We’re an international group of content designers. We want to better represent all people in the apps, products, and experiences we design.
38 percent of the world’s population speaks a gendered language, classifying objects as either masculine or feminine. This is a shared issue around the globe. Women and non-binary people are usually secondary or even absent in gendered languages. The project seeks to unite content designers to explore and identify solutions for our industry (and beyond) to actively change that.
The videos are designed to be watched and shared. Each speaker talks about the cultural complexity of gendered language for their primary language. The speaker then shows examples of content design solutions that can be used in specific contexts like style guides, forms, messaging, and other types of digital communication.
Just added! (June 2022)
Research shows that countries where gendered languages are spoken show less gender equality compared to countries with other grammatical systems. Language not only reflects our reality, it shapes it.
Please note that all transcripts were produced using machine-translation. That means you might see awkward phrasings, typos, or other mis-translated material. We apologize for any poorly translated scripts.
Gladys: [00:00:01] Bonjour. Je m’appelle Gladys, viens de qui j’habite en France et je suis content designer. J’ai travaillé autant pour des grands groupes que pour des start up ou pour l’État français. J’ai vu pas mal de problématiques et un des grands enjeux sur [00:00:20] lesquels je travaille, c’est toutes les problématiques qui sont liées à l’inclusion et à l’accessibilité.
Je suis ravi de collaborer à ce projet avec Yoox Conquêtes Collective pour faire un petit focus sur l’inclusion dans le langage inclusif, spécifiquement à la question du [00:00:40] genre qu’on va aborder dans quelques instants. Donc, le problème, le problème, c’est que la langue et le langage genrés contribuent à marginaliser les femmes et les personnes. Les personnes LGBT, notamment les personnes trans.
Que ce soit dans la société [00:01:00] ou sur notre lieu de travail plein d’études, pas mal de linguistes ont travaillé sur ces questions, notamment le livre Non, le masculin ne l’emporte pas sur le féminin que je vous invite à les regarder. Il y a vraiment pas mal d’études de travaux de linguistes sur ces questions qui montrent en fait que quand qui [00:01:20] monte déjà, qui raconte l’histoire de la langue, notamment sur le livre non, le masculin ne l’emporte pas sur le féminin.
Elle retrace l’histoire de la langue française, l’origine de la langue, le moment où, en fait, la langue s’est masculinisation. C’est extrêmement intéressant puisqu’en fait, on comprend un peu mieux d’où tout ça par le [00:01:40] moment où la langue a été codifiée, notamment avec le Bescherelle ou d’autres outils.
Gladys: [00:01:45] Donc, tout ça se passe au 17e siècle. C’est vraiment très riche d’enseignement. Et puis ça permet de comprendre. En fait, tous les choses partent, mais notamment que la langue n’a pas toujours été masculine. En tout cas, le genre grammatical [00:02:00] de la langue française n’a pas toujours été celui qui que l’on connait aujourd’hui ou en tout cas, qu’on a longtemps connu.
Mais il y a aussi énormément d’articles de débat, que ce soit au niveau politique. On va en parler dans quelques instants, que ce soit au niveau linguistique, que ce soit même à notre niveau au niveau du design, puisque [00:02:20] j’ai déjà entendu oui, mais on n’est pas là pour faire de la politique. La question, clairement, n’est pas est ce que nous faisons de la politique ou pas? C’est est ce que nous sommes prêts à inclure des publics qui ne sont pas tels que nous? Qui sont différents, nous qui peuvent vivre des expériences différentes des nôtres? Est ce qu’on peut créer des expériences qui ne créent pas de [00:02:40] micro agressions et qu’il soit agréable pour un grand nombre de personnes et idéalement, toutes les personnes qui utilisent nos services?
En tout cas, je vous invite vraiment à aller regarder enfin lire les livres, regarder les vidéos, les rapports, lire les articles et vous faire aussi votre propre idée. Mais en tout cas, moi, j’ai un peu partagé [00:03:00] quelques bonnes pratiques, quelques expériences ici. Donc, la première question pouvez vous vous décrire? Pardon, je la refais.
Gladys: [00:03:11] Question 1 Pouvez vous décrire la manière dont le langage genré est reçu dans votre pays? Alors, dès [00:03:20] l’enfance, on nous a appris, en tout cas moi, c’est ce que j’ai appris à l’école, le masculin l’emporte sur le féminin, ce qui veut dire que si, même s’il y avait un garçon dans la classe et que des filles, par exemple, dans tous les cas, on devait utiliser le genre masculin et donc ça, ça veut dire que, [00:03:40] par exemple, naturellement, on va plus parler d’utilisateur et englober tout le monde sous un sous un genre masculin ou sous le genre. On désire les hommes pour parler de tout le monde. Mais ce qui est intéressant, en tout cas, c’est qu’on voit que ça a créé.
En tout cas, pas mal de féministes se [00:04:00] sont battues clairement, mais ça a commencé par des pères du militantisme au début en tout cas. Et aujourd’hui, on est vraiment en tout cas. On est de plus en plus sur d’autres questions, d’autres valeurs, mais. Mais la question aujourd’hui, c’est de se dire si des gens ont fait la langue a contribué à marginaliser des groupes.
[00:04:20] Comment peut on faire et comment la langue aujourd’hui peut aussi servir à inclure des groupes. Je pense que c’est le véritable enjeu et c’est même le plus important et non le masculin. N’importe pas sur le féminin. Donc, il y a des linguistes qui travaillent ces questions et c’est très intéressant de les lire, de d’essayer [00:04:40] de comprendre ce qui se joue derrière, d’essayer de comprendre comment, pourquoi des groupes se sentent marginalisés, pourquoi des groupes ont envie de se sentir exister et représentés.
Gladys: [00:04:48] Quand on a souvent été marginalisés, précisément. Donc, voilà, ça, c’est un peu le point de départ. Et puis après, il y a tous les débats et là, j’ai fait un focus sur le débat politique, [00:05:00] c’est à dire que changer, modifier la langue et la manière dont on l’utilise. On va trouver des fois des groupes qui sont ouverts au changement. Là, dans l’article que j’ai lu, en tout cas, on me disait voilà. Une majorité des mouvements de gauche ont désormais adopté dans le but affirmé de lutter contre les inégalités liées au genre.
[00:05:20] Et il va y avoir d’autres groupes, d’autres, d’autres voies politiques, en l’occurrence, qui vont plutôt être contre ou qui vont dire d’accord. On peut féminiser les noms de métiers, mais pas le reste. Donc, il y a en tout cas, ce qu’il faut retenir de ça, c’est qu’il y a clairement des résistances d’un point de vue politique, mais aussi des opportunités [00:05:40] au niveau politique, puisque d’autres groupes sont ouverts à la question. Et ce qu’il faut noter, je pense que ça, c’est le plus important, c’est qu’il y a des évolutions sociétales. Donc oui, l’écriture inclusive, ça va permettre plus d’égalité. En tout cas, par le langage, ça ne veut pas dire que ça se matérialise [00:06:00] dans la vie, mais en tout cas a minima.
Gladys: [00:06:02] Dans le langage, on voit des évolutions et des gens qui font l’effort d’essayer de créer un langage plus égalitaire. Il y a récemment le pronom i, elle qui est entré dans le dictionnaire Le Robert, et ça, c’est encore un sujet de débat. Mais, mais ça montre aussi que le langage [00:06:20] évolue et ce que disait je ne me rappelle plus son prénom, mais un linguiste qui est décédé l’année dernière, qui était mesurée. J’ai juste oublié son prénom. Il y disait en fait c’est ce n’est pas ni l’Académie française ni les politiques qui ont raison, c’est l’usage.
Si [00:06:40] ces termes sont employés dans la société par les gens en vrai, ils ont leur place dans le dictionnaire. Ils ont dans tous les cas leur place dans le langage usité en ce de langage qu’on utilise au quotidien. Donc, c’est l’usage est plus important que les débats clairement [00:07:00] politiques.
Et puis, dans les évolutions sociales, il y a eu plein de choses qui sont arrivées. Donc vous avez vu? Alors on parle de la féminisation des noms de métiers, on parle de plein de choses. Mais c’est vrai que souvent, quand on a parlé de l’écriture inclusive, le focus était fait sur le point médian. D’ailleurs, [00:07:20] c’est un peu l’objet diabolisé, le point médian et il y a des raisons pour lesquelles le point médian peut être diabolisé. Mais clairement, le point médian ne représente pas toute l’inclusion ou toute la question de l’écriture inclusive. Le point médian, c’est juste un outil parmi tant [00:07:40] d’autres.
Gladys: [00:07:41] Ce n’est pas l’outil, car ce n’est pas le seul outil, le seul moyen de faire de l’inclusion par le langage. Voilà. Alors, j’ai fait un tout petit résumé les usages de la langue évoluent et donc nous, en tant que designer, on doit aussi évoluer et en tout cas prendre en compte ces enjeux. [00:08:00] Ce qui est important de retenir là, c’est aussi que le langage inclusif va éviter toutes les micros agressions. En tout cas, là, je parle bien de langage inclusif et pas d’écriture inclusive. Mais on va en parler juste après. Et puis, il existe plein d’alternatives au point médian. Ça, c’est vraiment le point important que je [00:08:20] veux que vous mémorisée.
Parce que c’est vrai qu’il m’arrivait de voir, par exemple, des des chartes éditoriales avec l’idée d’être inclusif en mettant essentiellement du point médian. Clairement, c’est un peu problématique et je vais vous expliquer. En fait, je vais vous donner plein d’alternatives. Des choses que vous pouvez faire pour améliorer vos expériences. Question [00:08:40] 2 Quels problèmes rencontrez vous actuellement dans votre langue? Alors, j’ai pris trois exemples, je n’en ai pas pris beaucoup plus. J’ai pris trois erreurs à éviter. Erreurs 1. Ça va être l’utilisation du masculin générique. Et là, je veux prendre cet écran et comme j’ai travaillé [00:09:00] sur ce projet, je vais vous montrer ensuite comment la corriger. Mais mais voilà, je sais que quand je suis arrivé sur ce projet, on faisait de la recette.
Gladys: [00:09:09] Donc en fait, on retravaillé un parcours qui existait, mais bas pour bien faire. L’idée a était en tout cas là. L’idée des 19 heures a été de mettre du point médian ou [00:09:20] d’utiliser là précisément du masculin générique, parce que c’est sur ça que je voulais faire un focus. Donc, utiliser conducteur, donc ça, c’est une erreur. Clairement qu’il faudrait éviter. Si vous voulez inclure un maximum de personnes et en tout cas sur la question du genre, inclure toutes les personnes concernées, donc les femmes, les personnes trans. Voilà.
[00:09:40] Erreur numéro 2 Ça va être perpétuer des stéréotypes. Là, j’ai pris un exemple de EV qui, quand vous souhaitez vous faire livrer un matelas, vous propose de vous faire livrer par deux hommes pareils. On pouvait parler, on pouvait mettre livraison [00:10:00] de personnes. Enfin, il y a plein de manière d’éviter ça, mais clairement, ça, c’est un élément qui peut être problématique. Peut être que démographiquement, démographiquement, ce sont davantage des hommes qui vont effectuer la livraison. C’est fort possible.
Mais [00:10:20] c’est vrai qu’en terme d’ouverture, c’est pas terrible. Je pense qu’on peut largement mieux faire. Troisième point j’ai pris un exemple de Deliveroo et l’idée, ça va être d’éviter le point médian dès que possible. Des fois, ce n’est pas possible, mais quand ça l’est ou l’idée, c’est d’éviter. Je [00:10:40] vous donne juste les raisons principales. Déjà, le point médian, ce n’est pas pour la majorité des gens. C’est pas ce qu’il va y avoir de plus fluide.
Gladys: [00:10:50] On peut, on peut clairement mieux faire. Deuxième point, c’est qu’en fait, vous avez des personnes qui lisent avec un lecteur d’écran. Énormément de lecteurs [00:11:00] d’écran ne prennent pas aujourd’hui, en tout cas, vont avoir du mal à lire le point médian. Ce qui est bien, c’est que de plus en plus de lecteurs sont mis à jour, mais la majorité des gens ne mettent pas à jour leurs lecteurs.
Donc, dans tous les cas, il y aura toujours une grande partie des gens qui sont limités par ça et au delà de ça. Vous avez aussi toutes les personnes 10, [00:11:20] donc là qui ne lisent pas avec un lecteur d’écran, mais qui vont qui y sont depuis, qui peuvent être dyslexiques, dysphasiques. Il y a différentes personnes et différents types de pathologies qui vont être très, qui peuvent être très ennuyés, en tout cas à part par des points, sachant qu’elles ont déjà pas mal de difficultés d’apprentissage, de lecture. Voilà [00:11:40] donc si on peut éviter le point médian, c’est bien et gémir dès que possible.
Parce que parfois, parfois, c’est difficile de contourner le problème. Question 3 Comment les spécialistes du contenu et les équipes travaillent à la résolution de ce problème? Alors [00:12:00] ce que je vais faire, c’est que je vais vous expliquer un peu ce que je fais ou ce qu’on fait dans certaines équipes. Est ce que d’autres condamnent Design or font? En tout cas, je sais qu’on a eu parfois des discussions sur cette question pour essayer de trouver des solutions.
Gladys: [00:12:16] Dans tous les cas, l’idée, c’est d’éviter le point médian. C’est ce que je viens [00:12:20] de dire. Mais au delà de ça, quand on, quand on peut l’éviter, qu’est ce qu’on fait? Alors je vais vous montrer tout de suite. Alors, le premier point, je voulais juste remettre les choses au clair. L’écriture inclusive aujourd’hui a toujours été utilisée pour parler du rapport homme femme. Sauf [00:12:40] que l’inclusion ne se limite pas aux rapports hommes femmes. En fait, on en oublie tout un pan de beaucoup de personnes, beaucoup de groupes dans la société.
Donc, je fais en tout cas. De manière générale, on va préférer le terme langage inclusif pour parler de toutes les discriminations. Ça peut être l’âgisme, [00:13:00] le valida isme, le racisme, le classicisme, etc. Etc. Il y a vraiment, beaucoup, beaucoup de groupes qui peuvent être discriminés par le langage. Voilà donc, de manière générale, je préfère en tout cas, et c’est ce qui est plutôt utilisé, c’est utiliser le terme langage inclusif. Je l’ai clairement pas inventé.
C’est utilisé beaucoup [00:13:20] chez les anglo saxons. C’est aussi un peu utilisé en France, mais beaucoup moins que l’écriture inclusive. Mais en tout cas l’écriture inclusive. En fait, on préfèrera le terme langage des genrés ou non sexiste qui, du coup, si le langage inclusif et la famille qui regroupe tout, [00:13:40] toutes les discriminations, en gros, ça va être beaucoup plus générique. Le langage des genre ou le langage non sexiste va être davantage lié au genre.
Gladys: [00:13:53] Et donc, je vous donne un exemple, donc une manière de contourner le problème que je vous ai montré tout à l’heure. Donc [00:14:00] un projet qu’on a fait donc sur Ornikar et là, ça va être ou d’utiliser plutôt des termes neutres. Donc, au lieu de dire conducteur ici, on aura préféré conduite. Ça veut dire qu’on a. On a changé, pas là. Mais on a pu changer d’autres termes parfois pour que les racines soient similaires. En gros, déjà, on évite le point médian, on [00:14:20] évite le masculin générique qu’on a vu tout à l’heure et on reste compréhensible pour tout le monde. Deuxième option il m’arrive souvent, il arrive souvent qu’on reformule, c’est à dire que au lieu de dire là dans ce cas, le candidat enverra son CV à des [00:14:40] bars.
Là, vous dites les CV doit être envoyé à ou les CV sont envoyés à, c’est à dire que juste en reformulant souvent, mais sincèrement, c’est le je ne sais pas, c’est le plus simple. Et en tout cas, c’est d’une manière générale assez simple de reformuler la phrase et de trouver une alternative. Donc, oui, là, on est en mode passif. Enfin, [00:15:00] la voix passive, c’est pas la voix que l’on va recommander. De manière générale, on va essayer d’être à la voix active, mais parfois, ça peut nous servir. Ou parfois, en tout cas, souvent reformuler va nous aider. Mais déjà, vous pouvez vous dire que quand vous commencez avec le verbe être, il y a de fortes chances que vous finissez avec un terme, un terme genré [00:15:20] ou pas.
Gladys: [00:15:20] Mais en tout cas, de manière générale, essayer d’éviter le verbe être. Si vous pouvez, sauf si vous avez un terme, on va le voir après un terme épicène qui, du coup, résout le problème. Donc, l’exemple 3, c’était les termes épicène sont vos meilleurs alliés, alors [00:15:40] les termes épicène, ça va être des mots qui ne sont qui n’ont pas de genre, en tout cas qui sont neutres. Ils ont peut être un c des termes neutres. Donc là, par exemple, si je prends notre exemple Ornikar dans l’écran, sur l’écran, il y avait voilà qui est le conducteur secondaire. On a finalement un peu souvent [00:16:00] la règle.
Ça va être d’être concis. Là, on a fait un peu plus conversationnel, mais c’était est ce qu’une autre personne conduira régulièrement le véhicule? Donc, on a évité le problème en parlant d’une autre personne et par contre, on a été plus concis. Après, au lieu de informations sur le conducteur secondaire, on a dit qui est elle, qui [00:16:20] est cette personne? Voilà, c’était notre manière de contourner là le problème avec un terme qui n’est pas lié à un genre, en tout cas pas au genre masculin, qui sera beaucoup plus neutre. Et juste après, je vous ai mis une petite liste de termes épicène. Voilà donc exemple artiste [00:16:40] n’ayant pas, mais je sais que le mot élève. Bref, il y a énormément de mots qui sont épicène.
Gladys: [00:16:50] En fait, vous allez voir ensuite. Enfin, si vous faites des lexiques sur votre produit au bout d’un moment, vous allez savoir quoi utiliser. Ça va devenir très naturel, surtout si vous avez réussi à contourner le [00:17:00] problème, à reformuler ou à trouver les termes qui vont bien avec votre univers de marques. Vous verrez que ce sera extrêmement facile. C’est un peu le début qui peut être fastidieux, mais après, c’est que de la mise en pratique. Exemple [00:17:20] 4 Le point médian en dernier recours, alors tout à l’heure, je l’ai mis dans les exemples, si possible à éviter, mais c’est intéressant parce que parfois, on a du mal. En tout cas, moi, je sais qu’aujourd’hui, je n’ai pas trouvé [00:17:40] ou pas eu le temps de trouver des alternatives, notamment quand on est dans les formulaires et qu’on va parler des conjoints ou si vous êtes mariés, etc.
En tout cas, j’ai comme il me fallait que j’écrive précisément les termes. C’était très dur. En tout cas, aujourd’hui, je n’ai pas trouvé d’alternative. Il en existe peut être. Et si vous avez des solutions, n’hésitez pas à partager. Mais [00:18:00] aujourd’hui? Le point médian en dernier recours. Donc là, j’ai pris un exemple de Deliveroo. Ce qui est intéressant, c’est de se dire. Exemple 4 Le Point Média a utilisé en dernier dernier recours. Là, j’ai pris un exemple [00:18:20] de Deliveroo qui est intéressant parce que je vous donnerai la solution. En tout cas, qui est imaginé pour la suite.
Gladys: [00:18:25] Mais en gros, il y a le trois quarts du temps. On va dire même 90 ou 95 %100 du temps. On peut contourner le problème sans utiliser le point médian. Aujourd’hui, en tout cas, moi, j’ai il y a juste un [00:18:40] moment où j’ai eu du mal à craquer. Le problème, c’est notamment dans certains formulaires. On va devoir parler de conjoints conjointes. Si on est marié, etc. Sur des données très fins, plus administratives. Donc, aujourd’hui, je n’ai pas craqué. Le problème, ça ne veut pas dire qu’il n’est pas craqué. Mais ça veut dire [00:19:00] qu’en tout cas, je ne l’ai pas fait. Donc, si vous avez des solutions, si vous allez trouver des alternatives, elles sont plus que bienvenues, mais en tout cas autant que possible si vous pouvez l’éviter. Evitez et évitez le point médian. Aussi, parce que là, plus votre parcours va être fluide, donc sans point médian aussi, plus ça va être [00:19:20] facile, moins ça va poser problème, plus ça va être facile aussi pour les personnes en situation de handicap. Comme je disais tout à l’heure des personnes qui lierait avec un lecteur d’écran ou des personnes qui seraient 10 qui auraient des troubles dys. Voilà, ce sera quand même beaucoup plus simple pour elles. Maintenant, si vous n’avez pas de choix, évidemment, mettez les, [00:19:40] mais. Mais comme je disais en vrai, c’est 5 du temps qu’on peut avoir à les utiliser parce qu’on a fait toutes les méthodes que je vous ai présenté un peu plus tôt.
Gladys: [00:19:57] Là, je vais présenter une la dernière alternative [00:20:00] en tout cas, que je représente aujourd’hui. Ça va être de personnaliser votre expérience en travaillant main dans la main avec les dev et les développeurs. Alors là, sur cet écran, il n’y a pas eu à travailler avec les dev et je ne vais pas vous montrer les exemples vraiment personnalisés. Mais là, dans le cadre de Facebook, pour s’assurer d’inclure [00:20:20] les personnes trance ou non binaires la doc, il y a eu une troisième case qui a été ajoutée, donc femme, homme et personnalisée. Et là, je vous montre juste ce qui a été fait pour créer son compte. Donc voilà, on va arriver là et vous demander quel est le genre que vous souhaitez enfin [00:20:40] mettre fort utilisé.
Et c’est le genre qui va être utilisé publiquement. Et pareil là. Voilà, vous pouvez choisir votre genre. Là où c’est intéressant, c’est que c’est la suite. On sait que le Facebook a fait un travail avec les développeurs, donc certainement les designers. Pour une [00:21:00] fois que la personne a choisi son genre, utiliser son genre dans l’ensemble de l’expérience, ça veut dire que les personnes qui vont, qui vont vous suivre ou voir à votre compte vous voir avec le bon genre, on ne va pas vous, mais genrée, ça veut dire que toute votre expérience va utiliser le bon genre aussi et [00:21:20] tout à l’heure. Je veux montrer l’exemple de Deliveroo et je sais que dans l’idéal, ce n’était pas possible au moment en tout cas, ou ils ont lancé la figure.
Gladys: [00:21:28] Mais dans l’idéal, ça va être à terme de pouvoir utiliser le bon genre pour le livreur. Donc, si c’est un livreur ou livreuse, l’idée, ce ne sera pas de dire livreur, point euses sera [00:21:40] d’Audiard. Votre livreur est là ou votre livre est là, donc ça va être réglé par les atouts de la technologie et c’est ce qui est génial. C’est ça, c’est qu’on peut, grâce à la technologie dans notre métier en tout cas aussi personnaliser des éléments de l’expérience. Donc, pourquoi s’en priver si on peut le faire? Donc là, clairement, c’est ce que je vous invite à faire lorsque c’est [00:22:00] possible.
Et donc ça va arriver souvent quand c’est quand on se logue dans un compte et qu’on a déjà rentré des informations et donc ce type d’informations qui sont quand même. Il faut faire attention des informations confidentielles. Donc en general, c’est à a valider à 10. Il y a des discussions souvent sur les données personnelles avec les équipes légales, mais en tout cas, si tout est validé [00:22:20] de votre côté,
c’est quelque chose que vous pouvez faire et que techniquement, vous pouvez le faire aussi bien essayer quand c’est possible de le faire. Je pense que ce sera très apprécié par les personnes concernées. Et donc, voilà pour ma présentation. Merci d’avoir suivi jusque jusque [00:22:40] là et n’hésitez pas si vous avez des questions.
Gladys: [00:00:01] Hello. My name is Gladys, I live in France and I am a happy designer. I have worked as much for large groups as for start-ups or for the French government. I’ve seen a lot of issues and one of the big issues I’m working [00:00:20] on is all the issues related to inclusion and accessibility. I’m thrilled to be collaborating on this project with Yoox Conquests Collective to do a little focus on inclusion in inclusive language, specifically to the issue of gender that [00:00:40] we’ll be addressing in a few moments.
So the problem, the problem is that gendered language and language contributes to the marginalization of women and people. LGBT people, including trans people. Whether in society or in [00:01:00] our workplace full of studies, quite a few linguists have worked on these issues, including the book No, the masculine does not prevail over the feminine that I invite you to look at. There are really quite a few studies of linguists’ work on these issues that show in fact that when who already goes up, who [00:01:20] tells the history of the language, especially on the book no, the masculine does not prevail over the feminine. It traces the history of the French language, the origin of the language, the moment when, in fact, the language became masculinized. It’s extremely interesting because in fact, we understand a little bit better where all [00:01:40] this came from when the language was codified, notably with the Bescherelle or other tools.
Gladys: [00:01:45] So, this is all in the 17th century. It is really very rich in teaching. And then it helps to understand. In fact, all things go, but in particular that the language has not always been masculine. In any case, the grammatical gender of the [00:02:00] French language has not always been the one we know today, or at least that we have known for a long time. But there are also a lot of debate articles, whether it is at the political level. We’re going to talk about it in a few moments, whether it’s at the linguistic level, whether it’s even at our level at the design level, since [00:02:20] I’ve already heard yes, but we’re not here to make politics. The question, clearly, is not do we do politics or not? Is it that we are willing to include audiences that are not like us? Who are different, we who can live different experiences from ours? Can we create experiences that don’t create microaggressions [00:02:40] and that are pleasant for a large number of people and ideally, all the people who use our services? In any case, I really invite you to go and look at the books, watch the videos, read the reports, read the articles and also make your own idea. But in any case, I have shared [00:03:00] some good practices, some experiences here. So, the first question can you describe yourself? Sorry, I’ll do it again.
Gladys: [00:03:11] Question 1 Can you describe how gendered language is received in your country? So, since childhood, we were taught, at least [00:03:20] I was taught at school, that the masculine gender prevails over the feminine, which means that if there was a boy in the class and girls, for example, in all cases, we had to use the masculine gender and that means that, for example, [00:03:40] naturally, we will talk more about users and include everyone under a masculine gender or under the gender. We want men to talk about everyone. But what is interesting, in any case, is that we see that it has created. In any case, a lot of feminists have [00:04:00] clearly fought, but it started with the fathers of activism at the beginning anyway. And today, we’re really into it.
We are more and more on other issues, other values, but. But the question today is whether people have made the language has contributed to marginalize groups. [00:04:20] How can we do this and how can language today also be used to include groups. I think this is the real issue and it is even the most important one, not the male one. Don’t care about the feminine. So, there are linguists who work on these questions and it’s very interesting to read them, to try to understand [00:04:40] what’s going on behind them, to try to understand how, why groups feel marginalized, why groups want to feel they exist and are represented.
