The Senate tackled inclusive writing on Wednesday. In committee, senators adopted a bill aimed at “protecting the French language from the abuses of so-called inclusive writing”, before an examination on Monday in the hemicycle which risks awakening divisions.
The text of Les Républicains senator Pascale Gruny plans to ban this type of writing “in all cases where the legislator (and possibly the regulatory power) requires a document in French”, such as instructions for use, employment contracts or other internal company regulations, but also legal acts. All these documents would then be considered inadmissible or void.
Rejection of “iel”
The senators also spoke out in favor of banning grammatical words constituting neologisms such as “iel”, a contraction of “he” and “she”, or “celeux”, a contraction of “those” and “those”.
“It is a practice which is precisely contrary to inclusion”, considers the rapporteur (attached to LR) Cédric Vial. “The most impacted by its use are in fact people with disabilities and illiteracy. This is an additional constraint. To include, on the contrary, we must simplify the language.”
The bill will be examined Monday evening in the hemicycle, with a good chance of resulting in adoption given the domination of the right and the center in the upper house. It would then have to go through the National Assembly for this text to become a law.
Already several texts aiming to prohibit its use
According to a 2017 circular, inclusive writing is an “editorial and typographic practice aimed at replacing the use of the masculine, when it is used in a generic sense, with a spelling highlighting the existence of a feminine form” , like the midpoint at the heart of words. In this text, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had “invited” his ministers, “in particular for texts intended to be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic, not to use so-called inclusive writing”. In 2021, another circular from the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer banned its application in schools.
Several parliamentarians have already made proposals in this direction, particularly within the majority. MP François Jolivet (Horizons, ex-LREM) thus tabled a bill in 2021 prohibiting the use of inclusive writing by people in charge of a public service mission, never included on the agenda. On October 12, the National Rally had included a similar text in its parliamentary “niche” in the Assembly but ended up withdrawing it as it was heading towards rejection.