, the Council stated, among other things, that gender-equitable spelling should not make learning the written German language more difficult.
“The state has signaled to us that we should position ourselves as a council,” said council chairman Josef Lange. The gender star is considered a spelling mistake in some federal states in school essays. But there are also federal states “that see it differently and say that schoolchildren can deviate from the rules – I personally find that questionable.”
For years there has been a discussion in Germany as to whether – and if so, how – the masculine forms in the language can or should be replaced by broader terms – in order, for example, to include women more aggressively. The gender asterisk as with teachers is one possibility. Some put a colon or an underscore instead. In the spoken language and on television or radio, this is then expressed as a pause in speaking. The debate about the use of gender language now affects many areas of life and sometimes boils over.
An example from politics and the media: CDU leader Friedrich Merz positioned himself indirectly against gendering in public broadcasting at a CDU party conference in 2022 and said: “Universities, ladies and gentlemen, and public broadcasting are not public educational institutions.” The allegation was rejected by the broadcaster. The issue of gender has also long since arrived in business and in the courts. For example, last year the Ingolstadt district court dealt with a lawsuit against a guide for gender-sensitive language at the car manufacturer Audi.
Since 2004, the council has been the body responsible for spelling, with members from seven German-speaking countries and regions voting on it. Incidentally, critics complain that gender asterisks and underscores are not orthographic but typographical characters. The spelling board is not responsible for that. The members still want to make a decision this Friday.