Gladys: [00:04:48] When we have often been marginalized, precisely. So, that’s the starting point. And then, there are all the debates and here, I focused on the political [00:05:00] debate, that is to say that changing, modifying the language and the way we use it. Sometimes we will find groups that are open to change. There, in the article I read, at least, it said here. A majority of the left-wing movements have now adopted the stated aim of fighting gender inequality. [00:05:20] And there are going to be other groups, other, other political paths, in this case, that are going to be more against or that are going to say okay. We can feminize the names of professions, but not the rest. So, in any case, the important thing to remember is that there is clearly resistance from a political point of view, but also opportunities [00:05:40] at the political level, since other groups are open to the question. And the most important thing to note, I think, is that there are societal evolutions. So yes, inclusive writing will allow more equality. In any case, through language, it does not mean that it materializes [00:06:00] in life, but at least minimally.
Gladys: [00:06:02] In language, we see developments and people making the effort to try to create more equal language. Recently, the pronoun i, elle has entered the dictionary Le Robert, and this is still a subject of debate. But, but it also shows that language [00:06:20] evolves and what a linguist who died last year, who was measured, said. I just forgot his first name. He said in fact it is neither the French Academy nor the politicians who are right, it is the usage. If these [00:06:40] terms are used in society by real people, they have their place in the dictionary. In any case, they have their place in the language used in everyday life. So, it is the usage that is more important than the clearly political [00:07:00] debates. And then, in the social evolutions, there were many things that happened. So you saw? So we’re talking about the feminization of job names, we’re talking about a lot of things. But it’s true that often, when we talked about inclusive writing, the focus was on the midpoint. Besides, [00:07:20] it is a bit of a demonized object, the midpoint and there are reasons why the midpoint can be demonized. But clearly, the midpoint does not represent the whole inclusion or the whole issue of inclusive writing. The midpoint is just one tool among many. [00:07:40]
Gladys: [00:07:41] It is not the tool, because it is not the only tool, the only way to do inclusion through language. That’s it. So, I made a very small summary, the uses of language are evolving and therefore we, as designers, must also evolve and in any case take into account these issues. [00:08:00] What is important to remember here is that inclusive language will avoid all micro-aggressions. In any case, I am talking about inclusive language and not inclusive writing. But we’ll talk about that right after. And then there are plenty of alternatives to the midpoint. That’s really the important point I want [00:08:20] you to remember. Because it’s true that I sometimes saw, for example, editorial charters with the idea of being inclusive by essentially putting the midpoint. Clearly, this is a bit problematic and I’ll explain. In fact, I’ll give you plenty of alternatives. Things you can do to improve your experiences. Question [00:08:40] 2 What problems are you currently experiencing in your language? So I took three examples, I didn’t take many more. I took three mistakes to avoid. Errors 1. It’s going to be the use of the generic masculine. And here, I want to take this screen and as I worked [00:09:00] on this project, I’ll show you then how to correct it. But here’s the thing, I know that when I first came on this project, we were making recipes.
Gladys: [00:09:09] So in fact, we reworked a course that existed, but low to do well. The idea was in any case there. The idea of the 19 hours was to put some middle point or to use there [00:09:20] precisely generic masculine, because it is on that that I wanted to make a focus. So, using driver, so this is a mistake. Clearly that should be avoided. If you want to include as many people as possible and in any case on the issue of gender, include all the people concerned, so women, trans people. That’s it. [00:09:40] Mistake number 2 It will be perpetuating stereotypes. Here, I took an example of EV who, when you want a mattress delivered, offers to have it delivered by two similar men. We could talk, we could put [00:10:00] delivery of people. I mean, there are lots of ways to avoid that, but clearly, that’s an element that can be problematic. Maybe demographically, it is more men who will make the delivery. It is quite possible. But it’s true that [00:10:20] in terms of openness, it’s not great. I think we can do much better. Third point, I took an example from Deliveroo and the idea is to avoid the middle point as soon as possible. Sometimes it’s not possible, but when it is or the idea is to avoid it. I’m [00:10:40] just giving you the main reasons. Already, the midpoint is not for the majority of people. It’s not going to be the most fluid thing.
Gladys: [00:10:50] We can, we can clearly do better. The second point is that you actually have people reading with a screen reader. A lot of screen readers don’t take [00:11:00] today, in any case, will have trouble reading the midpoint. The good thing is that more and more readers are being updated, but the majority of people are not updating their readers. So, in any case, there will always be a large portion of people who are limited by that and beyond that. You also have all the people 10, so there who [00:11:20] don’t read with a screen reader, but who are going to be there since, who may be dyslexic, dysphasic. There are different people and different types of pathologies that are going to be very, that can be very annoyed, at least except by points, knowing that they already have quite a few learning difficulties, reading difficulties. So if you [00:11:40] can avoid the midpoint, that’s fine and moan as soon as possible. Because sometimes it’s hard to get around the problem. Question 3 How are content specialists and teams working to solve this problem? So what I’m going [00:12:00] to do is I’m going to explain a little bit about what I do or what we do in some of the teams. Do others condemn Design or do? In any case, I know that we have had discussions on this issue from time to time to try to find solutions.
Gladys: [00:12:16] In any case, the idea is to avoid the midpoint. That’s what I just [00:12:20] said. But beyond that, when we, when we can avoid it, what do we do? So I’ll show you right now. So, the first point, I just wanted to set the record straight. Inclusive writing today has always been used to talk about the relationship between men and women. Except that [00:12:40] inclusion is not limited to male-female relationships. In fact, we forget a whole section of many people, many groups in society. So, I do anyway. Generally speaking, we prefer the term inclusive language to talk about all discrimination. It can be ageism, [00:13:00] valida ism, racism, classicism, etc. Etc. There are many, many groups that can be discriminated against by language. So, in general, I prefer to use the term inclusive language. I clearly didn’t invent it. It is used a lot [00:13:20] in the Anglo-Saxon countries. It is also used a little in France, but much less than inclusive writing. But in any case the inclusive writing. In fact, we prefer the term gendered or gender-neutral language, which, if inclusive language and the family that includes everything, all discriminations, [00:13:40] basically, it will be much more generic. Gender language or gender-neutral language is going to be more gender-related.
Gladys: [00:13:53] And so, I’ll give you an example, so a way to get around the problem I showed you earlier. So a project that [00:14:00] we did on Ornikar and there, it will be or to use rather neutral terms. So, instead of saying driver here, we would have preferred driving. That means we have. We’ve changed, not there. But we could change other terms sometimes so that the roots are similar. Basically, we avoid the midpoint, we avoid the generic [00:14:20] masculine that we saw earlier and we remain understandable for everyone. Second option it often happens to me, it often happens that we rephrase, that is to say that instead of saying there in this case, the candidate will send his CV to bars. [00:14:40] There you say resumes must be sent to or resumes are sent to, that is, just by rephrasing often, but honestly, it’s the I don’t know, it’s the easiest. And in any case, it’s generally quite simple to rephrase the sentence and find an alternative. So, yes, we are in passive mode. Finally, [00:15:00] the passive voice is not the voice that we will recommend. In general, we’ll try to be in the active voice, but sometimes it can be useful. Or sometimes, at least, rephrasing will often help us. But already, you can tell yourself that when you start with the verb to be, chances are you’ll end up with a term, a gendered term [00:15:20] or not.
Gladys: [00:15:20] But in any case, in general, try to avoid the verb to be. If you can, unless you have a term, we’ll see it after an epicene term which, in turn, solves the problem. So, example 3 was epicene terms are your best allies, so epicene terms [00:15:40] are going to be words that are gender-neutral, in any case. They may have a c of neutral terms. So there, for example, if I take our Ornikar example in the screen, on the screen there was this is the secondary driver. In the end, we have the rule [00:16:00] a bit often. It’s going to be to be concise. Here, we made it a little more conversational, but it was will another person drive the vehicle regularly? So, we avoided the problem by talking about another person and on the other hand, we were more concise. Then, instead of information on the secondary driver, we said who is she, who is [00:16:20] this person? This was our way of getting around the problem with a term that is not linked to a gender, at least not the male gender, which will be much more neutral. And right after, I put you a little list of epicene terms. So this is an example of an artist not [00:16:40] having, but I know that the word student. In short, there are a lot of words that are epicene.
Gladys: [00:16:50] In fact, you’ll see next. Finally, if you do lexicons on your product after a while, you will know what to use. It will become very natural, especially if you’ve managed [00:17:00] to work around the problem, rephrase or find terms that go well with your brand universe. You will see that it will be extremely easy. It’s a bit of a start and can be tedious, but after that it’s all about practice. Example 4 The midpoint as a last resort, [00:17:20] so earlier I put it in the examples, if possible to be avoided, but it’s interesting because sometimes we have trouble. In any case, I know that today, I have [00:17:40] not found or had time to find alternatives, especially when we are in the forms and we are going to talk about spouses or if you are married, etc. In any case, I have as I had to write precisely the terms. It was very hard. In any case, today I have not found an alternative. There may be some. And if you have any solutions, don’t hesitate to share. But [00:18:00] today? The midpoint as a last resort. So there, I took an example from Deliveroo. What is interesting is to say. Example 4 Le Point Média used as a last resort. There, I took an example from Deliveroo [00:18:20] which is interesting because I will give you the solution. In any case, that is imagined for the future.
Gladys: [00:18:25] But basically, there are three quarters of the time. We’ll even say 90 or 95%100 of the time. We can get around the problem without using the midpoint. Today, at least for me, there was just one moment [00:18:40] when I had a hard time cracking. The problem is in some of the forms. We’ll have to talk about spouses. If you are married, etc. On very fine, more administrative data. So, today, I didn’t break down. The problem is, it doesn’t mean it’s not cracked. But that means I didn’t [00:19:00] do it anyway. So if you have solutions, if you are going to find alternatives, they are more than welcome, but at least as much as possible if you can avoid it. Avoid and avoid the midpoint. Also, because there, the more fluid your route will be, so without a midpoint too, the easier it will be, the less problematic [00:19:20] it will be, the easier it will be also for people with disabilities. As I was saying earlier, people who would link with a screen reader or people who would be 10 dys. It will be much easier for them. Now, if you don’t have a choice, obviously, put them on, but. [00:19:40] But as I was saying in real life, it’s time consuming to use them because you’ve done all the methods I presented earlier.
Gladys: [00:19:57] Here I will present the last alternative, [00:20:00] which I represent today. It’s going to be customizing your experience by working hand in hand with the devs and developers. So there, on this screen, there was no work with the devs and I’m not going to show you the really custom examples. But there, as part of Facebook, to make sure to include trance [00:20:20] or non-binary people the doc, there was a third box that was added, so female, male and custom. And here I’m just showing you what was done to create his account. So here we go, we’re going to get there and ask you what genre you want to finally [00:20:40] put to good use. And this is the kind that will be used publicly. And the same here. Now you can choose your gender. The interesting part is that it’s the sequel. We know that the Facebook has done some work with the developers, so certainly the designers. For once the person has [00:21:00] chosen their gender, using their gender in the whole experience, it means that the people who are going to, who are going to follow you or see on your account you see with the right gender, we are not going to you, but gendered, it means that your whole experience is going to use the right gender too and [00:21:20] just now. I want to show the example of Deliveroo and I know that ideally, it was not possible at the time anyway, when they launched the figure.
Gladys: [00:21:28] But ideally, it’s going to be to be able to use the right kind for the delivery person. So, if it’s a delivery man or woman, the idea will not be to say delivery man, period will be [00:21:40] from Audiard. Your delivery guy is there or your book is there, so it’s going to be set by the assets of technology and that’s what’s great. That’s it, that we can, thanks to technology in our business in any case also customize elements of the experience. So, why not do it if you can do it? So clearly, this is what I invite you to do when possible. [00:22:00] And so it will often happen when you log into an account and you have already entered information and so this type of information is still there. You have to be careful with confidential information. So in general, it’s to be validated at 10. There are discussions often about personal data with legal teams, but in any case, [00:22:20] if everything is validated on your side, it’s something you can do and technically, you can do it as well try when it’s possible to do it. I think it will be very much appreciated by the people involved. So that’s my presentation. Thank you for following this far and don’t [00:22:40] hesitate if you have any questions.
Hi, Hallo, ich bin Barbara
Dieses Video ist Teil eines internationalen Projekts zu inklusiver Sprache.
Bzw. gender-inklusiver Sprache.
Und ich spreche heute über gender-inklusive Sprache für den deutschsprachigen Raum.
Vor kurzem wurde ich von der Autorin des Buches UX Writing & Microcopy Kinneret Yifrah gebeten, daran mitzuwirken.
Und wenn ich gleich erzähle, worum es dabei geht und was wir heute machen, erkennt ihr sicher, warum ich mich so darüber freue und sofort zugesagt habe.
Dieses Projekt heißt „The Gender inclusive language project“, es ist ein internationales Projekt und das erste seiner Art:
Gender-inklusive Sprache ist ein globales Thema und wird in den unterschiedlichsten Ländern, Sprachen und Kulturen diskutiert.
Im UX Writing Bereich und der IT Welt war Englisch bisher das Vorbild für diese Entwicklung. Und falls ihr euch schon damit beschäftigt habt, wisst ihr vielleicht, dass es im Englisch schon viele Möglichkeiten gibt, gender-inklusiv zu sprechen und zu schreiben
Und, dass viele Menschen aber auch Unternehmen im englisch-sprachigen Raum schon sehr darauf achten, gender-inklusiv zu texten und alle anzusprechen.
Dieses Projekt ist dafür da, gender-inklusive Sprache auch in anderen Sprachen in den Fokus zu rücken.
Deshalb werden Expert·innen unterschiedlichster Sprachen der Welt in kurzen Videos über gender-inklusive Sprache sprechen und konkrete Tipps geben, wie wir UX Writer·innen, Content Designerinnen und Textende uns in diesen Sprachen so ausdrücken können, dass wir alle ansprechen.
Unter den Sprachen sind Deutsch, Französisch, Italienisch, Spanisch, Portugiesisch, Hindi, Japanisch, etc.?
Los geht’s:
Ich bin Barbara Kofler und ich spreche heute darüber, wie ihr auf Deutsch gender-inklusiv texten und sprechen könnt.
Ich bin UX Writerin bei XING und Mentorin der UX Writing Hub Academy.
Gemeinsam mit zwei Kolleginnen organisiere ich das Community-Meetup „UX Writing, auf Deutsch!“ und halte Workshops zum Thema UX Writing und Accessibility.
In den nächsten 20 min. schauen wir uns zuerst an, was Gender-inklusive Sprache bedeutet
und warum ihr euch damit beschäftigen sollten.
Dann gehen wir zum Texten und ich gebe euch ein paar Möglichkeiten, gender-inklusiv zu schreiben.
Und zum Schluss schauen wir uns noch einige Beispiele aus der Jugendsprache und aus anderen Sprachen an.
Also los:
Zuerst eine kleine Einführung oder Wiederholung:
Warum beschäftigen wir uns mit gender-inklusiver Sprache und was ist das eigentlich?
Gender-inklusive Sprache und gender-neutrale Sprache meinen eine Sprache, die entweder Begriffe und Formulierungen verwendet, die das Geschlecht nicht benennen, oder solche, die dabei alle Geschlechter, alle Gender einschließen.
Im Gegensatz zum generischen Maskulinum und Formulierungen, bei denen Personen, z. B. Berufsgruppen einem vorurteilsbehafteten Schema nach einem Geschlecht zugeordnet werden. Z. B. der Ingenieur, die Krankenschwester, Der Kunde, der Arzt, der Patient
Das ist die Ausgangssituation: das generische Maskulinum oder die Doppelnennung und binäre Begrifflichkeiten schließen bestimmte Gruppen und Individuen aus, indem sie in der Sprache nicht auftauchen.
Es gibt verschiedene Gründe für gender-inklusive Sprache und ich habe euch heute zwei mitgebracht:
Ich denke, wir alle haben Vorurteile und wir laufen dadurch alle Gefahr, andere auszuschließen, wenn wir nicht bewusst versuchen, alle anzusprechen.
In dem Moment, wo sich jemand nicht gesehen fühlt, wird diese Person von uns marginalisiert, als unwichtig angesehen, weggeschoben. Bewusst und unbewusst. Häufig unbewusst, weil wir uns nicht damit auseinandersetzen und die Abwertung selbst nicht wahrnehmen.
D. h. wir sagen ihr damit, dass sie für uns als Publikum, als Gegenüber als Mensch nicht so wichtig ist.
Und ein Unternehmen, das keine gender-inklusive Sprache verwendet, vermittelt dieser Person vielleicht damit, dass es ihre Bedürfnisse nicht ernst nimmt, sie nicht seiner Zielgruppe zuordnet und vielleicht sogar, dass es ihr Geld nicht will.
Der erste Punkt ist also: Gender-inklusive Sprache ist das Bewusstsein darüber, dass Sprache Menschen marginalisieren kann und der Versuch, das zu vermeiden und alle Menschen anzusprechen.
Der zweite Punkt? Sprache beeinflusst unser Denken.
D. h. wenn wir das generische Maskulinum verwenden, wirkt die Welt männlicher, als sie tatsächlich ist. Häufig werden zwar von der Sendenden Person alle Geschlechter mitgemeint, aber es kommt nicht immer so an. Und das beeinflusst.
Das wurde kürzlich durch eine Studie direkt in Bezug gesetzt.
Also, dass das generische Maskulinum wirklich vorwiegend die Assoziation Mann hervorruft.
Und dadurch andere Geschlechter abwertet.
Sprachliche Abwertungen sind aber keine Kleinigkeit. Sie schaffen Realitäten.
In dieser Studie von Dries Vervecken und Bettina Hannover von der Freien Universität Berlin wurden Kindern Berufe einmal im generischen Maskulinum präsentiert und einmal in einer geschlechtergerechten Sprache, also sowohl die männliche als auch die weibliche Form (Ingenieurinnen und Ingenieure statt Ingenieure)
Das Ergebnis? Kinder schätzen typisch männliche Berufe als für sie erreichbarer ein und trauen sich selbst eher zu, diese zu ergreifen, wenn sie auf eine gender-gerechte Weise präsentiert werden.
Das ist ermutigend: geschlechtergerechte Berufsbezeichnungen können das Selbstvertrauen von Mädchen und Jungen steigern, entsprechende Berufe zu ergreifen.
Was heißt das wohl für eine gender-inklusive Sprache? Wahrscheinlich, dass sich dadurch noch mehr Menschen angesprochen und ermutigt fühlen, so zu sein, wie sie sind.
Ein kurzer Exkurs zur Verständlichkeit von Gender-inklusive Sprache, weil das häufig als Gegenargument verwendet wird:
Das bezieht sich vor allem auf Sonderzeichen, wie den Genderstern.
Dazu habe ich persönlich zwei Punkte:
Eine Studie hat gezeigt, dass Texte nicht unverständlicher sind, wenn es z. B. Doppelnennungen gibt.
Gender-inklusiv texten heißt für mich eben nicht nur Sonderzeichen zu verwenden. Manche Texte kommen auch ganz ohne Sonderzeichen aus; das bedarf ein wenig Übung und anfangs ev. Zeit, weil bestehende Texte nicht nur gescannt werden können und überall da wo ein generisches Maskulinum steht ein Genderstern eingefügt wird.
Sondern Texte auch mal komplett umgeschrieben werden müssen. Aber es ist möglich und für mich die wahre Herausforderung für uns UX Writer·innen und Content Designerinnen
Die Studien, Links und Quellen findet ihr übrigens am Ende der Präsentation.
Als weiteres Gegenargument also Argument gegen gender-inklusive Sprache wird manchmal das Thema accessibility angeführt. Darauf komme ich später zu sprechen.
Aber weg von den Gegenargumenten, und wieder zu den Argumenten FÜR gender-inklusive Sprache: Meine 2 guten Gründe, sich mit gender-inklusiver Sprache zu beschäftigen, waren also:
1. Alle Menschen sehen und explizit einschließen, weil wir sie sonst unbewusst marginalisieren.
2. Und Sprache beeinflusst unser Denken und wir sollten die Welt nicht männlicher darstellen, als sie ist.
Aber ihr findet sicher noch andere Gründe, oder Gründe, die besser zu euch und eurem Argument passen.
In jedem Fall wird das Thema diejenigen beschäftigen, die im Jahr 2022 und folgende schreiben und besonders die Berufsgruppe der UX Writer·innen und Content Designerinnen für den digitalen Bereich.
Jetzt zum Texten:
Es gibt verschiedenste Möglichkeiten gender-inklusiv zu Schreiben und zu Sprechen.
Dabei können wir unterscheiden zwischen Möglichkeiten, die das Deutsche schon jetzt bietet,
also Begriffe und Formulierungen, die auch schon vor der Gender-debatte benutzt wurden, aber ev. in einem anderen Kontext, z. B. Partizipien und Adjektive, wie Studierende. (An diesen Begriff haben wir uns mittlerweile gewöhnt.)
Dann, sprachlicher Innovation, d.h. Begriffe und Formulierungen oder Schreibweisen, die es vorher nicht gab und neu erfunden wurde, z. B. Sonderzeichen.
Und schließlich technische Innovation, die es uns ermöglichen, individuelle Lösungen für jede Person zu finden, z. B. in der Direktkommunikation und nachdem wir gefragt haben, wie jemand angesprochen werden möchte.
Zu den existierenden Möglichkeiten des Deutschen:
Und da gibt es einige:
Zum Beispiel, indem wir das generische Maskulinum oder die Doppelnennung durch schon existierende gender-neutrale Personen-Begriffe ersetzen.
Z. B. Team anstatt Kollegen Mitarbeiter oder Mannschaft,
Publikum oder Gäste anstatt Teilnehmer oder Zuhörer
oder ganz generell Leute, Personen oder Menschen.
Ich habe eben auch schon das Beispiel Studierende genannt, also ein Partizip als Substantiv.
Oder ein Adjektiv zum Substantiv machen. Also anstatt Interessenten, das adjektiv „interessiert“ zu Interessierte machen.
Ein häufig genannter Kritikpunkt hier ist, dass bei der Verwendung in gender-inklusiven Texten die aktionale Bedeutung verloren ginge, Studierende seien im Unterschied zu Studenten Menschen, die eben gerade im Begriff sind zu studieren.
Aber dem widersprechen einige weit verbreitete Beispiele, wie Vorsitzende oder Reisende, die diese Bezeichnung auch dann noch bekommen, wenn sie ihre Tätigkeit nicht gerade ausüben
Diese Möglichkeiten erfordern ev. schon kleine Änderungen in einem bestehenden Text, weil z. B. eine Satzstruktur umgebaut werden muss, der letzte Punkt der bestehenden Möglichkeiten des Deutschen geht noch eine Stufe weiter.
Die Umformulierung
Wir können nämlich auch gender-inklusiv schreiben, indem wir unsere Texte und Art zu schreiben hinterfragen und die Aktion und das Ziel betrachten.
Zum Beispiel können wir unsere Aussagen auflösen, indem wir fragen: “Wer sendet? Wer empfängt, über wen wird gesprochen und worum geht’s?”
Viele alltäglich Texte im Behördendeutsch können so umgeschrieben werden, dass sie alle ansprechen.
Ich nehme mal das Beispiel heraus: gender-neutrale Pronomen:
Z. B. könnte ich sagen „Wer sich für die Förderung bewirbt, benötigt Formular A“ anstatt „Antragssteller benötigen Formular A“ ( und ich bin bewusst im Behördendeutsch geblieben)
Oder hier der letzte Punkt: die Ableitung mit -ung
Ich könnte sagen:
Ich suche einen erfahrenen Social Media Manager.
Aber worum geht es mir denn? Es geht mir um die Erfahrung.
Also könnte ich sagen
Ich suche jemanden mit Erfahrung.
Oder ich verwende das Du als direkte Anrede:
Du hast Erfahrung mit Social Media Marketing?
Komm ins Team.
Schauen wir auf diesen Satz:
Schwarzfahrer zahlen 40 €
Dieser Satz kann auf verschiedenste Weise gender-inklusiv umformuliert werden:
Manche Versionen sind deutlich länger, manche nur minimal und natürlich kommt es darauf an, wo ein solcher Text steht. D.h. ihr solltet die verschiedenen Möglichkeiten im Kopf haben und die wählen, die für euren Text am besten passt.
Probieren wir’s mal über neutrale Begriffe:
Personen ohne gültigen Fahrschein zahlen 40 €
Fahrgäste ohne gültiges Ticket zahlen 40 €
Das ist etwas lang, vielleicht versuchen wir eine Umformulierung, z. B. in direkte
Ohne gültiges Ticket zahlen Sie 40 €
Eine weitere Möglichkeit sind gender-neutrale Pronomen:
Hier zum Beispiel:
Wer ohne gültigen Fahrschein unterwegs ist, zahlt 40 €.
Das ist bisher der längste Satz
Wir können auch die Aktion selbst benennen:
Schwarzfahren kostet 40 €
Das ist schön kurz!
Aber: dieses Beispiel möchte ich auch nutzen, um einen kleinen Ausflug in die Welt der inklusiven Sprache generell zu machen.
2021 haben die Münchner und Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe den Begriff “Schwarzfahrer” und „Schwarzfahren“ von ihren Plakaten und Ihren Webseiten gestrichen und begründen das damit, eine „zeitgemäßere Kommunikation“ anzustreben und die Farbe schwarz von negativen Begriffen lösen zu wollen.
Ich hab natürlich für euch nachgeschaut:
In München heißt der entsprechende Abschnitt jetzt „ Wenn Sie bei einer Fahrausweiskontrolle ohne gültigen Fahrausweis angetroffen wurden, müssen Sie das erhöhte Beförderungsentgelt in Höhe von 60 Euro bezahlen.“
In Berlin heißt es
Fahren ohne Fahrausweis: Jeder Fahrgast ist dazu verpflichtet, einen gültigen Fahrausweis mit sich zuführen. Tust du das nicht und wirst von unserem Kontrollpersonal erwischt, wird dir ein sogenanntes erhöhtes Beförderungsentgelt auferlegt.
Also ich sehe da weder Sonderzeichen noch Doppelnennung, dafür die direkte Ansprache einmal im Sie und einmal im Du und neutrale Personen-Begriffe, wie Fahrgäste oder Kontrollpersonal
Jetzt zu sprachlicher Innovation:
Im Deutschen sind das zum Beispiel Sonderzeichen, die dazu verwendet werden, das generische Maskulinum so umzuwandeln, dass auch die weibliche Endung ersichtlich ist.
Der Schrägstrich, der Doppelpunkt, der Unterstrich, das Binnen-I
Diese werden, wie die Doppelnennung Ingenieurinnen und Ingenieure mittlerweile als binär angesehen. D. h., dass zwar das generische Maskulinum um die weibliche Form erweitert wird, der Begriff dadurch aber trotzdem nicht gender-inklusiv ist.
Sonderzeichen, die hingegen als gender-inklusiv angesehen werden sind der Gender-Stern und der Gender-Mittelpunkt.
Das deshalb, weil sie als Zeichen nicht auf zwei Enden (also links unrechts vom Schrägstrich) als eine binäre Trennung hindeuten, sondern, durch die kreisförmig angeordneten Zacken des Sterns und den runden Mittelpunkt ein Spektrum für Gender visuell darstellen.
Eine weitere Sprachliche Innovation sind die Pronomen für Personen, die sich weder dem männlichen noch dem weiblichen Geschlecht zuordnen. Hier ein Dank an Dr. Eva Voss, deren Post mich darauf aufmerksam gemacht hat.
Hier habe ich euch einige bereits gebräuchliche Pronomen aufgelistet, aus dem nicht-binär Wiki.
Sier als Kombination aus sie und er habe ich schon in der übersetzten Version einer TV-Serie aus dem Englischen gehört. Übersetzt vom singular „they“ im englischen. Weil „they“ dort bereits verwendet wird, muss bei der Übersetzung einer erfolgreichen Serie schon ein entsprechender Begriff gefunden werden. Und so schwappen bestimmte Veränderungen im Englischen auch in andere Sprachen über, obwohl es noch keine einheitlichen Lösungen dafür gibt.
Per als Ableitung von Person.
They wird auch im Deutschen verwendet und auch genauso aus dem Englischen übernommen mit them im Dativ singular, beispielsweise.
Und x, das einige vielleicht vom Amerikanischen Begriff Latinx kennen. Also die gender-inklusive Version von Latinos and Latinas.
Diese neuen Pronomen werden also noch nicht von offizieller Seite benutzt, aber finden schon ihren Weg in den Sprachgebrauch.
Und nun zum letzten Punkt: Den technischen Lösungen für eine gender-inklusive Sprache:
Denn Sprache und Formulierungen sind in einer digitalen Welt nicht an Zeichen, Satzstruktur und Grammatik gebunden, sondern können sich einer weiteren Option bedienen – Logik.
D.h., dass ihr, wenn alle Möglichkeiten ausgeschöpft sind, aber auch, wenn es eine gute Idee ist, nach technischen Lösungen Ausschau halten könnt.
Z. B. eine Abfrage der persönlichen Pronomen einer Person, die dann später so verwendet werden kann. Also durch Angabe des Genders. Personen, die für SICH „sier“ oder „they“ verwenden, könnten das so angeben und würden dann auf der Plattform später so angesprochen.
Beispiel dafür, dass Gender auch im technischen Bereich ein Thema ist, ist der Gender-bias in der Google-Übersetzung. Schaut mal: Im Englischen ist „doctor“ eigentlich gender-inklusiv.
In der Übersetzung ins Deutsche wird daraus aber Ich gehe zum Arzt, also im generischen Maskulinum. Es könnte aber auch mit Ich gehe zur Ärztin übersetzt werden.
Im Englischen wurde der Google Translate Algorithmus übrigens schon zweimal überarbeitet. Das seht ihr hier:
Jetzt steht dort bei der Übersetzung der türkischen Aussage „o bir doctor“, die neutral ist,
„He’s a doctor“ und „She’s a doctor.“ “They’s a doctor” fehlt noch.
Aber ihr seht: es gibt auch technische Lösungen für das Thema. Und manches braucht anscheinend etwas Zeit.
Genauso ist es mit dem nächsten Punkt, Feedback und Nutzung:
dafür nehme ich das Beispiel Screenreader her. Bisher wurden bestimmte Sonderzeichen innerhalb eines Wortes unverständlich vorgelesen. Wenn zum Beispiel ein Gendersternchen verwendet wurde, las der Screenreader Patient Stern innen. anstatt Patientinnen mit der Minipause genannt Glottisschlag.
Durch die vermehrte Verwendung bestimmter Sonderzeichen für eine gender-inklusive Sprache wurden einige Screenreader bereits für bestimmte Sonderzeichen angepasst. Und jetzt sprechen z. B. Amazon Polly und Google Translate den Glottisschlag (also diese kleine Pause im Wort) anstatt des Stern aus.
Das heißt, dass wir natürlich Argumente, wie Lesbarkeit oder Barrierefreiheit bedenken und in unseren Texten berücksichtigen sollen.
Aber: Es liegt nicht nur an den Texten und an uns UX Writer·innen und Content-Designerinnen, diese Veränderungen voranzutreiben!
Und jetzt noch Beispiele aus der Jugendsprache und anderen Sprachen: Und hier noch einmal der Hinweis auf die anderen Videos zu dem Thema gender-Inklusive Sprache. Wer eine dieser Sprachen spricht oder ein wenig versteht, sollte sich das Video dazu anschauen. Es ist spannend zu sehen, wie’s da gemacht wird.
Aus der Jugendsprache, die Endung i, die z. B. im Schulbereich als gender-inklusive Version von Schülern und Lehrern verwendet wird und zu Schülis und Lehris im Plural wird.
Von einer Bekannten habe ich außerdem gehört, dass Jugendliche sich schon an die Pronomen heranwagen, indem sie beim Kennenlernen fragen, die ihr Gegenüber angesprochen werden möchten.
Welche Pronomen verwendest du? Oder wie möchtest du angesprochen werden?
Etwa nach dem Motto: Es gibt nicht Gutes. Außer man tut es.
Zum Abschluss habe ich euch noch ein paar Beispiele aus anderen Sprachen mitgebracht.
Mich freut so was, weil ich sprachinteressiert bin, aber auch, weil dieses Thema -Gender-inklusivität- natürlich in vielen Sprachen gerade diskutiert wird. Und diese Sprachen vor anderen grammatikalischen Problemen stehen und diese unterschiedlich und kreativ angehen. D.h., wir können davon lernen und uns gegenseitig anspornen.
Zum Beispiel Italienisch:
Dort richtet sich nicht nur das Pronomen, sondern auch das Verb „sein“ und Adjektive nach dem Geschlecht des Nomen. Also Cari tutti jeweils mit i für Liebe Alle (Männer) weil es das generische Maskulinum ist.
Eine Möglichkeit, die ich euch hier zeige, sind Sonderzeichen, die anstelle des Geschlechtsmarkers (hier wäre es i für männlich und e für weiblich) gesetzt werden.
Einmal das At Zeichen, dessen Aussprache unbekannt ist.
Und das zweite ist das Schwa. Im Italienischen wird dieses Zeichen aus Internationale Phonetischen Alphabet (International Phonetic Alphabet) verwendet Und die Aussprache des Schwa ist bekannt. . Ihr seht die Abbildung hier rechts. Es ist genau zwischen den anderen Vokalen angesiedelt und steht somit sinnbildlich für eine nicht-binäre eine gender-inklusive Sprache. A
Im Spanischen gibt es einen ähnlichen Versuch, indem anstatt der männlichen oder weiblichen Endungen -o, -os oder -a, -as, eine Zwischenform nämlich e oder es gewählt wird. Also “niñe” oder “niñes”.
Auch im Hebräischen geht es um Endungen. Eine Möglichkeit ist es die männliche und die Weibliche Endung beide durch einen Punkt getrennt am Ende des Wortes anzuhängen.
So, und das war’s für dieses Video.
Das waren einige konkrete Formulierungsvorschläge:
Möglichkeiten, die es im Deutschen jetzt schon gibt.
Sprachliche Innovation
Und technische Lösungen
Wenn ihr auch noch Tipps habt, teilt sie gerne
Und teilt auch gerne dieses Video
Teilt die Botschaft gender-inklusiver Sprache.
Und helft mit, das Thema für Deutsch und für andere Sprachen weiterzudenken.
Hi, hello, I’m Barbara
This video is part of an international project on inclusive language.
Or gender-inclusive language.
And today I’m talking about gender-inclusive language for the German-speaking world.
I was recently asked by the author of the book UX Writing & Microcopy Kinneret Yifrah to participate.
And when I tell you what it’s all about and what we’re doing today, I’m sure you can see why I’m so happy about it and immediately agreed to contribute.
This project is called “The Gender inclusive language project”, it is an international project and the first of its kind:
Gender inclusive language is a global issue and is being discussed in many different countries, languages, and cultures.
In UX writing and the IT world, English has been the model for this development so far. And if you have already dealt with it, you might know that there are already many ways to speak and write in a gender-inclusive way in English.
And that many people, but also companies in the English-speaking world, are already very careful to write gender-inclusive texts and to address everyone.
This project is about bringing gender-inclusive language into focus in other languages as well.
Therefore, experts from different languages of the world will talk about gender-inclusive language in short videos and give concrete tips on how we UX writers, content designers and copywriters can express ourselves in these languages in a way that appeals to everyone.
Among the languages are German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Japanese, etc.?
Here we go:
I’m Barbara Kofler and today I’m talking about how you can write and speak in German in a gender-inclusive way.
I’m a UX writer at XING and a mentor at the UX Writing Hub Academy.
Together with two colleagues, I organise the community meetup “UX Writing, auf Deutsch!” and hold workshops on UX writing and accessibility.
In the next 20 minutes, we’ll first look at what gender-inclusive language means
and why you should deal with it.
Then we’ll move on to copywriting and I’ll give you some ways to write gender-inclusively in German.
And finally, we’ll look at some examples from youth language and other languages.
So here we go:
First, a little introduction or recap:
Why are we dealing with gender-inclusive language and what is it actually?
Gender-inclusive language and gender-neutral language mean language that either uses terms and phrases that do not name the gender or those that include all genders, all genders.
In contrast to the generic masculine and formulations in which persons, e.g. occupational groups, are assigned to a gender according to a prejudiced scheme. E.g. the engineer, the nurse, the customer, the doctor, the patient.
This is the initial situation: the generic masculine or double noun and binary terms exclude certain groups and individuals by not appearing in the language.
There are different reasons for gender-inclusive language and I’ve brought you two today:
I think we all have prejudices and we all run the risk of excluding others as a result if we don’t consciously try to address everyone.
The moment someone feels unseen, that person is marginalised by us, seen as unimportant, pushed away. Consciously and unconsciously. Often unconsciously, because we don’t deal with it and don’t notice the devaluation ourselves.
That is, we are telling her that she is not that important to us as an audience, as a counterpart as a human being.
And a company that does not use gender-inclusive language may be communicating to this person that it does not take her needs seriously, does not assign her to its target group and perhaps even that it does not want her money.
So the first point is: gender-inclusive language is the awareness that language can marginalise people and the attempt to avoid that and address all people.
The second point? Language influences our thinking.
I.e. when we use the generic masculine, the world seems more masculine than it actually is. Often the person sending the message means all genders, but it doesn’t always come across that way. And that influences.
That was directly related by a study recently.
So that the generic masculine really does predominantly evoke the association of man.
And thus devalues other genders.
However, linguistic devaluations are not a trifle. They create realities.
In this study by Dries Vervecken and Bettina Hannover of the Free University of Berlin, children’s professions were presented once in the generic masculine and once in gender-equal language, i.e. both the masculine and the feminine form (engineers instead of engineers).
The result? Children rate typically male professions as more attainable for them and are more likely to trust themselves to take them up if they are presented in a gender-equitable way.
This is encouraging: gender-appropriate job titles can increase the self-confidence of girls and boys to take up corresponding professions.
What do you think this means for gender-inclusive language? Probably that it will make even more people feel addressed and encouraged to be who they are.
A brief digression on the comprehensibility of gender-inclusive language, because this is often used as a counterargument:
This refers mainly to special characters, such as the gender star.
I personally have two points on this:
1. A study has shown that texts are not more unintelligible if there are, for example, double names.
2. For me, writing gender-inclusive texts does not only mean using special characters. Some texts manage without any special characters at all; this requires a little practice and possibly time at the beginning, because existing texts cannot only be scanned and a gender star is inserted wherever there is a generic masculine.
Sometimes texts have to be completely rewritten. But it is possible and for me it is the real challenge for us UX writers and content designers.
By the way, you can find the studies, links and sources at the end of the presentation.
Another counterargument, i.e. argument against gender-inclusive language, is sometimes the issue of accessibility. I will come to that later.
But away from the counterarguments and back to the arguments FOR gender-inclusive language:
My 2 good reasons for engaging with gender-inclusive language were:
To see and explicitly include all people, because otherwise we unconsciously marginalise them.
Language influences our thinking and we shouldn’t make the world more masculine than it is.
But I’m sure you can find other reasons, or reasons that better suit you and your argument.
In any case, the topic will occupy those who write in 2022 and following, and especially the profession of female UX writers and content designers for the digital sphere.
Now for the writing:
There are many different ways to write and speak in a gender-inclusive way.
We can distinguish between possibilities that German already offers,
i.e. terms and phrases that were already used before the gender debate, but possibly in a different context, e.g. participles and adjectives, like students. (We have become accustomed to this term by now).
Then, linguistic innovation, i.e. terms and phrases or spellings that did not exist before and were newly invented, e.g. special characters.
And finally, technical innovation, which enables us to find individual solutions for each person, e.g. in direct communication and after asking how someone wants to be addressed.
On the existing possibilities of German:
And there are a few:
For example, by replacing the generic masculine or the double noun with already existing gender-neutral person terms.
Z. For example, team instead of colleagues, staff or crew,
audience or guests instead of participants or listeners
or generally people, persons or humans.
I have already mentioned the example of students, i.e. a participle as a noun.
Or make an adjective into a noun. So instead of interested, make the adjective “interested” into interested.
A frequent criticism here is that when used in gender-inclusive texts, the actional meaning would be lost, that students, unlike students, are people who are in the process of studying.
But this is contradicted by some widespread examples, such as chairpersons or travellers, who are still given this designation even when they are not actually doing their job.
These possibilities may require even small changes in an existing text, for example, because a sentence structure has to be rewritten; the last point of the existing possibilities of German goes one step further.
The rewording
We can also write in a gender-inclusive way by questioning our texts and the way we write and looking at the action and the goal.
For example, we can break down our statements by asking,
Who is sending? Who is receiving, who is being talked about and what is it about?
Many everyday texts in officialese can be rewritten to appeal to everyone.
Let me take the example: gender-neutral pronouns:
z. For example, I could say “Whoever applies for funding needs form A” instead of “Applicants need form A” (and I deliberately stayed with officialese).
Or here’s the last point: the derivation with “-ung”.
I could say:
I am looking for an experienced social media manager.
But what is it about for me? I’m interested in experience.
So I could say.
I’m looking for someone with experience.
Or I could use “you” as a direct form of address:
You have experience with social media marketing?
Join our team!
Let’s look at this sentence:
Fare dodgers pay 40 €
This sentence can be rephrased in a variety of gender-inclusive ways:
Some versions are significantly longer, some only minimally, and of course it depends on where such a text is placed. That means you should have the different possibilities in mind and choose the one that suits your text best.
Let’s try neutral terms:
Passengers without a valid ticket pay €40
That’s a bit long, maybe we try a rephrasing
Without a valid ticket you pay 40 €
Another possibility is gender-neutral pronouns:
Here, for example:
If you travel without a valid ticket, you pay 40 €.
This is the longest sentence so far
We can also name the action itself:
“Schwarzfahren” costs 40 €
That’s nice and short!
But: I would also like to use this example to make a small excursion into the world of inclusive language in general.
In 2021, the Munich and Berlin public transport companies removed the terms “Schwarzfahrer” and “Schwarzfahren” (fare evasion) from their posters and websites, explaining that they were aiming for “more contemporary communication” and wanted to free the colour Black from negative terms.
Of course, I looked it up for you:
In Munich, the relevant section is now called ” If you were found at a ticket check without a valid ticket, you will have to pay the increased transport charge of 60 euros.”
In Berlin it says
Driving without a ticket
Every passenger is obliged to carry a valid ticket. If you don’t and are caught by our control staff, you will be charged a so-called increased transport fee.
I don’t see any special characters or double-entendres, but instead the direct address once in “Sie” and once in “Du” and neutral personal terms, such as passengers or control staff.
Now for linguistic innovation:
In German, for example, these are special characters that are used to convert the generic masculine in such a way that the feminine ending is also visible.
The slash, the colon, the underscore, the indented I
These, like the double designation female engineers and male engineers, are now considered binary.
This means that although the generic masculine is extended to include the female form, the term is still not gender inclusive.
Special characters that are considered gender-inclusive are the gender star and the gender middle dot.
This is because, as signs, they do not indicate two ends (i.e. left and right of the slash) as a binary division, but, through the circularly arranged prongs of the star and the round middle dot, visually represent a spectrum for gender.
Another linguistic innovation are the pronouns for persons who do not assign themselves to either the male or the female gender.
Thanks here to Dr Eva Voss, whose post brought this to my attention.
Here I have listed some pronouns already in use, from the non-binary wiki.
“Sier” as a combination of they and he I have already heard in the translated version of a TV series from English. Translated from the singular “they” in English. Because “they” is already used there, when translating a successful series, a corresponding term already has to be found. And so certain changes in English spill over into other languages, although there are no standard solutions for them yet.
“Per” as a derivative of person.
“They” is also used in German and also adopted in exactly the same way from English with “them” in the dative singular, for example.
And x, which some may know from the American term “latinx”.
The gender-inclusive version of latinos and latinas.
These new pronouns are not yet used officially, but they are already finding their way into the language.
And now to the last point: the technical solutions for a gender-inclusive language:
Because language and formulations in a digital world are not bound to signs, sentence structure and grammar, but can make use of another option – logic.
This means that when all options are exhausted, but also when it is a good idea, you can look for technical solutions.
For example, a query of the personal pronouns of a person, which can then be used later in this way. So by specifying the gender. People who use “sier” or “they” for themselves could specify this and would then be addressed in this way later on the platform.
An example of how gender is also an issue in the technical field is the gender bias in Google translation. Look: In English, “doctor” is actually gender inclusive.
In the translation into German, however, it becomes “Ich gehe zum Arzt”, i.e. in the generic masculine. But it could also be translated as “Ich gehe zur Ärztin”.
In English, by the way, the Google Translate algorithm has already been revised twice. You can see that here:
Now when translating the Turkish statement “o bir doctor”, which is neutral, it says there:
“He’s a doctor” and “She’s a doctor.”
“They’re a doctor” is still missing
But you see: there are also technical solutions to the issue. And some things apparently take a little time.
It’s the same with the next point, feedback and use:
For this I take the example of screen readers. Until now, certain special characters within a word were read out unintelligibly. For example, if a gender asterisk was used, the screen reader would read “Patient-asterisk-in”. instead of “Patientin” with the mini pause called glottal stop.
With the increased use of certain special characters for gender-inclusive language, some screen readers have already been adapted for certain special characters. And now, for example, Amazon Polly and Google Translate pronounce the glottal stop (that little pause in the word) instead of the asterisk.
This means that we should of course consider arguments such as readability or accessibility and take them into account in our texts.
But: It is not only up to the texts and us UX Writer and content designers to push these changes!
And now some examples from youth language and other languages: And here again the reference to the other videos on the topic of gender-inclusive language. If you speak one of these languages or understand it a little, you should watch the video. It’s exciting to see how it’s done.
From youth language, the ending “-i”, which is used, for example, in the school sector as a gender-inclusive version of pupils and teachers and becomes “Schülis” (pupils) and “Lehris” (teachers) in the plural.
I also heard from an acquaintance that young people are already getting to grips with pronouns by asking who their counterpart would like to be addressed when they get to know each other.
Which pronouns do you use? Or how would you like to be addressed?
Like the motto: There is nothing good. Unless you do it.
Finally, I have brought you a few examples from other languages.
I’m happy about this because I’m interested in languages, but also because this topic -gender-inclusivity- is of course being discussed in many languages right now. And these languages face other grammatical problems and approach them differently and creatively. I.e., we can learn from it and spur each other on.
Take Italian, for example:
There, not only the pronoun, but also the verb “to be” and adjectives are based on the gender of the noun. So “Cari tutti” always with “i” for “Hello all (men)” because it is the generic masculine.
One way I show you here is to use special characters instead of the gender marker (here it would be “-i” for male and “-e” for female).
One is the at sign, whose pronunciation is unknown.
And the second is the “schwa”. In Italian, this sign is used from the International Phonetic Alphabet and the pronunciation of the “schwa” is known. You see the picture here on the right. It is located exactly between the other vowels and thus symbolises a non-binary gender-inclusive language.
In Spanish, there is a similar attempt, in that instead of the masculine or feminine endings o, os or a, as, an intermediate form is chosen, namely e or es.
So nine or nines
Hebrew is also about endings. One possibility is to add the masculine and feminine endings, both separated by a dot, to the end of the word.
So, that’s it for this video.
These were some concrete suggestions for wording:
1. Possibilities that already exist in German now.
2. Linguistic innovation
3. Technical solutions
If you have any tips, feel free to share them.
And feel free to share this video
Share the message of gender-inclusive language.
And help bring this topic forward by discussing, sharing and promoting it in German and any other language you know.
שלום וברוכים הבאים והבאות להרצאה שלי במסגרת The Gender Inclusive Language Project .
המיזם הנפלא הזה משמח אותי ומרגש אותי מאוד. יזמתי אותו יחד עם UX Content Collective מארצות הברית.
במיזם הזה אנחנו אוספים הרצאות מכל העולם בשפות רבות, כדי להתמודד עם אתגרים דומים לאתגרים שאנחנו מתמודדים איתם בעברית. אנחנו מלקטים מההרצאות האלה טיפים וכלים לכותבים ולכותבות מכל העולם שרוצים לכתוב בצורה שתכיל גם זכר, גם נקבה וגם את הרצף שבאמצע, וזו מטרת הפרויקט הזה.
נדמה לנו שהקושי להכיל את כל המגדרים נמצא רק בעברית, אבל רוב השפות בעולם הן שפות ממוגדרות ומתמודדות עם אותם אתגרים כמו שלנו.
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לכן זה לא אמור להיות מיזם מקומי, אלא תנועה עולמית וגדולה שבה שפות משתנות עם השינוי במציאות. זה עניין גלובלי, ונתמודד איתו יחד. אני מקווה מאוד שהפרויקט הזה יהיה צעד ראשון בדרך, אז יאללה! בואו נתחיל בהרצאה שלי: איך לכתוב בעברית באופן שמכיל את כל המגדרים.
קודם כל, כמה מילים על עצמי: שמי כנרת יפרח, אני כותבת מיקרו־קופי ומאפיינת שפה. כתבתי את הספר “מיקרו־קופי: המדריך המלא” שתורגם לשש שפות ונמכר ביותר מ־50 מדינות. אני גאה בו מאוד מאוד, הוא גרם לשינוי ניכר בכתיבה לממשקים דיגיטליים בכל העולם. אני מנהלת-שותפה של קהילת המיקרו־קופי כאן בארץ עם סתיו מורן־לשם ורעות מלובני, קהילה ענקית של מעל 18,000 כותבים וכותבות, וגם מנהלי ומנהלות מוצר, מאפיינים ומאפיינות, ואתם כבר שומעים כמה אני מכפילה כל דבר לזכר ונקבה, כי בזה בדיוק עוסקת ההרצאה שלנו היום, ואני מאמינה ששפה מעצבת מציאות.
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אז נתחיל בבעיה. הבעיה היא לא טכנית, לא מינורית ולא קטנונית. מדובר בבעיה ממשית שמשפיעה על החיים של כל אחד ואחת מאיתנו. מהמחקרים עולה שבשפות ממוגדרות יש פער מגדרי גדול יותר גם בחיים האמיתיים. תוכלו לעיין בקישורים המצורפים לפרויקט הזה שמראים את המחקרים האלה. השוויון בין נשים לגברים גדל בשפה שאינה ממוגדרת. נשים מצליחות פחות במבחנים שבהם פונים אליהן בלשון זכר ועונות פחות למודעות עבודה הכתובות בלשון זכר. כל זה מוכח במחקרים. כלומר לשון הפנייה שלנו, אם היא בזכר או בנקבה, משפיעה מאוד על האופן שבו גברים ונשים תופסים את הטקסטים האלה ועל המידה שבה הטקסטים האלה משפיעים עליהם.
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מאחר שזה עניין גלובלי, כותבים וכותבות בכל העולם מחפשים פתרונות למגדור השפות שלהם. כולם יחד עובדים על זה עכשיו ומנסים לשנות.
ומה אנחנו עושות כאן, בישראל? לשמחתי, להרגשתי לפחות, אנחנו נתקלות היום בהרבה פחות התנגדויות לשינוי שאנחנו עושות בשפה כדי שהיא תכיל את כל המגדרים, אבל עדיין יש התנגדויות. אתם יכולים ויכולות לראות כאן על המסך את אחת התגובות הנפוצות שאני רואה בקבוצת המיקרו־קופי שלנו, וכיום פחות מעלים אותה. מנגד, יש התנגדויות חדשות כמו שההצעות שלנו פחות מניעות לפעולה, מסרבלות ואינן נגישות. כמובן, נדבר על ההתנגדויות האלה בהמשך.
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זה המקום לציין שכשאני אומרת שאנחנו מקבלות היום הרבה פחות התנגדויות, ושהולך ונהיה יותר מקובל לכתוב לכל המגדרים, כדאי לדעת שזה לא קורה מעצמו. התנועה הזאת והשינוי המדהים הזה נעשו בזכות נשים שעובדות במרץ. הראשונה שבהן היא דפנה איזנרייך מתנועת “דברו אלינו”. היא משקיעה עבודה אינסופית שתוצאותיה משפיעות על המציאות. זו עבודה משותפת של הרבה מאוד נשים שעובדות מאחורי הקלעים כדי שהשינוי הזה יקרה, והוא קורה, וזה משמח מאוד.
אדבר על שלושת האתגרים העיקריים שעומדים בפנינו בכתיבה למוצרים דיגיטליים שאפשר לפתור די בקלות: א) פנייה ישירה. כשאנחנו פונים למישהו או למישהי, אנחנו צריכים לבחור מגדר, זכר או נקבה או ללא מגדר; ב) ציווי. באנגלית משתמשים בציווי הרבה והוא לא ממוגדר: Get, Buy, Order וכו’.
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bit harder הציוויים באנגלית הם פשוטים מאוד, אך בעברית הם בלתי אפשריים אם רוצים לכתוב בלי מגדר. שמור/שמרי/שמרו. אין לנו ברירה, צריך לבחור אחד משלושתם. ג) גוף ראשון. לפעמים הוא ממוגדר ולפעמים לא. שימו לב שבשני המקרים כאן הוא ממוגדר: אני מאשר/מאשרת ואנחנו מבקשים/מבקשות.
לשתי נקודות אין לנו עדיין פתרון בעברית. א) גוף שלישי. חוויית משתמש/חוויית משתמשת; חוויית משתמשים/חוויית משתמשות, באישור רופא או רופאה. כשאנחנו מדברים על מישהו אחר או על מישהי אחרת, איך אנחנו מתייחסים אליהם? בזכר? בנקבה? ברבים? וגם ברבים יש זכר ונקבה. למשל, שם השולח או שם השולחת וכו’. כשאנחנו מדברים על מישהו אחר, שלישי, יש בעיה שאין לה פתרון בעברית.
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ב) אין בעברית צורה שהיא לא מגדרית כלל, שהיא לא זכר ולא נקבה עבור מי שנמצא על הרצף. עדיין לא נמצאה הצורה השלישית, הצורה שבה אין מגדר. אולי עוד תהיה.
לצערי היה לי קל מאוד למצוא הרבה דוגמאות לכתיבה בלשון זכר ברשת. למשל, לאן תרצה להגיע, לחץ לחיפוש, בחר עיר, שלום אורח, שלם, בוא נתחיל, הוסף לעגלה וכו’.
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אז מה אנחנו יכולים לעשות? נדבר עכשיו על שלוש קבוצות של פתרונות. א) נוכל להשתמש באופן יצירתי בצורות כתיבה שכבר קיימות בעברית; ב) נוכל להשתמש בפתרונות טכנולוגיים; ג) נוכל ליצור חדשנות בשפה, חדשנות שמעוררת כלפיה התנגדות.
הקבוצה הראשונה היא שימוש יצירתי בצורות כתיבה שכבר קיימות בעברית, כלומר לכתוב מילים שאפשר לקרוא אותן גם כזכר וגם כנקבה. בדרך כלל הן מילים שנגמרות ב-כ”ף, ב-תי”ו או ב-ה”א. למשל: “שלום מיה! רשמנו אותך בהצלחה. בפעם הבאה יהיה לך קל יותר להתחבר לחשבון”. כאן המילים מסתיימות ב-כ”ף. “שכחת את הסיסמה?” כאן המילה נגמרת ב-תי”ו. תראו את האסמס של מגן דוד אדום. מדובר פה במידע מורכב מאוד, ולמרות זאת הם הצליחו לכתוב ללא ציון מגדר.
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“תודה על תרומתך. מנת הדם שתרמת…” יש כאן מילה שנגמרת ב-כ”ף ומילה שנגמרת ב-תי”ו, “סופקה לבית חולים ובדרכה להציל חיים. לנוחיותך נציין כי סוג הדם שלך הוא +O ונשמח לתרומתך גם בעתיד”. אגב, בעבר היה כתוב שם: “נשמח לראות אותך תורם גם בעתיד”, העירו להם על זה והם שינו ל”נשמח לתרומתך”, וזה משמח מאוד.
דרך שנייה היא להשתמש בגוף ראשון ניטרלי. יש דוגמאות מצוינות לזה, ושוב, מידע יחסית מורכב שברגע שהעבירו אותו לגוף ראשון ניטרלי הוא נהיה ללא מגדר. למשל: אני רוצה לקבל את הסיסמה שלי בהודעת אסמס, בהודעה קולית, אין לי אפשרות להשתמש בטלפון, שלחו לי סיסמה. כל הטקסט הזה הוא לגמרי ניטרלי. ועוד דוגמאות: הבנתי, עדכנו אותי, אשמח לקבל, קראתי והסכמתי לתנאי השימוש.
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זה ה’אני מאשר/מאשרת המשפטי’, אז פשוט ‘קראתי והסכמתי’, ניטרלי לחלוטין, בלי מגדר.
הדרך השלישית היא לעבור לשם פעולה ולשם פועל. למשל: אישור שקראתי, חיפוש, הוספה, שינוי, עריכה, זימון, להתחיל. רובם פה הם שמות פעולה, רק המילה ‘להתחיל’ היא שם פועל. קל ופשוט להפוך טקסטים בלשון זכר לשם פעולה ושם פועל. למשל: במקום “זמן תור חדש” משנים ל”זימון תור חדש”. במקום “חפש” – “חיפוש” וכו’.
הדרך הרביעית לכתוב בתוך השפה, כלומר באופן שהעברית מאפשרת לנו, היא למצוא דרכים עוקפות לניסוח מכיל. למשל: במקום לכתוב “משתמש חדש”, לשאול: “פעם ראשונה באתר?”, זה מהאתר של שופרא. במקום לכתוב “שם השולח/השולחת?”, לשאול: “ממי המתנה?”, במקום לכתוב “בחרו מועד לשליחת המתנה” לשאול: “מתי לשלוח את המתנה?” בדרך זו נימנע מהפעלים שמפריעים לנו.
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אפשר לראות שבמקרים רבים, אבל לא תמיד, שאלה יכולה מאוד לעזור לנו. אבל לפעמים אפשר לשנות את הניסוח וזה לא הופך לשאלה, כמו בדוגמה: “מקווים שתחזור/תחזרי”, שמשנים ל”נשמח לראות אותך שוב!” ואכן, אם חושבים על זה עוד חצי דקה או עוד דקה או עוד חמש דקות, מגיעים בסוף לניסוח שהוא חסר מגדר.
הדרך החמישית ננקטת כשאין ברירה, והיא שימוש בלשון זכר רבים. יש לשון זכר שאינה ממוגדרת כמו “תתחדשו” או “שלחו”. האקדמיה ללשון העברית הוציאה כבר מזמן משימוש את “תתחדשנה” ו”שלחנה”, וצורה זו לא קיימת היום. הצורות “שלחו” ו”תתחדשו” הן היום צורות נטולות מגדר. אפשר להניח ששימוש זה משקף פחות יחס אישי למשתמשים ולמשתמשות, ולכן משתמשים בו רק כשאין ברירה.
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וכשבאמת אין ברירה, משתמשים בלשון רבים זכר. למשל: “אנחנו אוטוטו חוזרים אליכם” או “איזה טופס אתם צריכים?” אפשר אולי למצוא דרך וכדאי למצוא דרך לנסח את זה אחרת לגמרי בלי שננקוט לשון רבים זכר, אבל אם חשבנו וחשבנו ולא מצאנו, אז נשתמש ברבים זכר כדרך אחרונה, אם אין לנו שום מוצא אחר.
הנושא שאין לנו פתרון עבורו הוא גוף שלישי: היא, הוא, הם, הן. אין דרך לדבר על מישהו אחר בלי לציין את המגדר שלו. למשל: “האם נדרש מלווה לבידוד?”, יופי, “מלווה” זה גם בזכר וגם בנקבה כי זה נגמר ב-ה”א. אבל אם נרצה להסביר מה זה מלווה, נצטרך לציין איזשהו מגדר.
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“מלווה”, נניח שאת “הוא” אפשר להחליף במקף, “מלווה” – “מי שנכנס או נכנסת או נכנסים לבידוד כדי לסייע למי שאינו יכול או יכולה או יכולים לשהות בבידוד לבדו או לבדה או לבדם”. לפעמים אין ברירה ואנחנו חייבים לבחור באחד המגדרים. אפשר בהחלט לבחור בלשון נקבה. זה לא מתאים לכל מוצר, זה לא מתאים לכל קהל יעד, אבל זו בהחלט אפשרות שקיימת.
הבעיה חמורה יותר כשאנחנו מדברים על מקצועות, וזה קורה הרבה. דיבור על רופאים ואחיות מקבע מאוד את המצב שאין רופאות ואין אחים, או למשל מנהלים ומזכירות, או מורות. אם נדבר על אנשי המקצוע האלה נצטרך כל הזמן להכפיל אותם. אם הטקסט שלי מדבר על מורים ומורות, אצטרך לכתוב כל הזמן “מורים ומורות”. בדיבור זה עוד איכשהו עובר, אבל בכתיבה זה נהיה מסורבל מאוד, ואין לזה פתרון חוץ מפתרונות טכנולוגיים וחדשנות בשפה שנראה בהמשך.
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אם נרצה להישאר בתחום העברית התקינה, אין לנושא הגוף השלישי פתרון של ממש, חוץ מכמה פתרונות קטנים, נקודתיים, שאציע עכשיו. פתרון אחד הוא להשאיר את זה, למשל, “הוספת נוסע”, ומתחת לְפָרֵט. למשל להוסיף “בן או בת זוג”, וכך הנוסע הפך לנוסע או לנוסעת, או להוסיף “ילדים” בלשון רבים. בהצעה הזו מוסיפים טקסט שמרחיב ומפרט קצת את התכולה. אפשרות אחרת היא בכל זאת להכפיל. מכפילים אם הטקסט לא ארוך מאוד, ואם המילה המוכפלת לא חוזרת בו הרבה. למשל: “מי ינהג ברכב? נהג או נהגת, 2 נהגים או 2 נהגות, כל נהג או נהגת”. אפשר לראות שפתרון זה מוסיף הרבה מילים לממשק. אבל לעיתים יש מבוגר או מבוגרת שקשה להם להתמודד עם הממשק, העומס הקוגניטיבי מקשה עליהם, ויש צורך להשתמש בפתרונות טכנולוגיים שעוד מעט נדבר עליהם.
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בדוגמה: “קוד אישור קבוצה – הקוד שמנהל או מנהלת הקבוצה קיבלו ממשרד התיירות” – “המנהל או המנהלת” מופיע פעם אחת בלבד, ואז אין בעיה להכפיל פעם אחת.
באתרים ברשת הקשורים למוצרי תינוקות, נמצא לעיתים קרובות את המילה “בייבי” במקום “תינוק או תינוקת”, וזה נותן מענה לבעיה שהצגנו, פשוט למצוא מילה אחרת אם אפשר. יש כאלה שאוהבים את זה ויש כאלה שאוהבים פחות, זה עניין של טעם. מה שחשוב זה להבין שאפשר למצוא פתרונות בדרך של יצירתיות ואולי גם פשרות. פתרון נוסף ומעולה הוא לעבור למשפט סביל: “מצגת זו שותפה על ידי…” במקום “איקס שיתף/שיתפה את המצגת”.
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ויש גם פתרונות טכנולוגיים, זה למשל פתרון שראיתי באתר ממשלתי. מופיע שם טופס ובו מבקשים לכתוב מספר זיהוי של מבקש או מבקשת עם סלאש. ברגע שבוחרים מבקש או מבקשת, כל הטופס משתנה. במקום למלא את הטופס בסלאש או בהכפלה של מבקש/מבקשת, האתר מאפשר למשתמשים לבחור בהתחלה מבקש או מבקשת, ואז משנה את הטופס לפי המגדר, כלומר פיצלו לשני ממשקים, אחד לזכר ואחר לנקבה.
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הקבוצה השנייה היא פתרונות טכנולוגיים. הפתרון הראשון הוא לפצל את הממשק לפי נתונים שיש לנו על המשתמשים והמשתמשות. כלומר, אם הם הזדהו כבר כגבר או אישה, אנחנו יכולים להתאים להם את הממשק. כותבים את הסטרינגים גם בזכר וגם בנקבה ומעלים את הסטרינג המתאים בהתאם למגדר של המשתמש או המשתמשת. כאן מימין אנחנו יכולים לראות את של שירותי בריאות כללית ומשמאל את של בנק הפועלים. פונים אליי בנקבה. זו הרגשה מאוד נעימה, מאוד נוחה, מאוד טבעית, ולכן גם מאוד מומלצץ. הבעיה בזה היא כמובן שבעצם אם אני מוגדרת אצלם כאישה, או אפילו במקרים מסוימים כנקבה ולא כאישה, כלומר לפי המין ולא לפי המגדר, אז הם בעצם מניחים שאני רוצה שיפנו אליי בלשון אישה, וזה לא תמיד נכון.
[00:16:59]
פנייה כזו לא נותנת בחירה למשתמשים. אומנם היא מכילה קבוצה גדולה מאוד של נשים, אבל עדיין לא כוללת קבוצת אנשים שהמגדר ולשון הפנייה אינם זהים. לכן מומלץ מאוד להשאיר את הבחירה הזאת בידי המשתמשים.
גם הפתרון הטכנולוגי השני מפצל את הממשק, אך הפעם הבחירה נתונה למשתמשים ואינה נסמכת על נתונים שיש בנוגע אליהם. בפתרון זה המשתמשים יכולים לבחור באיזו דרך הם רוצים שיפנו אליהם, ובעיית ההתאמה בין המגדר ללשון הפנייה נפתרת. זה מאלטשולר שחם: “נעים להכיר, איך יהיה לך נוח שנפנה אלייך או אליך?” אגב, “אליך” כותבים ב-יו”ד אחת ו”אלייך” כותבים בשתי יו”דים. אז הפתרון הזה לא באמת ניטרלי מגדרית, אבל הרבה ארגונים מעגלים פינה ככה. ואם אני בוחרת נקבה, שואלים אותי “איזו הפקדה תרצי לבצע?”, ואם אני בוחרת זכר, השאלה היא “איזו הפקדה תרצה לבצע?”.
[00:17:59]
הקופי הזה הוא מאתר של משרד העבודה שנקרא “עבודאטה”, אתר שעוזר למשתמשים ולמשתמשות לבחור במה הם רוצים לעבוד או מה הם רוצים ללמוד. מאחר שעיסוק הוא עניין ממוגדר מאוד, משרד העבודה הקפיד בנושא הזה, וכל הכבוד לו. העיסוקים מוצגים בשתי הדרכים, בלשון נקבה או בלשון זכר, ומשתמשי האתר יכולים לבחור בלחיצת כפתור באיזה מגדר יוצגו העיסוקים.
הפתרון הטכנולוגי השלישי נקרא “עבריתה”, הוא מבית הפונטים אאא. פתרון זה מאפשר למשתמשים ולמשתמשות לבחור ולעבור בחופשיות בין זכר לנקבה. זה הפתרון הגמיש ביותר, והוא נותן כוח ובחירה למשתמשים ולמשתמשות להחליט איך הם רוצים שיפנו אליהם. תוכלו לראות שבהתחלה כתוב בלשון זכר, “הקלד”, “בחר”, אבל אם לוחצים על “אישה”, הכיתוב נהפך ללשון נקבה: “הקלידי” ו”בחרי”. אפשר לבחור גם בלשון ניטרלית שתיכתב עם סלאשים למי שמעדיף או מעדיפה.
[00:18:59]
הקבוצה השלישית של פתרונות היא חדשנות בשפה. כלומר לא כלים שמשתמשים בהם בתוך השפה, ולא פתרונות טכנולוגיים, אלא פשוט שינוי השפה מהיסוד. דוגמה שכיחה מאוד לאחרונה היא שימוש בנקודה או במקף בתוך המילים, למשלח: מטפל.ת, מוזמנים.ות. הנקודה והמקף אמורים לסמל שבין הזכר לנקבה יש מגדרים נוספים. זה מאפשר מרווח גדול יותר מסלאש. סלאש מבטא קיטוב: זה או זה, ואילו הנקודה והמקף מאפשרים להכיל את כל הרצף.
אפשרות שנייה היא סיומות כפולות. בהזדמנות זו אציין את המדריך שכתבה דפנה איזנרייך מ”דברו אלינו”, שכותרתו “לכתוב לכולםן”, והוא מכיל את כל מה שדיברנו עכשיו ועוד הרבה רעיונות איך לכתוב לכל המגדרים. אפשר למצוא אותו באתר “דברו אלינו” שכתובתו מופיעה כאן.
[00:19:59]
לנקודות ולסיומת הכפולה יש התנגדות בגלל הנגישות. הטכנולוגיה הקוראת את המסך לכבדי ראייה לא יודעת לקרוא מילה שיש בתוכה נקודה, מקף או סלאש. כשהתוכנה תקרא את הטקסט הם ישמעו “מטפל-ת”, “מוזמנים-אות”. התוכנה לא קוראת את זה ברצף כמו שאנחנו רואים ורואות. אז מה לעשות בזה? את התשובה לשאלה למדתי מדפנה אייזנרייך. קוראי מסך הם תוכנות, אפשר לשנות אותם! אם כיום קוראי מסך לא יכולים לקרוא את זה, צריך פשוט לתכנת אותם אחרת כדי שכן יקראו “מטפל או מטפלת”. פשוט כל כך.
[00:20:59]
עד שיעודכנו קוראי המסך ותיפתר בעיית הנגישות אני מציעה שלא להשתמש במוצרים דיגיטליים בנקודה או בסיומות כפולות. לגבי אתגרים קוגניטיביים וקשיי קריאה כמו דיסלקציה – אני מקווה מאוד שעם הזמן יימצאו פתרונות גם להם.
חדשנות שלישית בשפה היא כמובן העברית הרב־מגדרית – האותיות החדשות שיצרה מיכל שומר. תוכלו לראות אותן על המסך. היא יצרה אותיות וסימנים חדשים שאפשר לקרוא גם בלשון זכר וגם בלשון נקבה, וכך הם מאפשרים לקוראים לבחור איך לקרוא אותן.
[00:21:59]
האותיות הללו מאפשרות קריאה בכל המגדרים וגם את הרצף. זאת חדשנות אמיתית – הוספת אותיות לשפה. גם כאן, קוראי המסך עוד לא קוראים את האותיות האלה, ולא בכל מקום אפשר להתקין את הפונט הזה, ובכל זאת זה שינוי מהותי מאוד ביסודות השפה. החדשנות הזאת מעצבנת הרבה אנשים דווקא משום שהיא יסודית כל כך. תוכלו להיכנס לאתר של העברית הרב־מגדרית, להוריד את הפונט הזה ולהשתמש בו.
סוגיה נוספת שנוגעת לכתיבה לכל המגדרים קשורה בעניינים נוספים שאינם לשון הפנייה. למשל, האם בטופס יש מרחב בחירה שכולם וכולן, גם מתוך הרצף, יכולים לבחור בו את מה שמתאים להם?
[00:22:59]
לדוגמה: כתוב בטופס “שם האב”, “שם האם”. האם למשפחות שיש בהן שני אבות או שתי אימהות או אימא ושני אבות וכו’, יש כאן מרחב בחירה? האם כולם יכולים להרגיש שהטופס הזה עונה לצורך שלהם? “בן הזוג של היולדת”, והיכן ההתייחסות לבת הזוג של היולדת? והאם במגדר יש רק אישה וגבר? אולי אנחנו צריכים סוף־סוף להוסיף את א־בינארי? אין כאן רק עניין של לשון הפנייה, אלא מדובר גם בטקסטים אחרים, ויש לשים לב אם בכתיבה שלנו אנחנו מאפשרים למגוון רחב של מגדרים למצוא בו את עצמם.
ואז במקום “שם האב”, “שם האם”, כתבו “הורה 1”, “הורה 2”, והניסוח הזה מופיע ביותר ויותר טפסים. זה עורר דיון גדול בתקשורת, פחד וכעס יותר משאר הפתרונות שניתנו כאן.
[00:23:59]
לסיכום: יש לנו עוד דרך לעשות, אבל אנחנו מתחילים להיות הרבה יותר מודעים ומודעות, וזה משמח מאוד. אני מקווה שאנחנו לא רק עוברים מהפחד הגדול אל יצירת פתרונות, אלא שאנחנו כבר ממש בדרך לעברית לכל המגדרים. עם כל פתרון שעולה, כמו “הורה 1”, “הורה 2”, או כמו העברית הרב־מגדרית של מיכל שומר, עולות גם סערה והתנגדות, אבל אנחנו הולכים בשביל שבסופו תהיה לנו עברית לכל המגדרים. אז בואו נמצא עוד פתרונות. בסוף משהו יתפוס ויוטמע, ואולי אפילו תהיה בעברית צורה שלישית חדשה שתכיל את כל המגדרים.
זהו, תודה רבה לכם. אתם מוזמנים להסתכל גם בסרטונים בשפות אחרות. כנראה לא תבינו שום דבר, אבל תוכלו לראות שהמאבק הוא לא רק שלנו. שיהיה לכם אחלה יום, ושוב תודה רבה!
Hello and welcome to my talk, part of the Gender Inclusive Language Project. I’m very happy and excited about this initiative, which I co-created with the UX Content Collective.
About the Gender Inclusive Language Project
This project explores different talks in different languages from all over the world, talks that tackle challenges similar to those we face when writing in Hebrew. We collect tips and tools for writers who want their writing to address all genders equally. That’s the goal of this project.
We tend to think that the problem of gender inclusion is unique to Hebrew, but in reality, most world languages are gendered and face the same challenges. That is why this project goes beyond the local sphere; we’re creating a global movement in which languages change and adapt to the changing reality. It’s a global issue, and we’re going to face it together. I truly hope that this project is the start of a successful journey, so let’s get to it: This is how to write in gender-inclusive Hebrew.
About me
First off, a few words about me. I’m Kinneret Yifrah, content and voice designer. I’m the author of Microcopy: The Complete Guide which was translated into six languages and sold in over 50 countries. There’s also a digital course based on the book, that you might want to check out. I also co-manage the Israeli microcopy community, alongside Stav Moran-Leshem and Reut Malovani – it’s a huge community of 17,000 writers, product managers, designers and more. In the Hebrew version of this talk, I say each profession twice: female writers and male writers, female designers and male designers – and that’s exactly the point of this talk.
What’s the problem
It’s not a technical issue, it’s not minor, and it’s not petty. This issue affects each and every one of us. Studies show that gendered languages reflect larger gender gaps in real life as well. Gender equality is greater in non-gendered languages. Another study (in Hebrew) shows that women tend to succeed less in exams that are written in the masculine form, and we also know that they’re less likely to apply to wanted ads written in the masculine form. This is all backed by studies. So the pronouns we are addressed by, masculine or feminine, significantly affects the way we perceive these texts, and how these texts affect us.
How are things here in Israel
I’m happy to say that we see a slight decline in resistance to the changes we introduce into the language, so that it would include all genders. But it’s still there. You can see here on the screen one of the most common comments we used to get in our microcopy group, and it’s been coming up less and less (it says that the masculine form in Hebrew is formally neutral. How a masculine form can be neutral?). On the other hand, we do see other objections, for example that the new solutions are not as affective CTAs, or that they are cumbersome and inaccessible. We’ll talk about that soon.
I will say this: when I say we encounter less resistance, and that gender-inclusive language is becoming more and more common, you have to realize that it doesn’t just happen. This change, this movement, should really be attributed to women who work tirelessly to include all genders. The first of these is Daphna Eisernreich from Dabru Eleynu (Talk to Us). She puts in endless hours, and her work has a real impact on reality. It’s a joint effort of a lot of women who work to make this change happen. And it’s happening, and it’s a joy to witness.
The challenge
These are the main challenges we face when writing for digital products that are solved quite easily (we’ll see how in a minute):
a) Direct speech: when we address someone, we have to choose a gender, male or female;
b) Imperative: English uses the imperative form, and it’s genderless: Get, Save, Sign in. but in Hebrew they are impossible if you want to keep your text genderless – for example, Save – Shmor (masculine) / Shimri (feminine) / Shimru (plural). We have to pick one of the three;
c) First person: Sometimes it’s gendered, sometimes it’s not. Here, for example, it is: I agree – Ani Me’asher (masculine) / Me’asheret (feminine).
There are two challenges we have yet to solve in Hebrew:
a) Third person (nouns): User – Mishtamesh (masculine) / Mishtameshet (feminine) / Mishtamshim (plural masculine) / Mishtamshot (plural feminine), or Doctor – Rofeh (masculine) / Rofah (feminine) / Rofim (plural masculine) / Rofot (plural feminine). Sender – Shole’ach (masculine) / Sholachat (feminine). When we talk about another person, would we use the feminine form? Masculine? Plural? And if we use the plural form, are we going to use the feminine or masculine plural? When we talk about somebody else, a third person, we face a problem that Hebrew doesn’t have a solution for.
b) Hebrew doesn’t have a fully gender-neutral form, one that is neither masculine nor feminine, for those on the gender spectrum. We still haven’t found one, but maybe we will, someday. We’re on it 🙂
Sadly, it wasn’t hard to find texts written in the masculine form online: Where would you like to go, Click to search, Choose city, Hello guest, Pay, Let’s get started, Add to cart, and so on and so forth, all in masculine form.
So what can we do about it?
Let’s look at three groups of solutions:
a) We could get creative within the confines of Hebrew
b) We could use technological solutions;
c) We could innovate language (knowing that this type of innovation raises many objections).
1. Creative use of writing forms that already exist in Hebrew
Words that can be read in both forms
We can use words that can be read as both feminine or masculine. These words usually end with the letters Kaf, Tav, or Heh. For example, these words end in Kaf: “Hello Mia! We successfully registered you – אותך. Next time it would be easier for you – לך – to sign in to your account.” Or “Forgot – שכחת – your password?”.
Check out this text message from Magen David Adom (an Israeli health care service). We have some really complex information here, and still they managed to write it in a gender-inclusive form: “Thank you for your donation – תרומתך. The blood you donated – תרמת – was delivered to the hospital and is on its way to save lives. For your convenience – לנוחיותך – we inform you that your – שלך – blood type is O+ and we would be pleased to receive your donation – תרומתך – in the future.”
By the way, it used to read: “We will be pleased to see you donate – תורם (masculine) – in the future as well.” People commented on that, and they changed it. It’s a really great thing to see.
Neutral first person
Another way to circumvent this problem is to use the neutral first person. For example: “I want – אני רוצה – to receive my – שלי – password via SMS/voice message, I can’t – אין לי אפשרות – use the phone, send me a password.” This whole text is completely gender-neutral. We also have “I’ve read and agreed” – קראתי והסכמתי – that’s the legal approval for terms and conditions, and it’s completely gender-neutral.
A third way is to use infinitives: Approval instead of Approve, To search instead of the imperative Search. It’s pretty easy to transform masculine texts by using infinitives. For instance, Zamen tor hadash (masculine, book new appointment), you can change it to Zimun (infinitive, gender-neutral).
Find the bypass
The fourth way is to play around with Hebrew to make it inclusive.
Instead of using the masculine “Mishtamesh hadash” (new user), we can eliminate the gendered word by asking “First time here?”
Instead of writing “Shem hashole’ach / sholachat (sender [masculine/feminine] name)” we can ask “Who is the gift from?” Instead of asking “Bichru moed” (masculine plural, choose a time) we can ask: “When?”. That way, we avoid ‘troublesome’ verbs.
You may have noticed that asking questions is a helpful bypass, but not necessarily always. Sometimes we can manipulate the language but still keep our phrasing as a statement, for example, “Mekavim shetachzor / tachzeri” (we hope [masculine, plural] you will come back [masculine/feminine]), we can say “We’ll be happy (gender neutral, plural) to see you (gender neutral) again!”
When you give it another minute, or five, you can come up with a gender-neutral phrase.
Masculine plural form
Some plural words are not gendered, for example Titchadshu or Shilchu (their feminine form [Titchadechna and Shlachna] have been discarded from both official and unofficial language and are no longer in use, and so the formerly masculine form is in fact neutral). Taking this route, however, is less personal, so we only use it when all other options have been exhausted.
And when all else fails, we use masculine plural form: Hozrim (returning, masculine plural) or Tzrichim (need, masculine plural). We might and should be able to figure out a way to rephrase it without using this form, but if we tried every other way to get around it, that’s the way to go.
We’re still facing a dead end here
One thing we can’t seem to solve is the third person: She, He, and masculine and feminine They. We can’t talk about another person without using their gender, both singular and plural. Sometimes we really have no choice but to choose one gender, and female pronouns are definitely on the menu. It doesn’t work for every product or for every audience, but it’s one of the many options out there.
It gets much worse when professions are involved, and that happens a lot. When talking about doctors and nurses, we usually use the masculine form of doctors (Rofim) and the feminine form of nurses (Ahayot). This perpetuates the notion that doctors are predominantly male, and nurses are predominantly female. In nearly all instances, managers are male (Menahalim) and secretaries are female (Mazkirot). If we’re talking to these professionals, we have to keep writing both forms: teachers would be Morim and Morot. This can sort of work in speech, but when it comes to written language it gets really cumbersome, and there’s no easy way around it other than technological solutions and language innovation, as we’ll soon see.
But suppose we want to stick to proper Hebrew. The third person only offers a limited number of pinpointed solutions, and I urge you to use them:
Websites that sell baby products usually use the English word “Baby” instead of the Hebrew feminine or masculine form. This is a solution to our problem – find another word that works, if you can. Some like it, some not so much; it’s a matter of taste. Oftentimes we can’t find an alternative word, say for Rofeh or Rofah (doctor, masculine/feminine). I’m just giving you examples of creativity and a bit of compromise. Another great option is to use the passive voice: “This presentation was shared by…” instead of “X Shitef / Shitfah (shared, masculine/feminine) the presentation.”
We can also use a doubling method: Doubling is an option for relatively short texts, and the doubled word should not appear too many times. For instance, we can ask: Who is driving the vehicle? Nahag (driver, masculine) or Naheget (driver, feminine), 2 Nehagim (drivers, masculine) or 2 Nahagot (drivers, feminine). You can clearly see how this adds plenty of words to our interface. Sometimes you will have an adult user who would struggle with the interface, the cognitive overload is exhausting, and technological solutions are required.
2. Technological solutions
Here’s something I saw on a government website: a form where the applicant is asked to put in their ID number. Applicant is written in masculine and feminine form, separated by a slash (Mevakesh / Mevakeshet). Once you choose one or the other, the entire form changes accordingly. Instead of a form filled with slash options or double words, the website allowed users to choose, right from the start, their preferred pronouns and changed the form accordingly.
Use your data
Here we can see texts from Clalit HMO and Bank HaPoalim where I’m addressed in the feminine form. It feels nice, pleasant, natural, and I highly recommend it. It means they have me assigned as female in the system, so I’m referred to according to sex rather than gender, and they assume I want to be addressed that way – which may not necessarily be true. This leaves users with no choice. True, it is more inclusive of a large group of women, but it still doesn’t represent people whose gender and pronouns are not the same. It is best to leave the choice to the users.
Ask the user
The second technological solution also splits the interface, but this time the system doesn’t rely on preexisting data on the user. The user can choose their form of address, and the gender-pronoun mismatch is solved. Look at this example: “Pleased to meet you, how would you like us to address you?” If I choose female, I would then be addressed in the female form: “What type of deposit would you like (Tirzi, feminine) to make?” and if I were to choose male, it would change to Tirzeh (masculine). Unfortunately, we must choose, since we do not have a third, neutral option in Hebrew.
This text is from a Ministry of Labor website that helps users choose their line of work or study. Occupation is a very gendered issue, and kudos to the Ministry of Labor for putting in the effort to make it much more equal. Professions are presented in both feminine and masculine form, and users can click their choice of gendered language.
The third technological solution is called Ivrita, from fontmakers AlefAlefAlef. This solution allows users to choose and shift easily between masculine and feminine form, by clicking a button. It’s the most flexible solution and gives users the power and freedom to decide how they want to be addressed. You’ll notice that it starts out in masculine form: Hakled (type), Bchar (choose), but once you click on Woman the text changes accordingly: Haklidi, Bichri. You can also choose a kind of neutral form, which uses slashes.
3. Language innovation
Dots, dashes, and double suffixes
These are not tools used within the language, nor are they technological solutions. It’s all about changing the language at the source.
One very popular example is writing the gendering letters of both feminine and masculine forms and separating them with a period or a dash: Metapel.et or Muzmanim-ot. These punctuation marks symbolize the range of genders between male and female. It’s a broader spectrum than that demonstrated by using a slash: Slash means one or the other, whereas periods or dashes represent the entire spectrum.
Double suffixes
It means writing the feminine and masculine suffixes one after the other, with no separation. For example, the guide that Daphna Eisernreich wrote on gender-inclusive language is called Lichtov LechulaMN (M is the masculine suffix, N is the feminine). It has everything we’ve talked about and plenty of other ideas on writing for all genders.
There’s an overall objection to using periods and double suffixes because of accessibility issues. Screen readers can’t understand the period, and they’re not programmed to read the text like we do, as a single unit. So what’s the solution? If screen readers can’t read it, we need to develop a software that can. Maybe have the screen reader say Metapel or Metapelet? It’s that simple.
Until then, I suggest avoiding periods and double suffixes in digital products, because like I said, screen readers can’t really handle them properly, and older people or individuals with other vision-related impairments or cognitive challenges might not either. I truly hope that, in time, these problems will also be solved.
Multi-Gender Hebrew, by Michal Shomer
The designer Michal Shomer created a new set of letters and characters that can be read both in masculine and feminine form, leaving it up to the readers to decide.
New letters in Hebrew, can you imagine?
Again, screen readers still can’t cope with these letters, and this font can’t be applied to everything, but it’s a crucial change to the foundations of our language. This innovation seems to rub some people the wrong way because it is so fundamental. You can download it from the Multi-Gender Hebrew website and try for yourself.
4. Expand the variety of choice
Another issue that pertains to multigender writing has nothing to do with how we address people, but rather the variety of choice. For example, does the form I’m planning offer a range of choice that includes everyone all over the spectrum, allowing them to choose according to their preferences? Say I have a form that says Father’s name and Mother’s name. But what about same-sex families, or other family structures? Is there any room for choice? Does this form truly answer their needs? In the same way, “Birth-mother’s Ben-zug (male partner)” excludes female partners. Or maybe it’s time to add a non-binary option?
It’s not just how we address the user, it’s other forms of writing and we have to make sure that we make room for all colors of the spectrum. So instead of Father’s name, Mother’s name, more and more institutions are embracing the option of Parent 1, Parent 2 (and we’re still missing Parent 3). This of course stirred the pot and brought out a lot of emotion and public discourse, more so than any of the other solutions I introduced. It’s a change that raises a lot of anger and fear. Words are not just words 🙂
Conclusion
We still have a long way ahead of us, but we are definitely becoming more aware, and that’s incredibly satisfying. I hope we’re on the path to multigender Hebrew. With every new solution, like parent 1, parent 2 or Michal Shomer’s Multi-Gender Hebrew, we see objection and resistance, but we’re certainly on the path to having a gender-inclusive language. Let’s come up with more solutions. Eventually something will catch on, and maybe we’ll end up with a third-form in Hebrew that would allow us to address all genders.
That’s it. Thank you. You’re more than welcome to check out other videos in other languages. You might not understand what they’re saying, but at least you’ll see that the journey is not just ours 🙂
Charmaine begins her talk in English:
Hello Everyone. Today I’m going to talk about Gender inclusive language in Hindi. My name is Charmaine Paul and I am a UX Writer from India. I specialize in designing, writing guidelines for B2B and B2C products. Having worked with brands like OLX, Hewlett-Packard, GlaxoSmithKline and many others, I truly believe that words and ideas can change the world. Currently, I’m helping create a global label change for the Hindi language to have a more gender inclusive approach. From here on, I will be presenting in my language.
Then, she begins to speak in Hindi:
[00:00:00] हैलो एवरी वन डे एम गोइंग टू टॉक अबाउट जेंडर इनक्लूसिव लैंग्वेज इन हिंदी। माय नेम इज शामिल पॉल एनआईए [00:00:10] में युवक राइटर फ्रॉम इंडिया और स्पेशलाइज्ड इन डिजाइनिंग राइटिंग टाइमलाइन व बी टू बी एंड बी टू सी प्रॉडक्ट्स आवेग व ट्विट ब्रैंड्स [00:00:20] लाइक ओएलएक्स शील्ड पैकर्ड क्लास को स्मिथ क्लाइन एन मैनी अदर्स अछोली बिलीव दैट वर्ड्स इन आइडियाज
[00:00:30] स्किन चेंज्ड वर्ल्ड। कर्टली एम हेल्पिंग क्रियेट और ग्लोबल वेव चेंज पद्धति हिन्दी लैंग्वेज टू हैव अनमोल जेंडर इनक्लूसिव अप्रोच
[00:00:40] प्रमिला रोड आई विल बी प्रेजेंट टिंग इनमें लैंग्वेज। सभी को नमस्ते। आज मैं हिन्दी
[00:00:50] में लिंग समावेशी भाषा के बारे में बात करने जा रही हूं। तो चलिए इसपर विस्तार से चर्चा करते हैं। देखते
[00:01:00] हैं ये समस्या क्या है। लिंग आधारित भाषा हमारे समाज और हमारे कार्य स्थलों में महिलाओं और [00:01:10] एलजीबीटी क्यूं लोगों के महत्व को घटाती है या अनुमान नहीं है। शोध से पता चलता है कि यह एक सच्चाई है।
[00:01:20] भाषा हमारी विचारों का पहनावा है या शब्दों और व्याकरण की एक प्रणाली है
[00:01:30] जो हमें एक दूसरे के साथ स्पष्ट रूप से बात करने में मदद करती है ये हमारी असलियत को आकार देने में सहायता
[00:01:40] करती है। तो आइए देखते हैं पहला प्रश्न क्या आप अपने देश में लिंग आधारित भाषा
[00:01:50] के वर्तमान परिवेश का वर्णन कर सकते हैं। क्या भाषा पुरुष प्रधान है क्या स्पष्ट रूप से एलजीबीटी [00:02:00] क्यु विरोधी भावना है। क्या न्यूट्रिलिटी एक बड़ा लक्ष्य है। ये कॉरपोरेट और कार्य संस्कृति को कैसे [00:02:10] प्रभावित करता है। अगर देखा जाए तो अधिकांश भाषाएं लिंग आधारित है। सबसे अधिक
[00:02:20] बोली जाने वाली भाषाएं। स्पैनिश फ्रेंच अरबी और हिन्दी। और अगर हिंदी के बारे में बात
[00:02:30] किया जाए तो लोगों और वस्तुओं दोनों को एक लिंग सौंपा गया है जैसे कि स्त्रीलिंग और पुल्लिंग। तो आइए कुछ उदाहरण [00:02:40] देखते हैं। जैसे कुर्सी चाय और बिजली स्त्रीलिंग है वैसे ही बिस्तर चश्मा और जूता पुल्लिंग है। हिन्दी [00:02:50] एक लिंग आधारित भाषा है और इसमें संस्कृत या अंग्रेजी जैसी कोई न्यूट्रल जेंडर नहीं है। इसमें
[00:03:00] केवल दो ही लिंग हैं। आइए कुछ और उदाहरण देखते हैं ये स्त्रीलिंग में मैं आ रही हूं वैसे पुल्लिंग में [00:03:10] मैं आ रहा हूं बोलते हैं। और जब व्याख्या के लिंक का पता न चले तो उसे पुल्लिंग माना जाता है। [00:03:20] जैसे कि दीवार के पीछे कोई खड़ा है। महिला और नॉन बाइनरी जेंडर आमतौर पर दूसरे
[00:03:30] और तीसरे स्थान पर आते हैं। जो लोग नॉन बाइनरी या फिर जेंडर फ्लूइड होते हैं उनके पास अपने पहचान को बताने के
[00:03:40] लिए कोई विकल्प नहीं होता है और वे काफी फंसे हुए महसूस करते हैं। लिंग समावेशी भाषा कंटेंट [00:03:50] डिजाइनर को एक जुट ही नहीं करेगी बल्कि हमारे उद्योग के लिए समाधान तलाशने और पहचानने और परिवर्तन की एक
[00:04:00] वैश्विक लहर शुरू करने में हमारी सहायता करेगी। तो आइये देखते हैं दूसरा प्रश्न। अब आप अपनी भाषा में
[00:04:10] कौन से विशिष्ट मुद्दे देखते हैं अपनी भाषा में विभिन्न लोगो के लिए अजीब या असंतुलित व्यहवार [00:04:20] के उदहारण और स्क्रीनशॉट दिखाए। यह उपयोगकर्ताओं या पाठकों को कैसे प्रभावित करता है। लोग [00:04:30] सोचते हैं कि सेक्स और जेंडर एक ही चीज है लेकिन सेक्स और जेंडर दो अलग अलग चीजें हैं। सेक्स [00:04:40] एक जैविक टर्म है और जेंडर एक मनोवैज्ञानिक टर्म है और जब जो हम भाषा बोलते हैं वो आपकी पहचान को [00:04:50] नहीं दर्शाती है तो वो बहुत निराशाजनक हो सकती है। तो आइए कुछ उदाहरण देखते हैं जैसे दर्शकों को संबोधित करना
[00:05:00] और बोलना। स्वागत है आपका देवियों और सज्जनों या भाइयो और बहनो। या फिर सिर्फ लिंग वाले शौचालय का उपयोग [00:05:10] करना जैसे कि महिला शौचालय या फिर पुरुष शौचालय आपसे उदाहरण लोगों का लिंग पूछना [00:05:20] जैसे कि सिर्फ महिला या पुरुष। टाइटल पूछना सिर्फ मिस्टर या मिस। लिंग
[00:05:30] वाली भाषा का उपयोग करना बोलना दूसरों को दिखाएँ कि आप कितने हैंडसम हैं। लिंग वाले एरर संदेश का उदाहरण
[00:05:40] देना अपना नाम डालो। उदाहरण में सिर्फ मनीषा प्रिया या फिर जेंडर फिल्टर का उदाहरण देना [00:05:50] जैसे कि सिर्फ महिला पुरुष लड़के या सिर्फ लड़कियां। तो आइये देखते हैं तीसरा प्रश्न कंटेंट [00:06:00] डिजाइनर और टीम के सदस्य। अब इस मुद्दे को हल करने के लिए कैसे काम कर रहे हैं अपनी भाषा में ऐसे
[00:06:10] उदहारण तकनीक और तरीके दिखाएं क्यों समाधान दिखाते हैं कि लोग लिंग आधारित भाषा को संबोधित
[00:06:20] करने के लिए कैसे काम कर रहे हैं। आइये देखते हैं जेंडर न्यूट्रल भाषा के उदहारण। लिंग पहचान के [00:06:30] उदहारण लोगो को जेंडर न्यूट्रल तरीके से संबोधित करें। केवल पुरुष और महिला ना बोले बोले पुरुष महिला व
[00:06:40] वे उन्हें उनके उनकी या अन्य। टाइटल के उदहारण केवल श्रीमान सुश्री
[00:06:50] और श्रीमती ना बोले। बोले श्रीमान सुश्री श्रीमती या फिर मिक्स। लिंग भाषा से
[00:07:00] परहेज करें दूसरों को दिखाएं कि आप कितने हैंडसम दिखते हैं इसके बदले आप बोल सकते हैं। चित्र जोड़ें और दिखाएं कि आप कैसे
[00:07:10] दिखते हैं या फिर आसान शब्दों में बोले लोगों को अपने बारे में बताएं। सभी श्रेणी और लिंग फिल्टर के उदहारण
[00:07:20] सिर्फ पुरुष महिला लड़के या लड़कियों का उपयोग ना करें। बोले सबके लिए और सभी के लिए। एरर [00:07:30] संदेश के लिंक वाले उदाहरण न दें। अपना नाम दर्ज करें और उदाहरण में सिर्फ मनीषा और प्रिया इसके
[00:07:40] बदले बोलिए कृपया अपना नाम यहां दर्ज करें। आयु को जेंडर न्यूट्रल भाषा बनाने में आपकी सहायता [00:07:50] करने के लिए कुछ प्रश्न इससे पहले कि आप अपने उत्पाद के लिए सामग्री बनाना शुरू करें। सभी प्रकार के उपयोग
[00:08:00] कर्ताओं के लिए समावेशी सामग्री बनाने में मदद करने के लिए इन प्रश्नों का जरूर उपयोग करें। अपने आप से पूछें
[00:08:10] क्या उत्पाद के लिए जैविक लिंग का उल्लेख करना आवश्यक है जैसे मेडिकल लैब डेटिंग आप या फिर [00:08:20] मैट्रिमोनियल आपके लिए। क्या आपका उत्पाद उपयोगकर्ताओं के विश्वास को ठेस पहुंचाए बिना उचित तरीके से संबोधित करता
[00:08:30] है। क्या आप अपने उपयोगकर्ताओं को संबोधित करने के लिए सिर्फ पुरुष महिला श्रीमान सुश्री और श्रीमती
[00:08:40] का उपयोग किया है क्या वे इन उपाधियों से सम्मानित महसूस करेंगे। क्या आपका एरर संदेश लिंग समावेशी
[00:08:50] है। क्या आपका इनपुट वैल्यूएशन एरर संदेश लिंग समावेशी भाषा का उपयोग करता है। हमेशा [00:09:00] उपयोगकर्ताओं के विविध समूह की कल्पना करें। सोचें कि वे खुद को कैसे पहचानते हैं। और इन जेंडर
[00:09:10] न्यूट्रल भाषा। कि प्रश्नों का जरूर उपयोग करें। तो आईए हम सब इस विषय के बारे
[00:09:20] में सोचे समझे एवं विचार करें और दुनिया को बदलने में हमारी मदद करें। धन्यवाद।
Hello Everyone. Today I’m going to talk about Gender inclusive language in Hindi. My name is Charmaine Paul and I am a UX Writer from India. I specialize in designing, writing guidelines for B2B and B2C products. Having worked with brands like OLX, Hewlett-Packard, GlaxoSmithKline and many others, I truly believe that words and ideas can change the world. Currently, I’m helping create a global label change for the Hindi language to have a more gender inclusive approach. From here on, I will be presenting in my language.
[Translated text]
Question before you start creating content for your product. You must use these questions to help create inclusive content for all types of users. Ask yourself if it is necessary to mention the biological gender for the product such as the medical lab dating you or the matrimonial for you. Have your product address the trust of users appropriately without hurting the trust of users. Have you used just male female Mr. Ms. and Mrs. to address your users will they feel honored with these titles. Is your error message gender inclusive Does your input valuation error message use gender inclusive language. Always imagine a diverse group of users. Think about how they recognize themselves. And in gender neutral language. Do use questions. So let us all think and think about this topic and help us change the world. Thank you.
[Alice]
Ciao!
Siamo Alice Orrù e Ruben Vitiello e questo è il nostro contributo al Gender-Inclusive Language Project organizzato da UX Content Collective. Vedremo qual è lo stato attuale del dibattito sul linguaggio di genere in italiano e quali soluzioni possiamo adottare, noi che lavoriamo con le parole, per rendere la nostra comunicazione più rispettose delle diverse identità di genere.
Iniziamo con una breve presentazione: sono Alice Orrù, mi occupo di content writing, content design e localizzazione software dal 2015 con un particolare focus su linguaggi inclusivi e accessibilità web.
Da diversi anni collaboro con il team Polyglots della comunità WordPress italiana e l’anno scorso ho lanciato la prima newsletter in italiano sulla comunicazione web inclusiva e accessibile.
[Ruben]
Io invece sono Ruben e sono localizzatore dal 2011. Ho mosso i miei primi passi nel settore traducendo contenuti software e medicali, ma col tempo ho allargato le mie competenze a scrittura efficace, transcreation, copywriting e UX writing. Oggi mi occupo per lo più di UI, contenuti di assistenza e testi marketing. Ho iniziato a interessarmi al lato pratico del linguaggio inclusivo attorno al 2018, e due anni più tardi ho pubblicato una guida che ho scoperto aver aiutato e ispirato molte persone che come me scrivono per lavoro.
[Alice]
Partiamo dal perché è importante affrontare il tema del linguaggio di genere nello UX Writing. Se il nostro scopo come UX Writers, Content Designer o professionisti della localizzazione è quello di creare esperienze usabili e accessibili per le persone, non possiamo prescindere dal linguaggio.
Le parole che scegliamo di inserire nelle interfacce digitali possono essere foriere di stereotipi, portarsi dietro bias inconsci, alimentare pregiudizi o invisibilizzare certi gruppi di persone. Il linguaggio di genere, che spesso troviamo anche definito come linguaggio non sessista, aiuta a creare esperienze digitali libere da pregiudizi sui ruoli di genere e nei confronti delle identità che fanno parte della comunità LGBTQI+.
Familiarizzare con un linguaggio inclusivo di genere ci aiuta a smantellare gli automatismi linguistici, a scalzare una visione eterocisnormata e androcentrica del mondo – per usare un’espressione che era molto cara alla linguista Alma Sabatini – e a creare esperienze digitali più rispettose per chiunque.
Ruben
Questi concetti dovrebbero essere molto chiari a chi lavora con le parole, ma purtroppo anche chi comunica per professione può inciampare in espressioni sessiste o non rispettose. Vediamo quali sono i problemi più comuni nel panorama italiano con alcuni esempi pratici.
Iniziamo con una sorta di viaggio nel tempo. Questa campagna sembra arrivare dritta dritta dagli anni Cinquanta del Novecento, e invece è stata lanciata nel 2020. Tanto la grafica quanto il testo tradiscono una visione stereotipata della famiglia, basata sulla contrapposizione tra maschio forte e lavoratore e donna debole e custode del focolare domestico. Oggi come oggi questa immagine non è più rappresentativa della realtà. Donne e uomini sono molto più consapevoli dei pregiudizi legati ai ruoli di genere, ed entrambe le categorie sono molto più disposte a infrangerli, spesso sfidando lo stigma di quella parte di società che ritiene che questi ruoli preconfezionati siano ancora validi. Anzi, alcune persone credono che questi siano dei modelli che si stanno perdendo e dovremmo recuperare prima che il mondo vada a rotoli.
[Alice]
Per contro ritroviamo ancora questo pensiero nella comunicazione mediatica, come si evince da questi esempi recenti.
Le donne sono prima di tutto madri e casalinghe che si occupano della casa piuttosto che professioniste con una vita realizzata anche lontano dal focolare.
L’astronauta Samantha Cristoforetti è uno dei casi emblematici di una comunicazione mediatica sessista, che ha ancora molta difficoltà a inquadrare le donne nella loro professione e a lasciare da parte gli aspetti personali della loro vita che non vengono mai menzionati quando si parla dei colleghi uomini.
Nemmeno gli uomini, comunque, si salvano dal linguaggio sessista: classico esempio, trasformare gli uomini che si occupano della famiglia in “mammi”.
Siamo insomma abituati a una comunicazione incrostata sulle dissimmetrie semantiche e su un paternalismo che non viene riservato agli uomini: alle donne viene riservato un trattamento, anche linguistico, diseguale.
I titoli dei giornali molto spesso le chiamano solo per nome, ne tralasciano il cognome, oppure danno loro dei nomignoli, come “Le Thelma e Louise del DNA”, oppure le definiscono anonimamente “una donna” cancellando completamente la loro identità.
A questo proposito c’è un bel progetto sia su Facebook che su Instagram che si chiama proprio “Una donna a caso” e raccoglie i titoli dei giornali che reiterano questa cattiva abitudine.
[Ruben]
E a proposito di cattive abitudini, un altro vizio linguistico molto diffuso è la resistenza all’uso dei titoli professionali declinati al femminile. Attorno a questo argomento gravita tutta una galassia di preconcetti e obiezioni per partito preso. A complicare ulteriormente la questione c’è il fatto che persino alcune donne parteggiano per i titoli al maschile. In questo tweet dell’Università di Milano-Bicocca vediamo due donne definite in modo diverso, la prima al maschile e la seconda al femminile. Non si tratta di un errore: questa dissimmetria rispetta la preferenza delle singole donne in questione, come vediamo in un altro tweet dell’università.
Salvo casi particolari simili, ad ogni modo, l’uso dei femminili professionali è da considerarsi una buona norma.
[Alice]
C’è anche da notare come la comunicazione mediatica a cui siamo abituati sia molto incentrata sul binarismo di genere. Ci sono ancora grosse difficoltà a gestire tutte le notizie che hanno a che vedere con altre identità di genere, come per esempio quando si parla di persone trans o con identità di genere non binaria.
Uno dei casi di cui si è più parlato tanto di recente è il coming out dell’attore Elliot Page: una notizia che anche in Italia è stata riportata con ampio ricorso al misgendering e al deadnaming, cioè appellando l’attore al femminile e ricordandone il nome femminile prima del coming out.
Fatta questa carrellata sul contesto pubblico in cui ci muoviamo, come si riflette tutto ciò nella lingua che usiamo per progettare o tradurre i prodotti digitali?
[Ruben]
Facciamo un passetto indietro e torniamo ai femminili professionali. È vero che l’uso del maschile per indicare un ruolo lavorativo è spesso più una questione di economia linguistica, non necessariamente una forma di sessismo. Eppure un modulo online come questo ci dimostra che le basi di questo criterio siano un po’ traballanti. Quel “casalinga” in mezzo a tante professioni al maschile dà per scontato che la cura della casa sia un mestiere da donne. Perché se pure diamo per accettato che il maschile possa includere tanto gli uomini quanto le donne, il femminile ha un unico piano di lettura: si riferisce alle donne, punto. Inoltre, in diversi dizionari italiani il sostantivo maschile “casalingo” è marcato come “scherzoso”, proprio a sottolineare questa dissimmetria semantica tra maschile e femminile.
[Alice]
A proposito di velato sessismo, i moduli di registrazione ci danno ancora molto su cui riflettere.
Questo è un esempio dal modulo di check-in di Ryanair che, come fanno molte altre compagnie aeree, mi chiede di specificare obbligatoriamente il mio stato civile.
La dissimmetria qui è subito evidente: mentre gli uomini hanno una sola opzione a disposizione, “signore”, come mera formalità, per le donne vige ancora la distinzione tra signora e signorina, per distinguere chi è sposata e chi no.
Una nota stonata e ingiustificata, visto che lo stato civile non è presente nei documenti di identità e non è un’informazione obbligatoria… se no anche agli uomini verrebbe posta la domanda negli stessi termini!
In ogni caso questa abitudine non è peculiare dell’italiano; la ritroviamo anche in inglese, che è una lingua per lo più gender neutral.
Altro grande tema è la confusione tra sesso e genere e la cattiva esperienza utente che ne deriva.
Il problema è che spesso si usano i termini sesso e genere come se fossero sinonimi.
Invece il sesso è un termine che fa parte della sfera medico-biologica e si riferisce al sesso assegnato alla nascita in base a determinate caratteristiche sessuate e osservabili di ogni persona, come la presenza di determinati genitali, cromosomi, eccetera.
Il genere è qualcosa di più complesso, è un costrutto sociale e si riferisce a tutte le norme, aspettative e caratteristiche che la società ripone nelle persone in base al loro genere atteso.
Mentre in Italia le etichette per il campo sesso sono, almeno dal punto di vista legale e anagrafico, “maschio” e “femmina”, per il genere dobbiamo parlare di donne, uomini e identità di genere non binarie.
Prendiamo questi due esempi: a sinistra il modulo di registrazione del gruppo GEDI Digital chiede il genere ma poi usa due label relative al sesso assegnato alla nascita: maschio e femmina.
Pensiamo che quando vediamo queste etichette, ciò che stiamo in realtà chiedendo a chi ci legge è di farci sapere che tipo di genitali hanno, ecco.
A destra invece c’è il modulo di registrazione dell’app Fitbit: anche qui mi viene richiesto di indicare il genere ma poi ho solo DUE opzioni, per altro indicate con un’illustrazione stilizzata.
Chiedere il genere e poi inserire risposte che hanno a che fare con il sesso assegnato alla nascita è un errore.
Anche perché, spoiler, nemmeno il sesso assegnato alla nascita è binario, visto che esistono anche le persone intersex.
Quindi le domande sul genere poste in questo modo rendono davvero stridente l’esperienza utente.
[Ruben]
Per concludere, ritorniamo al maschile sovraesteso usato come standard per riferirsi a chiunque ci sia dall’altra parte dello schermo. Il maschile è stato a lungo una consuetudine, figlia di una certa pigrizia e di quella visione androcentrica di cui abbiamo già parlato.
Oggi più che mai mostra i suoi limiti: formule come “Sei sicuro” o “Benvenuto” sono piccole sbavature che possono dare l’idea di una scarsa cura di un prodotto digitale, nonché di uno scarso interesse verso la persona che quel prodotto lo usa. Quello sulla destra è un esempio interessante. L’uso del maschile sovraesteso in My Calendar Period Tracker, un’app per monitorare il ciclo mestruale, mostra sia poca attenzione al contesto che una mancanza di empatia, che a valle si traduce in una cattiva esperienza utente. Ora che abbiamo analizzato i vari problemi legati al linguaggio di genere in italiano, vediamo quali sono le soluzioni a nostra disposizione per risolverli, o per lo meno aggirarli.
[Alice]
Prima di affrontare gli aspetti linguistici nel dettaglio, ragioniamo sul contesto e sull’esperienza che vogliamo offrire.
Tipo: quali domande è opportuno fare e in che situazione?
Questo per esempio è un modulo di richiesta di supporto sul sito svizzero LGBT Helpline: trattandosi di un sito dedicato alla comunità LGBTQI+ ha senso chiedere di definire la propria identità di genere e proporre molte opzioni per rappresentare il grande spettro dell’identità e dell’espressione di genere.
Per tutte le altre piattaforme digitali che si rivolgono a un pubblico eterogeneo, la regola d’oro è: fare domande sul genere solo se servono davvero e hanno senso ai fini dell’esperienza utente.
Facciamo l’esempio di Facebook: il campo “Genere” mi permette di scegliere le opzioni donna, uomo oppure di inserire la mia identità di genere nel campo “Opzione personalizzata”.
Facebook mi chiede anche di indicare i miei pronomi perché vuole sapere come riferirsi a me.
Le soluzioni proposte in italiano, però, mostrano gli attuali limiti linguistici di queste domande e della loro applicazione: i pronomi possibili tra le opzioni di Facebook infatti sono solo femminili, maschili e “neutri”. Neutro tra virgolette, perché per questa opzione è stato scelto lo sdoppiamento del pronome, con la forma sia al maschile che al femminile. Quindi non esattamente una scelta neutra.
A proposito di pronomi, Pinterest fa una scelta diversa e propone una serie di pronomi non binari oltre a quelli maschili e femminili.
I pronomi scelti in questa fase però non hanno un riscontro pratico nel modo in cui l’app parla all’utente. Come specifica l’intestazione, si tratta di un’opzione che vuole facilitare la comunicazione tra utenti, quindi il pronome dovrebbe apparire nella mia bio.
L’app in realtà non usa un linguaggio particolarmente genderizzato.
Altra osservazione positiva: la richiesta del genere qui è costruita bene, perché oltre al binarismo uomo e donna ho il campo personalizzato che mi permette di inserire liberamente la mia identità di genere. Questa è una buona pratica di design inclusivo che per il momento va per la maggiore.
[Ruben]
Guardiamo ora più da vicino gli aspetti linguistici, ovvero: come facciamo a evitare il maschile sovraesteso? La missione non è semplice, ma nemmeno impossibile, visto che abbiamo diversi modi per farlo. Partiamo dalle strategie di neutralizzazione. Per non usare il maschile in frasi comuni tipo “benvenuto/bentornato”, “grazie per esserti registrato” e così via, possiamo rielaborare la frase giocando con i sinonimi, cambiando i verbi, sfruttando i pronomi indefiniti, come “chi”, oppure concedendoci una costruzione passiva ogni tanto, purché il soggetto che compie o deve compiere l’azione sia desumibile dal contesto.
Nella tabella vediamo vari esempi di rielaborazione.
In queste screenshot invece vediamo una neutralizzazione messa in pratica da Twitter. Questo raffronto è interessante perché ci mostra anche come la sensibilità al tema sia cambiata nell’arco del tempo: se fino al 2020 nei messaggi di buon anniversario veniva usata la formula “sono X anni che ti sei unito a Twitter”, nel 2021 compare per la prima volta “sono X anni che sei con noi”.
La perifrasi è una soluzione molto efficace perché, se usata bene, può passare del tutto inosservata. Per contro, un giro di parole può richiedere più spazio di un semplice maschile sovraesteso, e sappiamo che in ambito digitale lo spazio è spesso un problema. In ultimo, dobbiamo ricordare che la neutralità non è una buona scusa per compromettere il significato o la chiarezza del messaggio. Una formula neutra ma difficile da comprendere è un po’ una pezza peggiore del buco.
[Alice]
Per approcciare in modo efficace la neutralizzazione ci vengono in aiuto anche i sostantivi collettivi, cioè tutte quelle parole che si usano al singolare ma inglobano un’idea di pluralità e collettività.
Come “personale medico o équipe medica” al posto di dottori.
“Personale infermieristico” al posto di infermieri.
A seconda del contesto possiamo usare “il personale” invece che “dipendenti, lavoratori o operatori”, “la classe” al posto di studenti e via dicendo.
Altri termini preziosi sono i sostantivi invariabili o ambigenere, quelli cioè che possono avere un genere grammaticale sia maschile che femminile senza bisogno di cambiare desinenza: il genere grammaticale viene marcato dall’articolo.
In questo esempio tratto da Booking abbiamo la parola “autista”, che è appunto ambigenere.
Il team di Booking ha deciso di declinarla al maschile: “il tuo autista”.
In realtà questo riquadro avrebbe esattamente lo stesso significato se eliminassimo articolo e aggettivo possessivo: “incontri l’autista”, che non deve essere per forza un uomo. In un attimo abbiamo reso la frase più inclusiva.
Un esempio simile compare in Rover, app per entrare in contatto con pet sitter nella tua zona.
Nell’area “Gestione profilo” compare la frase “diventa un dog sitter”.
Posto che in italiano non abbiamo una traduzione ugualmente efficace e sintetica di dog sitter, possiamo considerare questo termine inglese come ambigenere: eliminando l’articolo indeterminativo “un” la frase diventa automaticamente più inclusiva: “diventa dog sitter”.
Questo per dimostrare che a volte bastano davvero piccoli dettagli per includere chiunque.
[Ruben]
In italiano abbiamo a disposizione diverse parole con caratteristiche simili ad “autista” e “dog sitter”. Ad esempio, “umanità” e derivati ci permettono di evitare l’uso di “uomo” in funzione di “persona” o “individuo”, che per inciso sono vere parole d’oro quando vogliamo rendere neutra una frase. Non dimentichiamoci poi che i prestiti come “partner” e tutti quei sostantivi che derivano da un participio presente, come “utente” e “cliente”, prendono un genere specifico solo se marcati da un altro elemento della frase. Con un uso accorto di articoli e preposizioni, possiamo sfruttare questi sostantivi per rendere neutre le nostre costruzioni.
[Alice]
Un bellissimo esempio viene dal confronto tra queste due app di monitoraggio del ciclo mestruale: una l’abbiamo già vista, My Calendar Period Tracker, l’altra è Clue, prodotta da un’azienda tedesca molto attenta ai valori dell’inclusione.
Mentre My Calendar Period Tracker, superato il “Benvenuto” iniziale, decide di rivolgersi alle persone direttamente al femminile, dando per scontato che chi usa l’app si riconosca in questo genere, Clue preferisce un approccio più neutrale.
Per parlare di stato d’animo sceglie per esempio aggettivi “ambigeneri”, che possono adattarsi sia a un sostantivo di genere femminile che maschile: felice, sensibile, triste… oppure usa l’acronimo SPM per indicare direttamente il turbine di emozioni della sindrome premestruale.
Nella sezione stato mentale, invece, passa alla nominalizzazione
Invece di concentrato o concentrata sceglie “concentrazione”, invece di distratto/distratta sceglie “distrazione”, e così via.
Una scelta molto intelligente e perfettamente in linea con il resto della voce e dei valori del brand.
[Ruben]
Dopo le strategie di neutralizzazione, abbiamo quelle di visibilizzazione, ovvero tutte quelle soluzioni che ci permettono di rendere visibile il genere femminile. OK, tecnicamente non sono adatte alle persone non binarie, ma in certi ambiti sono già qualcosa rispetto al classico maschile sovraesteso.
[Alice]
Infatti. Non possiamo chiamare lo sdoppiamento una soluzione inclusiva al 100%, visto che si ferma al binarismo di genere raggruppando il maschile e il femminile, ma in ambito UX è una soluzione che si vede ancora, come vediamo nell’app dell’ecommerce Shein: Benvenuto/a o sicuro/a.
Attenzione, però: la leggibilità e l’accessibilità possono essere compromesse dallo slash che potrebbe essere letto testualmente dai lettori di schermo come “slash” o “barra”.
Diciamo che, per lo stato attuale delle cose, è un modo per uscire dal maschile sovraesteso un poco alla volta, ma va usato con parsimonia.
[Ruben]
Anche perché, oltre i problemi legati all’accessibilità, lo sdoppiamento può crearci diversi grattacapi per ciò che riguarda l’accordo grammaticale di articoli, preposizioni e tutti gli altri elementi della frase riferiti al sostantivo. La soluzione più pratica è ragionare per prossimità, scegliendo di volta in volta quale parte del discorso lasciare non accordata. Per esempio, in questa email di ClioMakeUpShop vediamo che per “prima/primo” è stato usato solo l’articolo femminile, senza aggiungere anche “il”. Un ultimo problema legato allo sdoppiamento è la lunghezza: raddoppiare i sostantivi richiede un sacco di spazio, un elemento che in genere non abbonda nelle interfacce digitali. Ora, abbiamo capito che tutte le strategie hanno dei pro e dei contro, cosa facciamo quando nessuna fa al caso nostro?
In situazioni simili, c’è sempre il maschile sovraesteso, che nonostante i suoi limiti continua ad avere una sua utilità. In questi esempi vediamo come il maschile sia stato usato per una mera questione di economia linguistica. In pulsanti, badge e intestazioni di tabelle, di rado abbiamo lo spazio necessario per usare una perifrasi o raddoppiare i sostantivi senza ricorrere alla barra inclinata, che abbiamo capito non essere il massimo dal punto di vista dell’accessibilità.
Visto che ci serve tanto, non si potrebbe stabilire una convenzione ad hoc per un genere neutro in italiano? Di soluzioni non convenzionali ne sono state proposte tante, ma al momento nessuna ha tutte le carte in regola per poter essere usata in ambito digitale senza problemi. Vediamo perché dando un’occhiata più da vicino alle due più comuni.
L’asterisco è in circolazione da diversi anni ed è ampiamente usato da attivisti, persone attente ai temi della diversità e persino alcune aziende, come vediamo in questa email di Bookdealer.
Vediamo le sue caratteristiche. Tanto per iniziare non ha un suono, il che lo rende problematico per gli strumenti di lettura dello schermo, ma anche per noi esseri umani, che facciamo un po’ di fatica a leggerlo a mente o a voce alta.
In seconda battuta, risulta poco fluido nelle morfologie più complesse, per esempio per quei sostantivi che vogliono il femminile in -trice o -essa oppure per le preposizioni articolate. Nonostante sia molto diffuso, a ben vedere offre più svantaggi che vantaggi.
[Alice]
Tra le soluzioni non convenzionali, di sicuro lo schwa è quella che ha fatto più parlare di sé negli ultimi due anni.
È una soluzione che ha fatto la sua comparsa, in realtà, diversi anni fa ma molto in sordina, per poi diventare grande argomento di discussione nell’estate 2020… Da lì non si è fermata, nonostante i tentativi di sminuirla e addirittura le petizioni di protesta da parte di una frangia di accademici.
Si tratta di un suono vocalico che, in italiano, non corrisponde a nessun fonema e non è parte del nostro alfabeto. Compare invece nello schema vocalico internazionale: è un suono vocalico neutro, senza accento o tono, che si pronuncia come la /e/ di Napule, o /a/ di about in inglese.
Il fatto che questa soluzione si sia ormai insinuata nel discorso italiano sul linguaggio di genere, per quanto polarizzato, è dimostrato dal fatto che anche il popolarissimo programma di Rai1 l’Eredità ne ha parlato!
[Ruben]
Se passiamo dai media tradizionali a quelli digitali, vediamo che lo schwa è molto diffuso sui social e tra i membri della generazione Z, anche nella sua variante plurale, o schwa lungo, quella specie di 3 che vediamo nello striscione sulla destra.
Ciò non significa che non presenti dei problemi, anzi: la sua implementazione in ambito digitale deve fare i conti con diversi limiti di accessibilità e usabilità. Giusto per fare un esempio, non tutti gli strumenti di lettura dello schermo sono in grado di riconoscere lo schwa come carattere a sé stante, senza dimenticare che, proprio come l’asterisco, non è facile da applicare nella lingua corrente.
Nonostante sia una proposta convincente, ancora una volta ci troviamo di fronte a una soluzione con vantaggi e svantaggi, che va usata con molta attenzione. C’è però un settore in cui si sta diffondendo rapidamente, quello dei videogiochi.
Qui vediamo due screenshot da Wylde Flowers, un gioco in cui non solo abbiamo un personaggio di genere non binario, ma in cui il tema della diversità è portante per tutta la storia.
Ecco perché le traduttrici hanno valutato che l’uso esclusivo dei generi grammaticali binari avrebbe in qualche modo tradito lo spirito del gioco. Come mi hanno raccontato loro stesse, l’uso dello schwa ha comportato la creazione di tutta una serie di norme editoriali ma anche di strategie per attutire l’impatto sulla leggibilità. Sulla base di questa esperienza, possiamo dire che usare lo schwa non è una decisione da prendere alla leggera.
Anche se abbiamo visto solo un assaggio delle varie strategie a nostra disposizione, credo che abbiamo abbastanza materiale per trarre qualche conclusione.
Scrivere in un modo rispettoso delle differenze di genere è una questione di equilibrio tra tante tensioni, prima fra tutte la chiarezza e la leggibilità del nostro testo, ma dobbiamo tenere in considerazione anche il brief e le linee guida che abbiamo ricevuto, e l’obiettivo finale del testo.
[Alice]
Sì, senza dimenticare il pubblico di riferimento e la consapevolezza che, a volte, trovare una soluzione al 100% inclusiva è ancora complicato. Dipende anche dal dispositivo, dal tipo di interfaccia per cui scriviamo, dai vincoli tecnici da rispettare e dal tempo a nostra disposizione.
Ricordiamo che per scrivere in modo inclusivo dobbiamo sempre tenere a mente anche l’accessibilità dei nostri copy e microcopy, far sì che siano anche leggibili dal maggior numero di persone e tecnologie assistive.
Noi abbiamo terminato: ma se volete continuare la conversazione e trovare risorse utili per introdurre il linguaggio inclusivo nei vostri progetti di UX, unitevi alla community Microcopy & UX Writing Italia, fondata da Valentina Di Michele, madrina dello UX Writing in Italia.
Speriamo di avervi dato una carrellata completa degli strumenti che abbiamo a disposizione, e grazie mille per averci ascoltato. Ciao!
[Alice]
Hi!
We are Alice Orrù and Ruben Vitiello and this is our contribution to the Gender-Inclusive Language Project by UX Content Collective. We will talk about the current state of the debate on gender-inclusive language in Italian and what solutions we, as professionals working with words, can adopt to make our communication more respectful of different gender identities.
Let’s start with a brief introduction: I am Alice Orrù. I have been working in content writing, content design and software localization since 2015 with a particular focus on inclusive languages and web accessibility.
For several years, I have been collaborating with the Polyglots team of the Italian WordPress community. Last year, I launched the first newsletter in Italian on inclusive and accessible web communication.
[Ruben]
My name is Ruben and I’m a localization professional since 2011. I took my first steps in the industry translating software and medical content, but over time I broadened my skills to effective writing, transcreation, copywriting and UX writing. Today I mostly work on UI projects, support content and marketing texts. I started getting interested in the practical side of inclusive language around 2018, and two years later I published a guide that I found has helped and inspired many people who write for work just like me.
[Alice]
Let’s start with explaining why it is important to address the issue of gender-inclusive language in UX Writing. If our goal as UX writers, content designers, or localization professionals is to create usable and accessible experiences for all people, we cannot ignore how we use language.
The words we choose for digital interfaces can carry stereotypes and unconscious biases, fuel prejudice, or make certain groups of people invisible. Gender-inclusive language, which we also often find referred to as nonsexist language, helps create digital experiences free from biases about gender roles and toward identities that are part of the LGBTQI+ community.
Getting familiar with gender-inclusive language helps us dismantle linguistic automatism, undermine a hetero-cis-normal, androcentric view of the world (to use an expression that was dear to Italian linguist Alma Sabatini) and create more respectful digital experiences for everyone.
[Ruben]
These concepts should be very clear to people working with words, but unfortunately, even communication professionals can stumble upon sexist or disrespectful expressions. Let’s see what are the most common problems in the Italian scenario with some practical examples.
Let’s start with, let’s say, a journey through time. This campaign seems to come straight from the 1950s, while it was launched in 2020. Both the graphics and the text betray a stereotypical vision of the family, based on the contrast between a strong, working man and a “weak” woman fully into housekeeping. This idea is no longer representative of today’s reality. Women and men are much more aware of gender role biases, and both are much more willing to break them, often challenging the stigma of that part of society believing these ordinary roles still hold. Indeed, some people believe that these are role models that are getting lost and we should catch up before it’s too late.
[Alice]
We still find this way of thinking in media communication, as seen in these recent examples.
Women are first and foremost mothers and housewives who take care of the home, rather than professionals with fulfilled lives away from the domestic fireplace.
Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is one of the emblematic cases of sexist media communication, which still has great difficulty in framing women in their professions and leaving aside the personal aspects of their lives that are never mentioned when talking about male colleagues.
Men, however, are not safe from sexist language either: classic example, turning men who take care of the family into “mammi”.
In short, we are accustomed to communication encrusted on semantic dissimilarities and paternalism that is not reserved for men: women are given unequal treatment, including linguistic treatment.
Headlines very often call them only by their first names, leave out their last names, or give them nicknames, such as “The Thelma and Louise of DNA,” or anonymously refer to them as “a woman,” erasing their identity completely.
In this regard, there is a nice project on both Facebook and Instagram called precisely “Una donna a caso” (A Random Woman) which collects headlines that reiterate this bad habit.
[Ruben]
Speaking of bad habits, another common one is the resistance to the use of the feminine grammatical gender for job titles. This topic is affected by a lot of preconceptions and objections on principle. Also, even some women side for masculine job titles, complicating the matter even further.
In this tweet by the University of Milano-Bicocca we see two women defined differently, the first with the masculine gender and the second with the feminine gender. This is not a mistake: this difference respects the preference of the two concerned women, as we see in another tweet. Except for cases like this, the use of feminine job titles should be considered a best practice.
[Alice]
We should also note that the media communication we are used to is very much focused on gender binarism. There are still great difficulties in dealing with all the news about other gender identities, such as trans or non-binary people.
One of the most recent cases is the coming out of actor Elliot Page: a news that even in Italy has been reported with extensive use of misgendering and deadnaming, that is, naming the actor as female and repeating the female name he had before coming out.
Having done this roundup in the public Italian context, how is this reflected in the language we use to design or translate digital products?
[Ruben]
Let’s take a step back to feminine professional titles. Indeed, the use of the generic masculine to indicate a job role is often a question of synthesis, not necessarily a form of sexism. Yet, an online form like this shows us that the foundations of these criteria are a bit unstable. The feminine “casalinga” (housewife) amid many other masculine nouns takes it for granted that housekeeping is a women’s job. Because, even if we take it for granted that the masculine can include both men and women, the feminine has only one level of interpretation: it refers to women, period. Furthermore, in several Italian dictionaries the masculine noun “casalingo” is marked as “humorous”, precisely to underline this semantic asymmetry between masculine and feminine.
[Alice]
Speaking of veiled sexism, check-in forms give us much to think about.
This is an example from Ryanair’s check-in form, which, like many other airlines do, forces me to specify my marital status.
The dissimilarity here is immediately apparent: while men have only one option available, “Mr.”, as a mere formality, for women the distinction between Mrs. and Miss still applies, to distinguish who is married and who is not.
This is a jarring and unjustified note, since marital status is not present in identity documents and is not mandatory information; if not, men would also be asked the same question!
In any case, this habit is not peculiar to Italian; we also find it in English, which is a mostly gender-neutral language.
Another big issue is the confusion between sex and gender and the poor user experience that results.
The problem is that people often use the terms sex and gender as if they were synonymous.
Instead, sex is a term that is part of the medical-biological sphere and refers to the sex assigned at birth based on certain observable characteristics of each person, such as the presence of certain genitalia, chromosomes, and so on.
Gender is something more complex; it is a social construct and refers to all the norms, expectations and characteristics that society places on people based on their expected gender.
While in Italy the labels for the sex field are, at least legally and registry-wise, “maschio” and “femmina,” for gender we have to talk about women, men, and nonbinary gender identities.
Let’s consider these two examples: on the left, the GEDI Digital group registration form asks for gender but then uses two labels related to the sex assigned at birth: “maschio” and “femmina.”
Remember that, when we see these labels, what we are actually asking the reader is to let us know what kind of genitalia they have!
To the right, on the other hand, we have the Fitbit app registration form: again, I am asked to indicate gender, but I only have two options, indicated with an illustration. Asking for gender and then proposing answers that have to do with sex assigned at birth is a mistake. Especially since the sex assigned at birth is not binary either: intersex people also exist. So questions about gender asked in this way really jar the user experience.
[Ruben]
Finally, let’s return to the generic masculine used as a standard to refer to whoever is on the other side of the screen. The masculine has long been a custom, the result of a certain laziness and that androcentric vision we have already spoken about. Today, it shows its limits more than ever: masculine wordings such as “Sei sicuro?” (Are you sure?) or “Benvenuto” (Welcome) are small flaws that can deliver the idea of a poorly designed digital product, as well as a lack of interest in the person using that product. The example on the right is interesting. The use of the generic masculine in My Calendar Period Tracker, an app to monitor the menstrual cycle, shows both little attention to the context and a lack of empathy, which translates into a bad user experience. Now that we have analyzed the various problems related to gender in Italian, let’s see the solutions we have to solve them, or at least get around them.
[Alice]
Before addressing the linguistic aspects, we should always reason about the context and the experience we want to provide.
For example: what questions are appropriate to ask and in what situation?
This is a support request form on the Swiss LGBT Helpline site: since it is a site dedicated to the LGBTQI+ community, it makes sense to ask about defining one’s gender identity and propose many options to represent the broad spectrum of gender identity and expression.
For all other digital platforms that cater to a diverse audience, the golden rule is: ask questions about gender only if they really serve and make sense for the user experience.
Let’s take the example of Facebook: the “Gender” field allows me to choose the options woman, man or to enter my gender identity in the “Custom Option” field.
Facebook also asks me to indicate my pronouns because it wants to know how to speak to me.
The solutions proposed in Italian, however, show the current linguistic limitations of these questions and their application: the possible pronouns among Facebook’s options are in fact only feminine, masculine and “neutral.” I put the word neutral inside quotes, because for this option the pronoun splitting was chosen: masculine slash feminine forms. So not exactly a neutral choice.
Speaking of pronouns, Pinterest makes a different choice and offers a number of nonbinary pronouns in addition to masculine and feminine pronouns.
The pronouns chosen at this stage, however, do not have a practical match in the way the app speaks to the user. As the header specifies, this is an option intended to facilitate communication between users, so the pronoun should appear in my bio.
The app does not actually use particularly gendered language.
Another positive observation: the gender prompt here is correctly constructed, because in addition to the male-female binarism I have the custom field that allows me to freely enter my gender identity. This is a good inclusive design practice that is going mainstream for the moment.
[Ruben]
Let’s now take a closer look at the linguistic aspects, that is: how do we avoid the generic masculine? The mission is not easy, but neither impossible, as we have several ways to do it.
Let’s start with the neutralization strategies. In order not to use the masculine in common phrases such as “welcome / welcome back”, “thanks for registering” and so on, we can rework the sentence by working with synonyms, changing verbs, using indefinite pronouns, like “chi” (who), or using a passive construction now and then, provided that the concerned subject can be understood from the context.
In the table we see various examples of rephrasing, while in these screenshots we see a neutralization performed by Twitter. This comparison is interesting as it also shows us how the sensitivity to the topic has changed over time. Until 2020 “you joined Twitter X years ago” was used in anniversary messages. In 2021 the construction “you have been with us for X years” appears for the first time. The periphrasis is a very effective solution: if used properly, it can go completely unnoticed. On the other hand, a circumlocution may require more space than a simple generic masculine, and we know that space is often a problem in the digital field. Finally, we must remember that neutrality is not a good excuse to compromise the meaning or clarity of the message. A neutral but unintelligible sentence is a cure worse than the disease.
[Alice]
To effectively approach neutralization, we can also use collective nouns, that is, all those words that are used in the singular but encompass an idea of plurality and collectivity.
Such as “personale medico o équipe medica” instead of “dottori”.
“Personale infermieristico” instead of “infermieri”.
Depending on the context we can use “il personale” instead of “dipendenti, lavoratori o operatori,” “la classe” instead of “studenti”, and so on.
Other valuable terms are invariable or ambiguous nouns, that is, those that can have both masculine and feminine grammatical gender without the need to change the ending: the grammatical gender is marked by the article.
In this example from Booking we have the word “autista,” which is precisely ambiguous.
The Booking team decided to decline it to the masculine: “il tuo autista.”
In fact, this box would have exactly the same meaning if we removed the article and the possessive adjective: “incontra l’autista,” since the driver does not have to be a man.
With just a small tweak, we have made the sentence more inclusive.
A similar example appears in Rover, an app for connecting with pet sitters around you.
In the “Manage Profile” area, we have the string “diventa un dog sitter”.
Given that in Italian we do not have an equally effective and concise translation of dog sitter, we can consider this English term as ambiguous: by removing the indefinite article “un” the phrase automatically becomes more inclusive: “diventa dog sitter.”
Sometimes it really only takes small details to include anyone.
[Ruben]
In Italian, we have several words like “autista” and “dog sitter”. For example, “humanity” and its derivatives allow us to avoid the use of “man” instead of “person” or “individual”, which incidentally are real golden words when we want to make a sentence neutral. Let’s not forget that loanwords like “partner”, as well as all those nouns deriving from a present participle, such as “utente” (user) and “cliente” (client), get a gender only if given by another element of the sentence. With careful use of articles and prepositions, we can leverage these nouns to make our constructions neutral.
[Alice]
A beautiful example comes from comparing these two menstrual cycle tracking apps: we have already seen the first, My Calendar Period Tracker; the other is Clue, produced by a German company that is very attentive to the values of inclusion.
While My Calendar Period Tracker, past the initial masculine “Benvenuto,” decides to address people directly as female, assuming that those who use the app recognize themselves as this gender, Clue prefers a more neutral approach.
To talk about “state of mind”, for example, they choose adjectives which can fit either a feminine or masculine gender noun: happy, sensitive, sad… or they use the acronym “SPM” (Sindrome Pre Mestruale) to directly refer to the whirlwind of emotions of PMS.
In the mental state section, however, they switch to nominalization.
Instead of “concentrata” they choose the noun “concentration,” instead of “distratto” they choose “distrazione,” and so on.
A very smart choice and perfectly in line with the rest of the brand voice and values.
[Ruben]
In addition to the neutralization strategies, we have those strategies allowing us to make the female gender visible. OK, technically they are not suitable for non-binary people, but in certain contexts they are something, compared to the generic masculine used as a standard.
[Alice]
Indeed. We can’t call duplication a 100 percent inclusive solution, since it stops at gender binarism by grouping male and female grammatical gender, but in the UX sphere it is a solution we still see, as it happens in the Shein ecommerce app: “Benvenuto/a” or “Sicuro/a”.
Beware, however: readability and accessibility can be compromised by this technique. Some screen readers may read the literal “slash”.
Let’s say that, for the current state of affairs, it is an improvement over the over-extended male, but it should be used sparingly.
[Ruben]
In addition to the accessibility issues, duplication can give us various headaches for what concerns the grammatical agreement of articles, prepositions and all the other elements of the sentence referring to the noun. The most practical solution is the agreement by proximity, choosing only one gender for specific parts of the speech case by case. For example, in this email, we see that only the female article was used for the female/masculine duplication “prima/o”.
The last problem related to duplication is length: duplicating nouns requires a lot of space, and usually, digital interfaces are not plentiful of space. Now, we have understood that all strategies have pros and cons, so what do we do when none are right for us?
In similar cases, we can always rely on the generic masculine, which despite its limitations is still useful. In these examples, we see how the masculine was used for a mere question of synthesis. In buttons, badges and table headers, we rarely have the space needed to use a periphrasis or duplicate the nouns without using the slash, which we understood is not great for accessibility.
Since we need it so much, can we establish an ad hoc convention for the neutral grammatical gender in Italian? Many unconventional solutions have been proposed over the years, but for the time being, none have all the credentials to be used in the digital environment without problems. Let’s see why by taking a closer look at the two most common.
The asterisk has been around for several years and is widely used by activists, people sensitive to diversity and even some companies, as we see in this Bookdealer email.
Let’s see its characteristics. First, it doesn’t have a sound, which makes it problematic for screen reading tools, but also for us humans, who have a little trouble reading it by mind or aloud. Secondly, it is not very smooth in complex morphologies, for example for those nouns requiring the suffix -trice or -essa for the feminine, but also for articulated prepositions. Although it is very popular, if we look closely, it offers more disadvantages than advantages.
[Alice]
Among the unconventional solutions, the schwa is the one that has been the most talked about in the past two years.
It is a solution that actually made its appearance several years ago but very quietly, only to become a big topic of discussion in the summer of 2020. It has not stopped from there, despite attempts to belittle it and even protest petitions from a fringe of academics.
It is a vowel sound that, in Italian, does not correspond to any phoneme and is not part of our alphabet. It appears instead in the international vowel scheme: it is a neutral vowel sound, without accent or tone, which is pronounced like the /a/ of the word about in English.
The fact that this solution has now crept into the Italian discourse on gender-inclusive language, however polarized, is evidenced by the fact that even the very popular Rai1 program “L’Eredità” mentioned it!
[Ruben]
If we move from traditional to digital media, we see that the schwa is widespread on social networks and among members of Generation Z, even in its plural variant, or long schwa, that kind of 3 that we see in the banner on the right.
This does not mean the schwa is perfect: its implementation in the digital environment must deal with various limits in terms of accessibility and usability. Just to make an example, not all screen reading tools are able to recognize the schwa as a character in its own right, without forgetting that, just like the asterisk, it is not easy to implement in the current language. Although it is a compelling proposal, once again we are faced with a solution with advantages and disadvantages, which must be used very carefully.
However, there is one field in which it is spreading rapidly: video games.
Here we see two screenshots from Wylde Flowers, a game in which we not only have a non-binary character but in which the theme of diversity is foundational to the whole narrative. This is why the translators have estimated that the exclusive use of binary grammatical genders would have been kind of a betrayal to the spirit of the game. As they told me, the use of schwa required them to establish editorial standards and strategies to soften the impact of the schwa on readability. Based on this experience, we can say that using schwa is not a decision to be made lightly.
Even if we only scratched the surface of the various strategies at our disposal, I believe we have enough material to draw some conclusions.
Writing while respecting gender diversity is a question of balance between many aspects. First, the clearness and readability of our text, but we must also take into account the brief and guidelines we receive, and the final goal of the text.
[Alice]
Yes, without forgetting the target audience. We should also accept that, sometimes, finding a 100% inclusive solution is still complicated. It also depends on the device, the type of interface we write for, the technical constraints we have to meet, and the time we have available.
Remember that to write inclusive content, we must always keep in mind the accessibility of our copy and microcopy, make sure that they are also readable by as many people and assistive technologies as possible.
Ok, we are done: but if you want to continue the conversation and find useful resources to introduce inclusive language in your UX projects, join the Facebook Microcopy & UX Writing Italia community, founded by Valentina Di Michele, godmother of the UX Writing in Italy.
We hope we have given you a comprehensive roundup of the tools we have at our disposal, and thank you very much for listening. Bye!
アイオワマネー水文植木UXファイルコピー初代iMacIntel巡邏およびAntiJapanese長拳南部ハウイーヒューズ春浪ラングリッチエンハ背負子アクセルサオスイッチ1にプラン。はい改めまして上木彩と申しますEXライターコピーライターです現在は広告会社で働いていますがその前はIT企業のUXライターさらにその前は化粧品会社のインハウスコピーライターとして長年女性詳細のコミュニケーションに携わってきましたその立場から今回ジェンダー言語ジェンダーLANGUAGEについてお話ししたいと思いますではまず質問から始めましょう。ここで質問ですあなたは日常的に差別をしていますか。いかがでしょうまああの多くの皆様がノーとお答えいただくことを期待していますがでは質問を変えます日常的にこういう会話はしていますか彼氏いるの啓介君有希ちゃん主人とおそろいのスニーカー女子大生大変非常に普通に使われている言葉かなというふうに思いますでも実はこれがジェンダー言語ジェンダーラングlanguageと言われるものです私たちが日常で何気なく使っているこういった言葉は社会や職場で女性やLGBTへの差別につながっている可能性があります思い込みではなく事実であるということがこちらのソースにありますのでぜひごご参照をいただければと思いますではこういったジェンダー言語を具体的にどういったものがあるのかというのを3つのカテゴリーに分けてご紹介いたしますまず1つ目は男らしさ女らしさという問題です男らしさ女らしさという言葉を聞いたときにあなたの頭に思い浮かぶイメージというものは少なからずマーケティングで規定されているという側面があるわけですねそしてその女性的であるというマーケティングターゲットが女性なのでターゲットのとしてはあなたはこういう本が好きなのでしょうというところを過剰に強調するマーケティングコミュニケーションをシンクピンクと言ったりします2005年にドンとPINKPINKWリアリーブマンNEXViking絵本の中でこのPINKPINKという問題が取り上げられています日本にもこのシンクピンクのマーケティングのものがたくさんあります具体的な例を挙げますこれは2022年現在のですねあと生理管理アプリであったり化粧品の口コミサイトといった完全に女性をターゲットにしたアプリのデザインですね一目でお分かりいただけるようにピンクやキャラクターを基調としたかわいらしいデザインそして音楽にもけっこう特徴的なところはあります例えば心まで贅沢な香り私の好きを見つけるといった感じのものをカタカナないしは平仮名にして女性らしさを強調していたりですとかとってもいいすっごく使えるといった強調語の多用もしくは語尾にハートや音符を付けて感情的な表現というのを多く使ったりしていますあとはですね試してみて今すぐチェックといった名詞や名詞句で文章を終えることを体言止めと言いますがこの体言止めの多用も女性商材に大変多く見られる表現ですあとは私にピッタリ使っちゃうといった女性が喋っていそうな会話や独白を多用するといった表現がありますあと簡単らくらくガムとかするだけみたいな簡便性をやたらと強調するという表現もなぜか女性のコミュニケーションの女性商材がコミュニケーションには多いんですねこういった特徴がシンクピンクの事例です次はですねジェンダー言語職業上の差異というものの問題もありますこの二つの表は小学生が将来将来なりたい職業の1位から5位を挙げたものですどちらのリストが男子でどちらが女子かわかりますでしょうか。わかり。マス嫁結構簡単にわかっちゃったんじゃないかと思います左が小学生女子で右が小学生男子ですではなぜあなたは簡単にわかってしまったのでしょうかここにチャンター言語の問題があります。えーっとですね今も普通に使われている例を挙げましたが女子大生とは言うけれども男子大生とは言いませんね男性の体格が普通に大学生と言われますJOYとは言うけれども男とは言いません男性医師は医者と言われます逆もありますモデル男性モデル男性モデルというけれども女性モデルとは言いません男性保育士というけれども女性保育士とは言いませんこれはたとえば教授や医者裁判官といった社会的ステータスの高い職業は比較的男性がなるものそして介護士や保育士モデル受付の仕事とかですねといった比較的低賃金でサービス業のような職業は女性がなるものといったジェンダーの職業に対するバイアスを言語が規定してしまっているという問題点ですはいこれが2つ目です3つ目に家族制度という問題もあります現在の日本国憲法では残念ながら認められているのは異性婚のみですなので正式な書類等で法律上の関係を示す言葉は必ず男女どちらかのジェンダーに振り分けられ基いています父母兄弟叔父叔母といった言葉ですねこういった家族制度のジェンダー言語はサービスでどういった言語の表現に当てはまるかというところですがこの左のお客様情報というやつはですね例えばクレジットカードを作るとかそういったときにその企業側が提供している申込画面なんですけれども性別独身既婚を選択するタブがあります男性独身男性既婚女性独身女性既婚すべての人がこの4つのどれかに当てはまるということでしょうかこの4つしか選択肢がありません意識せずともということかとは思うのですけれども清側がこういった申込画面を設定することでウチの企業は世の中の人はこの4つのどれかに当てはまると思って居るよということを表明しているということにもなってしまうわけですねさらに続柄の表記の問題もありますね世帯主との続柄本人妻夫ハーツ氏他に選択肢は並んでいますがではどうせパートナーの世帯は本人との関係どこを選べばいいでしょうかそして自認する性別と異なる場合例えば同じ親から生まれて自分の方が年長だけれども自分の自認している性別は女性なので兄ではないよといった場合ですね何を選べばいいのでしょうかというような問題がありますあと大変身近な問題はパートナーをどう呼ぶかという言葉にも表れています先ほど申し上げましたように日本で現在同性婚が認められていないので同性の場合は相手を呼ぶもパートナーしかないわけですね一部の地方自治体や会社が同性パートナーを配偶者と呼ぶことを認めてはいますがまだまだ限定的なのが現状です。一方異性カップルの場合は呼び方は非常にたくさんあります主人旦那夫配偶者妻奥さん嫁家内と挙げましたがこの中でジェンダー言語にあたるものが例えば女性から男性であれば主人団欒にあたります男性から女性であれば奥さん嫁かないですね主人旦那というのを英語にするとマスターとか雇用主といった上下関係をその言葉の中にはらんでいます逆に男性から女性であれば奥さん嫁家内これはすべて家の中にいる人という意味を含んでいます奥さんで言えば奥にいる人という意味ですね嫁は女へんに言えと書きます家の中にいる女という意味です家内は文字のままですね家の中にいる人という意味で自然とこの言葉を使うことで男性が上女性化したという意味をどんどんと形づくっているという問題があるわけです本当に普通に使っていた言葉でも意識もしてなかったという方が大半なのではないかなと思うのですがこういったものがジェンダー言語の問題として挙げられますでは次にそれをどういうふうに解決すればいいかというところをまた具体的な例を挙げてご説明しますここまで聞いていただいたことはわかるかと思いますが逆をやりましょうというだけです解決策1安易にシンクピンクしないということです安易にと書きましたらピンクを使っちゃいけないよって言ってるわけではなくて例えば左にあげましたジェンダーニュートラルアンダーウェアというのは最近できたブランドですけれども男性がピンクのお鍋を着てもいいじゃないかというごくごく当たり前のことを表明しているブランドです。右に上げましたのはみんなの銀行というオンラインの銀行のサービスですが女性はピンク男性はブルーと。ことを設定せずに白黒の非常にシンプルなユーザーインタフェースを採用していますデザインであればこういった配慮があるわけですね次に言葉で言ったら先ほど挙げたものを配慮によって変えることができます漢字をカタカナに変えている心安らぐ贅沢な頭みたいなものを表記と意味を一致させる女性っぽいよねという理由でカタカナを多用しないということですとてもいいすっごく使える機能といった強調語の多用もとてもいいというふうに普通の強調語にする過剰に語尾にをつけたりハートを付けたりしないというあくまでも過剰な表現を避けるというところです試してみて今すぐチェックであれば試してみてくださいお試しください今すぐチェックしよう私にピッタリ見つかっちゃうであればあなたにピッタリな商品が見つかりますもしあなたの顧客が実際に目の前にいるとしたら私にピッタリが見つかっちゃうって言いませんねあなたにピッタリな商品が見つかりますと言うはずですというように実際に顧客に話しかける言葉に変えてみるというのがいかがでしょうか。これもルールがあるということではなく考えてみるということがゴールです例えば一番下に挙げた簡単楽々何とかするだけという表現に関しては具体的にこの後変えようという例があるわけではなくなぜ簡便性を強調するのか考えるということがゴールですこう思っていないでしょうか女性は簡単なものが好きつまり女性は複雑なものはわからない複雑なものは好まないだったら簡単さを強調していこうということですねこういうことが安易に女性らしさというものを作用していないだろうかということをチームで考えてみてくださいちゃんとしたユーザーインタビューに基づいて自分たちのターゲット顧客はこういう言葉づかいをしているからこのブランドではこういう言葉を使おうというちゃんとした配慮に基づいたものであればその言葉を是非使われるべきですあくまでもしつこいですが申し上げますのは女性っぽいよねという理由で安易に置いた言葉を使わないということです。はい解決策の2つ目としてはアジェンダAニュートラルな用語を採用するということですこれは企業やブランドであればガイドラインを設けるといいのではないかと思います女子大生ではなく大学生というJOYではなく一問を男性保育士男性看護師ではなく保育士看護師という言葉を使おうといったことですね例えば看護婦であったりとか保母であったりとかいう言葉は看護師保育士というふうに改められていたり割と良くなってきているのかなと思うのですけれどもまだ決まっていない言葉もありましてですね例えば主婦主夫音にしちゃうと一緒になっちゃうんですけど主婦や主婦というのはジェンダーニュートラルの言語に置き換えた場合例えば専業を家事労働者とかハウスメーカーみたいな言葉が調べてみるとあったんですけどまあ長いし難しいし専業家事労働者って言われるのよだなとかいろんな問題があってきっとこれから様々な議論を経てこれも決まっていくのではないかなと思いますがぜひ一度考えてみてください職業に関してはこういう用語を挙げられますがそれは例えば家族間であれば家内嫁奥さんではなく配偶者パートナーへ主人旦那ではなく配偶者パートナーといった言葉ですね妻や夫はジェンダーは含んでますけれども比較的フラットなのでどちらにも入れてみましたはい解決策さんですUXでも解決できることがありますジェンダー家族制度に配慮したUX先程例に挙げました男性独身男性既婚女性独身女性既婚しか選択肢がなかったところはこの2つに分ければいいわけですねまず性別を聞く男女に加えて回答しないという項目を設けるというのはいかがでしょうかあなたはLGBT9通りに当てはまりますかっていちいち聞く必要はありません回答しないという選択肢をひとつ設けるだけですそして家族状況に関してはこれは個人情報の各ところでは家族を聞かなきゃ絶対行かないなと思うのですが聞かなければいけないのは家族状況だけです配偶者はいるのかいないのか子供はいるのはいないのか家族と別居しているのか同居しているのかということを聞けばいいだけ配偶者なし子供ありという状況だってありますよねジェンダーや法律婚の有無を問わず家族状況のみを確認する選択肢の設計というのをぜひ考えてみてくださいここまで言うとすごく日本語ってすごくジェンダーに縛られた嫌な言葉だなみたいに思われたかもしれませんが実はあのジェンダーニュートラルな非常に便利な側面っていうのもあるのでご紹介しますまず便利な敬称様サン先生ですねこれは上下関係ジェンダーを含まない非常に使いやすい言葉です例えば英語で言うとアイスティと光さやまらのように丁寧な相手であれば苗字プラスミスターをミセスみたいなのを使うっていうのが一般的ですけれども日本語で言うと山田さんはいらっしゃいますかあるいは山田そのままいらっしゃいますかで十分丁寧になりますあと主語や目的語の省略機能というのもあります英語であればFPU笑というように誰が誰にというところを書く上でその性別をそこの中に含まないといけないという状況がありますけれども日本語の場合は不明点があればお声掛けくださいで十分意味として成立してしまいますもしあなたがコピーライターもしくはサービス設計者であればこういった日本語の便利な側面も利用しながらジェンダーニュートラルニュートラルなサービスデザインを考えてみていただければなと思いますあと最後にすごく日本的な解決方法だなと思ったでもう1つご紹介して終わりたいと思いますジェンダーニュートラルなキャラクターデザインですね日本といえば漫画やアニメの国として知られていますけれども大変さまざまなキャラクターがマーケティング上にも存在します例えば左にあるパンダは楽天グループが提供しているお買いものパンダというキャラクターなんですけど性別や年齢がありません私は僕はっていうふうにいませんそういうキャラクターが楽天の代弁者としてさまざまなショービズに紹介しています右のキャラクターはNHKの教育番組である大変長い教育番組のお母さんといっしょという番組が2016年にジェンダーニュートラルに配慮して新たに真ん中のロボットのキャラクターを設定しました青の男の子をピンクの女の子ではなくこのロボットには当然性別も年齢もありませんこのキャラクターを設定することで子供たちにその人と見た目が違っていてもいいんだよ男の子を女の子でなくてもいいんだよというところのメッセージをNHKを伝えようとしていますこういったことで例えばその企業やブランドの代弁者として男女のどちらでもないキャラクターを。徹底してこのキャラクターがサービスを紹介するときにどういう言葉を使うかといったような形でジェンダーニュートラルデザインをしてみるというのも方法の一つとしてはあるかなというふうに思いますはい以上でですね私のプレゼンテーションを終わりたいと思いますが最後にマザーテレサの非常に有名な言葉を紹介させてください言葉に気をつけなさいそれはいつか行動になるから行動に気をつけなさいそれはいつか習慣になるから言葉というのは非常に些細な小さなことではありますが私はこの世界を作っているのは私たち一人一人の言葉であるというふうに信じていますあなたがもし指言葉を使っているのであればそしてもしサービスや仕事を設計している側として仕事そして言葉を使っているのであればこの世界をもっと良い場所にしていくためにできることがたくさんあるはずです。はい参考文献こちらに載せましたはい以上ですありがとうございました私もまだわからないところをたくさんありますのでぜひご意見やご感想などあればこちらのメールアドレスないしはLinkedInでコメントご連絡いただければ幸いですはい選挙コボちゃんはお布施の上限売買
My name is Aya Ueki. I’m an UX writer and copywriter in Japan. Today I would like to introduce you to the Gender Inclusive Language Project that will be presented in Japanese. We’ll talk about how we use gendered language and how we correct it. Let me switch to Japanese from here.
Japanese: Aya: [00:00:02] My name is Aya Ueki. I’m an UX writer and copywriter. I’m currently working at an advertising company, but before that I was a UX writer for an IT company, and before that I was involved in female details communication for many years as an in-house copywriter for a cosmetics company. From that point of view, I would like to talk about gender language.
Let’s start with a question. Do you discriminate on a daily basis? I’m hoping that many of you will answer no, but I’ll change the question. Do you have this kind of conversation on a daily basis? Keisuke-kun, Yuki-chan, who has a boyfriend. I think it’s a very commonly used word, but it’s actually called a gender language. These words that we casually use in our daily lives are for women and LGBT in society and at work. There is a fact in this source that it is a fact, not a belief, that may have led to discrimination in women, so please refer to it. I will introduce the existence in three categories.
The first is the problem of masculine-ness and femininity. When you hear the word masculine-ness and femininity, there are quite a few images that come to your mind. There is an aspect that it is regulated by marketing, and since the marketing target of being feminine is a woman, Think Pink is a marketing communication that overemphasizes that you like such books as a target. In 2005, Don and PINK PINKW Real Leaveman NEX Viking The issue of PINK PINK was taken up in the picture book. There are many things of this sink pink marketing in Japan. Here is a concrete example. This is 2022. It’s the current design of an app that is completely targeted at women, such as a physiology management app or a cosmetics word-of-mouth site. There are some things, for example, a luxurious scent to the heart, such as finding something I like, using katakana or plain pseudonym to emphasize femininity. I often use emotional expressions with it. After that, trying it out and ending the sentence with a nomenclature or nomenclature such as check now is called a word stop, but this heavy use of word stop is also a female trader. It is an expression that is very often seen in materials. After that, if you use a lot of conversations and confessions that women are likely to talk about, such as using it perfectly for me.
For some reason, there are many female products in female communication that emphasize the convenience of simply combing gum. This is the case of Think Pink. Next is the issue of gender language vocational differences. These two tables list the 1st to 5th professions that elementary school students want to be in the future. Do you know which list is for boys and which is for girls? .. understand. I think it was pretty easy to understand the mass bride. The left is an elementary school girl and the right is an elementary school boy. So why did you understand so easily? Here is the problem of the chanter language. Well, I gave an example that is still commonly used, but although it is a female college student, it is not a male college student. A male physique is usually said to be a college student. I don’t say male doctors are called doctors and vice versa Model Male model Male model but not female model Male nursery but not female nursery. This is, for example, a professor or a doctor judge. Occupations with high social status are relatively male, and professions such as caregivers and nursery model receptionists are relatively low-paying, and occupations such as the service industry are female. The problem is that the language is stipulated. Yes, this is the second. Third, there is also the problem of the family system.
Unfortunately, the current Japanese Constitution only allows heterosexual marriage, so formal documents. Words that indicate legal relationships such as, etc. are always divided into genders of either men or women and are based on words such as parents, brothers, uncles, and aunts. However, the customer information on the left is the application screen provided by the company when making a credit card, for example, but there is a tab to select gender single married male single male married Does it mean that all women, single women, and married women fall into one of these four options? I think it’s possible that you don’t have to be aware of these four options, but by setting up such an application screen on the Kiyo side. It also means that our company has stated that people in the world think that it falls under any of these four, and there is also the problem of notation of the relationship with the head of the household. Relationship Mr. Married Woman Husband There are other options, but anyway, where should the partner’s household choose the relationship with the person? However, if you say that you are not a brother because your self-identified gender is female, there is a problem such as what to choose, and a very familiar problem also appears in the words how to call a partner. As I said earlier, same-sex marriage is not currently permitted in Japan, so if you are of the same sex, you can call the other person but you only have a partner. Some local governments And companies allow same-sex partners to be called spouses, but the reality is that they are still limited. On the other hand, in the case of heterosexual couples, there are many ways to call them. My husband, husband, spouse, wife, wife, wife, and wife. If you put your husband in English, you have a hierarchical relationship such as master or employer. On the contrary, if you are a man to a woman, your wife’s wife’s wife. It includes the meaning of a person who is in the house. In the case of a wife, it means a person who is in the back. There is a problem that by using this word naturally in the sense of being a person, the meaning that a man has become more feminine is being formed more and more. I wonder if this is the case, but these are issues of gender language. Next, I will explain how to solve them with concrete examples. As you can see from what you’ve heard so far, it’s just a matter of doing the opposite. Solution 1 It’s not easy to sync pink. If you write it easily, you’re not saying that you shouldn’t use pink. For example, the gender neutral underwear mentioned on the left is a brand that was recently created, but it is a brand that expresses that it is quite natural for men to wear pink pots. The one on the right is an online banking service called Minna no Bank, but women are pink and men are blue. It uses a very simple black and white user interface without setting things. If it’s a design, there is such consideration. Next, in words, you can change the above mentioned things by consideration. It means that you don’t use katakana a lot because it’s feminine to match the meaning with the notation, such as a relaxing and luxurious head that changes kanji to katakana. It’s just about avoiding excessive expressions such as not adding excessive endings or hearts to make it an ordinary emphasized word. Try it and check it now. Try it. Try it now. Check it now. If you find the right product for you, you’ll find the right product for you. If your customer is actually in front of you, I won’t tell you that you’ll find the right product for you. How about changing it to a word that actually speaks to the customer, such as “I should say it”. This is also the goal, not that there are rules, but the goal is to think about it. The goal is to think about whether to emphasize or not. Do you think that women like simple things? In other words, women don’t understand complicated things. Think about how this kind of thing can easily affect femininity as a team. Based on proper user interviews, our target customers use this kind of wording, so this brand has this kind of wording. If it is based on the proper consideration of using .. Yes, the second solution is to adopt agenda A-neutral terms.I think it would be good to have guidelines for companies and brands. One question, not JOY, a college student, not a female college student. It means to use the term nursery teacher instead of male nursery teacher. For example, the terms “nurse” and “mother” have been changed to “nurse nursery school”. I wonder if it’s becoming more common, but there are some words that haven’t been decided yet. When I looked up words like a house worker or a house maker, I found that it was long and difficult, and I was told that I was a full-time house worker. I think that this will also be decided, but please think about it once. Regarding occupation, you can mention these terms, but if it is between family members, for example, it is not your wife’s wife but your spouse partner. It’s a word like a spouse partner, but my wife and husband include gender, but it’s relatively flat, so I tried to put it in either. Yes, it’s a solution. Men Single Men Married Women Single Women Where there was only one option, you can divide it into these two. First of all, how about setting up an item that does not answer in addition to men and women who ask for gender? Does it apply to LGBT9 streets? You don’t have to ask each time. You only have one option to not answer. And regarding the family situation, I think that I have to ask my family in each part of my personal information, but I have to ask. Is it only the family situation? Is there a spouse or not? Is there a child? Is it separated from the family?
There are situations where you have no spouse and children as long as you ask if you are there. Please think about designing an option to check only the family situation regardless of gender or legal marriage. It may seem that Japanese is a very gender-bound disgusting word, but in fact, it’s also gender-neutral and very convenient, so I’ll introduce it first.
This is a very easy-to-use word that does not include gender relations. For example, in English, if you are a polite partner like Ice Tea and Hikari Sayamara, use the last name Plus Mr. like Mrs. It is common to say that, but in Japanese it will be polite enough depending on whether you are Mr. Yamada or Mr. Yamada as it is. There is also a function to omit the subject and the object. In English, FPU lol There is a situation where you have to include the gender in writing who is who, but in the case of Japanese, if you have any questions, please let me know and it will be fully meaningful.
If you are a copy writer or a service designer, I hope you can think of a gender-neutral service design while taking advantage of these convenient aspects of Japanese.
Finally, a very Japanese solution. I thought it was a method, so I would like to introduce another one. It’s a gender-neutral character design. Japan is known as a country of manga and anime, but there are a lot of different characters in marketing. For example, the panda on the left is a shopping panda character provided by the Rakuten Group, but I don’t have gender or age. I’m not like that character as a spokesperson for Rakuten. The character on the right is NHK’s educational program, a very long educational program with a mother, who set a new gender-neutral robot character in 2016 for the blue boy. This robot isn’t a pink girl, of course, has no gender or age. By setting this character, kids don’t have to look different from that person, boys don’t have to be girls. The message is NHK For example, as a spokesperson for the company or brand, a character that is neither male nor female. I think that one of the methods is to thoroughly design gender-neutral in the form of what kind of words this character uses when introducing the service. Yes, that’s all.
I would like to end my presentation, but let me introduce you to Mother Teresa’s very famous words. Be careful with the words. Be careful with the actions because it will be an action someday. It will be a habit someday. Words are a very trivial little thing, but I believe that it is the words of each of us that make up this world, if you are using finger words and If you are using your work and your language as a service or job designer, there is a lot you can do to make this world a better place. Yes References I posted here Yes Thank you. I have a lot of things I don’t understand yet, so if you have any opinions or impressions, please feel free to contact me via this email address or LinkedIn.
Dzień dobry, witam was wszystkich bardzo serdecznie na mojej prezentacji na temat języka inkluzywnego, jeśli chodzi o płeć. Jest to projekt, który zorganizowała grupa UK ContentCollective i prezentację można zobaczyć w wielu różnych językach. Zachęcam do obejrzenia mojej w języku polskim.
Najpierw kilka słów o mnie. Nazywam się Alicja Tokarska i jestem tłumaczką i napisowczynią, czyli tworzę napisy filmowe do seriali i do różnych filmów dostępnych w internecie i tłumaczę głównie z języka angielskiego i polskiego – nawzajem, z angielskiego na polski, z polskiego na angielski – oraz z hiszpańskiego i francuskiego na język polski. Ponadto jestem koordynatorką ds. wydarzeń grupy ITI Polish Network. I można ze mną się skontaktować za pomocą adresu mailowego, który podałam tutaj, oraz za pomocą mojej strony internetowej. Tłumaczeniem zajmuję się od 5 lat – zawodowo od 5 lat – i praktycznie od zawsze interesował mnie temat języka inkluzywnego, zwłaszcza jeśli chodzi o pojęcie płci.
Ale na początek, zanim zaczniemy, warto może zastanowić się, czym w ogóle jest taki język inkluzywny. Więc w 2018 roku język inkluzywny Rada Unii Europejskiej zdefiniowała w ten sposób: według Rady jest to język wolny od uprzedzeń, w którym unika się stereotypów i aluzji do nieistotnych detali. Docenia się natomiast pozytywne cechy ludzi, i to jest bez względu na płeć, orientację seksualną, niepełnosprawność, wiek, pochodzenie społeczne, religię, bezwyznaniowość czy światopogląd. Czyli jak widać, język inkluzywny nie sprowadza się jedynie do pojęcia płci. Jest w nim bardzo dużo różnych elementów, ale dzisiaj będziemy rozmawiać praktycznie tylko o kwestii płci. W każdym razie bardzo warto jest pamiętać o innych elementach, które składają się na całą układankę języka inkluzywnego.
I zanim w ogóle zastanowimy się, czy chcemy go używać, czy powinniśmy go używać, warto jest sobie odpowiedzieć na pytanie po co właściwie nam jest język inkluzywny. No więc moim zdaniem jest kilka takich ważnych punktów w tej kwestii.
Po pierwsze szacunek i wrażliwość na drugą osobę. Używając języka inkluzywnego – tutaj mówiąc o języku inkluzywnym, jeśli chodzi o płeć – to wskazuje na nasz szacunek do drugiej osoby, na to, że widzimy tę osobę, że nie posługujemy się tylko jedną formą, np. rodzajem męskim, ale pokazujemy, że jesteśmy też wrażliwi, wrażliwe na to, że istnieją inne płcie i że do nich, do osób, które należą do tych płci, również mówimy.
Poza tym pomaga to utrwalić pozytywne wzorce. Myślę, że to jest bardzo ważne, jeśli chodzi o tworzenie różnych aplikacji i pisanie stron internetowych, ponieważ np. dorastające dziewczynki, widząc jedynie tekst pisany do chłopców, tak naprawdę czują, że nie jest… Nie są odbiorczyniami, nie są traktowane jako osoby, do których ta aplikacja również jest kierowana.
No i poza tym język ewoluuje. Warto iść naprzód wraz z językiem, nie stać w miejscu i brać udział w zmianach, które zachodzą w naszym świecie i języku.
Jest kilka takich najważniejszych problemów dzisiaj w polszczyźnie, w języku polskim.Feminatywy a rodzaj męski – jest to bardzo, bardzo częsta kwestia. Bardzo dużo się o niej rozmawia już od wielu lat. Język wykluczające osoby LGBTQ+. No więc czasami możemy używać języka, nawet nie zdając sobie sprawy, że jest to terminologia przestarzała albo coś, co nie do końca uwzględnia osoby nieheteronormatywne w naszym tekście. Formy neutralne, o których też coraz więcej się mówi, no i stereotypy płciowe, i nie tylko płciowe, które widać np. w reklamach, które już tak naprawdę nie powinny mieć miejsca.
Tak więc pomyślałam, że warto jest przyjrzeć się różnym reklamom, różnym tekstom z internetu,i zobaczyć, czego lepiej nie robić, kiedy my będziemy projektować nasze strony, nasze aplikacje, pisać do użytkowników i użytkowniczek.
Więc po pierwsze używanie jedynie rodzaju męskiego dzisiaj już tak naprawdę nie powinno mieć miejsca. Dodałam tutaj taki tekst pod koniec opisu szamponu, którego ja bardzo lubię używać. No ale niestety jest tylko w rodzaju męskim. W większości zdjęcia na stronie odwołują się do kobiet.
„Pokochałeś Dragon Wash?” – Czytając to kobieta albo osoba, która nie identyfikuje się z żadną płcią, albo identyfikuje się z różnymi płciami naraz może wcale nie… zostać zachęcona do zakupu takiego szamponu.
Niedawno wyszła też taka bardzo fajna kampania na temat Warszawy skierowana właśnie do osób, które albo mieszkają w Warszawie, albo spędzają w niej czas jako turyści, turystki. No i kilka z nich było naprawdę ciekawych, ale pojawiły się również plakaty tylko w rodzaju męskim.
„Stolica wolnego czasu. Tu będziesz chciał spędzić weekend”. No, ja czytając to, nie za bardzo poczułam, że chcę spędzać tu weekend, ponieważ poczułam, że nie jestem odbiorczynią nią tej reklamy.
No, tak samo widać to na przykład w kampanii sklepu Żabka. Jest bardzo dużo plakatów z różnymi osobami i na każdej z nich jest napisane „Głodny? Spróbuj!”. Tekst nie zmienia się, nawet jeżeli zmieniają się zdjęcia. Na niektórych widzimy modelów, na niektórych modelki.Można by było to zmienić i po prostu umieścić przy zdjęciach, na których widzimy kobiety, „głodna”. To nie jest naprawdę duża, trudna sprawa do zrobienia.
Poza tym często nawet nie wiemy, że wykluczamy osoby queerowe i to jest bardzo, bardzo częste w ankietach, w których pytamy o płeć i można wybrać jedynie opcję „jestem kobietą|/ „jestem mężczyzną”. To jest bardzo nieinkluzywne podejście i istnieje naprawdę wiele różnych sposobów, które zaraz zobaczymy, których można użyć, żeby być bardziej otwartym, bardziej otwartą na osoby, które nie identyfikują się z tymi dwiema płciami albo identyfikują się… albo same są osobami niebinarnymi. Też przecież wiele jest takich osób.
No i stereotypy. To jest bardzo częste w reklamach. Umieściłam tutaj zdjęcie screena z reklamy H&M, która bardzo szybko została zdjęta z bilbordów, z tego, co pamiętam: „Mężczyzna nie prosi o pomoc. Nie musi, bo…” No i wszystko wygląda pięknie, ładnie, ale tak naprawdę powiela to taki stereotyp, że mężczyzna zawsze musi sobie sam radzić. Jeżeli prosi o pomoc, to jest to oznaka słabości. No, nie jest. Wiemy, że nie jest.
No i również tutaj kampania Tesco: „Oferujemy ponad 17 tysięcy produktów, aby miała z czego wybierać”. Widzimy tutaj kobietę w ciąży, która… tutaj mamy suto zastawiony stół i… no, jest ukazana w takiej dość służalczej pozycji. I również pokazuje to to, że to kobiety kupują, robią zakupy spożywcze, to kobiety decydują, co będziemy jeść na obiad, na kolację i na śniadanie, wszystko. Więc to też sprowadza całą odpowiedzialność za dom, za rodzinę, na kobiety.
No i tak jak już mówiłam, jeśli chodzi o przestarzałą terminologię, tutaj jeśli chodzi o ten język w stosunku do osób LGBTQ+, to to zahacza z jednej strony o tę część definicji Rady Europejskiej, jeśli chodzi o płeć, ale również o orientację seksualną. Wydaje mi się, że to jest ważny temat, również jeżeli chodzi, tak jak już powiedziałem, o płeć.
No więc „transseksualizm”, często używa się tego zwrotu. Kiedyś tłumaczyłam aplikację, sprawdzałam tłumaczenie aplikacji, w której właśnie był używany termin „osoby transseksualne”, a jednak już się tak nie mówi. Tak samo, jeśli chodzi o „zmianę płci”, też tak się już dziś nie mówi i podnosi się właśnie tę świadomość, że to jest „korekta płci”, że to jest „uzgodnienie prawne płci”. Jest to „osoba trans”, „osoby transpłciowe” albo „osoba trans”. Istnieje bardzo dużo takich kwestii, które można tutaj poruszyć, ale wydaje mi się, że warto jest być na bieżąco, jeśli chodzi o tę kwestię.
No i teraz przechodzimy do momentu, w którym możemy się dowiedzieć, a co właściwie możemy robić. No więc warto jest używać feminatywów, jak piszemy. Tutaj mam kilka screenów z „Wysokich Obcasów” i „Gazety Wyborczej”. W jednym tekście – to był taki wywiad z panią, która, powiedzmy, zajmuje pozycję wójta, ale jak sama mówi, że można o niej powiedzieć „wójtka” albo „wójcini”. W ten sposób woli, żeby się do niej zwracać. Tak samo w „Gazecie Wyborczej”. Ten tekst już ma prawie trzy lata. Mamy tutaj mowę o „sportowyczni” – nie „sportsmence”, ponieważ jest tam to słowo „men”, które wywodzi się ze słowa „sportsman”. I„sportowczyni” jest dzisiaj preferowanym wyborem.
Splitting jest bardzo ładną propozycją, do której tak naprawdę namawia też Rada Języka Polskiego. Jeżeli nie wiecie, co to jest splitting, to jest po prostu stosowanie zarówno formy męskiej lub męsko osobowej, i formy żeńskiej lub niemęskoosobowej. Czyli tutaj mamy takifajny przykład, [który] Kampania Przeciw Homofobii w swej ulotce właśnie napisała. Taki poradnik jak być sojusznikiem i sojuszniczką osób LGBT. I splitting pojawia się bardzo często teraz w różnych reklamach, w różnych tekstach w internecie, więc to nie jest nic już dziwnego. Ale też używanie go w każdym zdaniu nie jest polecane, ponieważ tekst się wydłuża, ponieważ stylistycznie może to nie wyglądać zbyt pięknie. No i tutaj np. mamy „krok piąty: głosujświadomie”. Na początku mamy wymienionych polityków. No ale już później, kilka linijek później mamy zastosowany splitting: „kandydaci i kandydatki”. Także widzimy, że też chodzi o to, że to kobiety również są polityczkami. Więc to jest bardzo fajna metoda.
I często mówię tutaj do osób tłumaczących, ale również do osób, które piszą jakiś tekst, w którym jest jakaś wyimaginowaną osoba, o której nic nie wiemy. No więc nie musimy zakładać z góry, że mówimy o mężczyźnie, bo bardzo często wydaje mi się, że automatycznie przechodzimy w taki… To też jest taki stereotyp tak naprawdę, że zawsze używamy tego rodzaju męskiego. Tutaj mam dla Was przykład z ulotki z organizacji ITI. Właśnie tłumaczyłam to wraz z moją koleżanką Jadwigą Ruchlewską. I tutaj zastosowałyśmy taki trik, że kiedy była mowa na temat tego, w jaki sposób tłumacze/tłumaczki pomagają klientom, dlaczego warto jest współpracować z osobami, które zawodowo się zajmują tłumaczeniem, a nie np. zestudentami… W jednym fragmencie zrobiłyśmy z „Expert translator” „tłumaczkę ekspertkę”. No bo dlaczego nie? W innym „wyspecjalizowanego tłumacza”. Tak że można to przeplatać z innym…
Inny taki tekst, w którym… ja też nad nim pracowałam. Był taki poradnik dla osób doświadczających zaburzeń lękowych. I właśnie był taki przykład pacjenta, który w pracy doświadczał bardzo stresujących sytuacji i była tam mowa o jego… powiem teraz „szefie” –„boss”. I postanowiłam, że po prostu, jako że ta osoba nie jest zbyt ważna w tekście, pojawia się może ze dwa razy, nic nie wskazuje, jakiej jest płci… Zrobiłam z niej „szefową”. I myślę, że to też jest ważne, żeby pokazywać, że kobiety także zajmują takie wysokie stanowiska.
Bardzo, bardzo lubię zmieniać podmiot w zdaniu, kiedy tłumaczę. Bo ten język… czas przeszły w języku polskim jest bardzo problematyczny, bo niestety zawsze mamy tam wskazanie na płeć.I można by napisać tutaj: „Drago Wash ci się spodobał?”. Zmieniamy podmiot. Albo: „Naszszampon cię zachwycił?”. Też mamy ten czas przeszły, też mówimy o tym, że osoba pokochała ten szampon, ma jakieś pozytywne wspomnienia, doznania, co do używania tego produktu, więc nie jest to bardzo skomplikowana rzecz, ale naprawdę działa.
Tak samo tutaj. To jest tekst ze strony Extinction Rebellion, z polskiej strony. I akurat tutaj używam (ponieważ ja tłumaczyłam ten tekst dla nich jako wolontariuszka już jakiś czas temu)…Był to tekst na temat tego, dlaczego warto jest współpracować z bankiem, który jest odpowiedzialny społecznie i inwestuje w zrównoważone zasoby. Więc po angielsku tekst był „Tell your bank why you’ve moved your account”, „(…)why you’ve decided to leave”, coś takiego. No więc najprostsza sprawa to oczywiście, tak jak już wcześniej mówiłam i widać było w innych przykładach, idziemy w ten rodzaj męski. No ale ja zmieniłam to trochę, zmieniłam podmiot i zamiast pójścia w tę tak bardzo łatwo dostępne zdanie: „Dlaczego przeniosłeś konto, dlaczego Ty przeniosłeś konto?”, „powód” stał się u mnie podmiotem: „Powiedz dawnemu bankowi, co było powodem twojego odejścia”. Jest dłużej, ale nie zawsze zmiana podmiotu w zdaniu będzie oznaczać, że zdanie będzie dłuższe. Poza tym można też skrócić zdanie pojawiające się później. Język inkluzywny nie oznacza wcale, że wszystko będzie bardzo, bardzo długie. Pokazuję tutaj tylko takie pojedyncze zdania jako przykłady.
Tutaj jeszcze, jeśli chodzi o czas przeszły/przyszły. No więc tutaj, tak jak mówiłam w tej Warszawie, mamy zdanie w czasie przyszłym: „tu będziesz chciał spędzić weekend”. A jeżeli zmienimy, to na taką ogólną formę i czas teraźniejszy: „Tu chce się spędzać weekend”. Ale możemy też użyć czasu przyszłego, co zgadza się z resztą plakatów: „Tu zechcesz spędzić weekend”. „Ty, Alicjo zechcesz spędzić Michał… weekend.” „Ty, Michale, zechcesz spędzić weekend”. Tak jak mówiłam, inne plakaty były pisane w czasie przyszłym i nie widać, jaka tu jest płeć. „Tu dojedziesz wszędzie komunikacją miejską”.
I to jest taki już bardzo stary przykład, często używany. Zamiast pisać „zapomniałeś hasło”, „nie pamiętasz hasła?”. Czyli zmieniamy ten czas przeszły na czas teraźniejszy.
Osobatywy… Osobatywy to są takie konstrukcje w języku polskim, w którym piszemy „osoba….” Mówimy o osobie i podajemy zwykle przymiotnik określający właśnie te osoby, czyli np. tutaj mamy przykład takiego osobatywu: „osoby prelegenckie” zamiast „prelegenci, prelegentki”. To jest coraz popularniejsze. Czasami też widziałam w tekstach pojawiały się „osoby studenckie”, ale mamy również „osoby uczące się”. Czyli to już trochę brzmi tak bardziej, powiedzmy naturalnie, tradycyjnie. „Osoby studenckie” brzmi jak taka dość nowa forma, ale „osoby uczące się” już nie.
Zwroty neutralne też są bardzo fajne, ciekawe, np. „pracownicy”… Bardzo często tłumaczę takie teksty, w których po prostu zmieniam to na „personel” albo „zespół”. To jest bardzo łatwe, łatwe wyjście z sytuacji, kiedy już nie chcemy po raz kolejny stosować splittingu, czyli „pracownicy i pracowniczki” albo „pracownicy i pracownice”. No i „personel” też jest taki bardziej otwarty, ponieważ nie mamy tam w ogóle płci. Także mowa również o osobach niebinarnych, na przykład.
I te stereotypy… Tutaj to tylko takie językowe stereotypy. Wiadomo, że jeśli chodzi o wizualne przykłady, to już rozmawialiśmy o tych kobietach, które zajmują się domem i wybierają produkty, mężczyznach, którzy nie są, nie potrzebują pomocy itd. No ale tutaj takie językowe, częste stereotypy, które też się pojawiają w różnych tekstach. Jest zawsze „męska decyzja”. Lepiej zmienić na „zdecydowaną decyzję”. „Kobieca intuicja”? Po prostu „intuicja”. „Dżentelmeńska zasada”, jeżeli mówimy np. o jakiejś grze, można zmienić na „umowną zasadę”albo że „się przyjęło”, itd. Itd.
I też znaki typograficzne są bardzo ciekawym rozwiązaniem. I to wydaje mi się, że jeśli piszemy, jeżeli jesteśmy taką marką, która nie stroni od takich nowoczesnych rozwiązań, nie jest bardzo tradycyjna, dużo mówimy właśnie do osób młodych… Myślę, że to jest dobry pomysł zastosować różne bardziej nowoczesne znaki typograficzne, bo ukośnik i nawias, które są bardziej tradycyjnymi znakami typograficznymi, jeśli chodzi właśnie o płeć, nie do końca są widziane jako te bardzo inkluzywne dzisiaj. Bo zwykle dajemy rodzaj żeński w ukośniku, czyli rodzaj męski/rodzaj żeński, na przykład. Czytamy te końcówki, no ale wtedy tak naprawdę mówimy, że są tylko dwie płcie, a jeżeli dajemy rodzaj żeński w nawiasie, to kobieta występuje w tym nawiasie, jakby jest… To troszkę pokazuje, jakby ten męski rodzaj był ważniejszy, był tym takim bardziej, o którym myślimy, który od razu nam przychodzi do głowy, a tam kobieta… Rodzaj żeński jest w nawiasie.
Teraz czasami stosuje się na przykład formy z taką gwiazdką. Czyli zamiast „zostaliśmy”, „zostałyśmy” w miejscu, w którym zwykle mielibyśmy te litery, które nam pokazują, o jaki rodzaj nam chodzi, mamy tam gwiazdkę. I oznacza to, że każdy może tak naprawdę „wkleić”sobie, co chce. To jest instagramowy post organizacji Tęcza Po Burzy, która pomaga osobom LGBTQ+ w znajdowaniu pomocy psychologicznej. Czyli mamy gwiazdkę. Inny… Ja często stosuję właśnie, jeżeli pisze na swoich mediach społecznościowych po polsku i na blogu, piszę…stosuję podłogę tak zwaną. I tutaj akurat mamy podłogę. To daje nam… „Podłoga” daje nam miejsce na wszystkie płcie, wszystko pomiędzy rodzajem męskim i żeńskim. Czyli to tak naprawdę symbolizuje takie miejsce dla wszystkich. Ale często stosuje się ją w ten sposób, że pisze się w rodzaju żeńskim, żeby odwrócić ten schemat, że zawsze to rodzaj męski jest ten pierwszy, a dopiero później końcówka w rodzaju męskim, czyli np. „tłumaczki. Podłoga. E” I ja np. zastosowałam to kilka razy w tłumaczeniu, ponieważ akurat taka firma, która zajmowała się… nowoczesna firma zajmująca się reklamą itd… Tłumaczyli z angielskiego na polski właśnie… to była oferta pracy, poszukiwali nowych osób do pracy i zależało im, żeby to było jak najbardziej inkluzywne. I po angielsku było bardzo dużo na temat „people of all genders”. Czyli tutaj też już mamy pokazane, że osoby, które stworzyły ten komunikat, uważają, że jest więcej płci niż tylko dwie tradycyjne mężczyźni, kobiety. Tak że wydaje mi się, że wtedy taka podłoga jest bardzo ciekawym zastosowaniem i oczywiście konsultowałam się z klientem wcześniej i jak najbardziej się zgodził, akurat tutaj pasowało
Wiadomo, że napisanie książki na przykład, jeśli chodzi o taki tekst… albo może aplikacji, też może nie do końca być pomocne, albo może być tego po prostu za dużo, tych form. Ale takie,wiecie, krótkie komunikaty, krótkie reklamy jak najbardziej się sprawdzają.
Jak już mówiłam o tych ankietach, to tutaj są takie. Fundacja Trans-Fuzja dała takie dwa przykłady tworzenia inkluzywnych ankiet. Pierwsza propozycja poza „kobietą” i „mężczyzną” daje jeszcze miejsca na „osobę niebinarną” i „inną”. A druga propozycja, w której… stosowanie tego jest ważne wtedy, kiedy naprawdę potrzebne nam są informacje o tym, czy mamy do czynienia z osobami cis płciowymi czy transpłciowymi, bo zwykle „kobieta” oznacza również „kobietę trans płciową”. Nie również, ale zawsze. Ale jeżeli dodamy taką informację, ponieważ jest dla nas ważne np. dla aplikacji, chcemy jak najbardziej dokładnie wiedzieć, jak korzystają z niej np. kobiety cispłciowe, a kobiety transpłciowe, mężczyźni transpłciowi i mężczyźni cispłciowi, to wtedy możemy to rozwinąć w ten sposób
No i poza tym, jak projektujemy aplikacje, możemy również dawać ludziom wybór. Możemy pisać teksty w różnych rodzajach i tutaj uwaga: mówię „w różnych”, żeby nie myśleć, tylko że mamy te dwa rodzaje w języku polskim. I w zależności od tego, jak osoba chce się do nich zwracać, możemy pokazywać jej w aplikacji tylko tekst w tym rodzaju. Czyli jak osoba rejestruje się na aplikację, rejestruje się na stronę, wybiera tę swoją płeć i wówczas system będzie automatycznie, pokazując komunikaty, wybierał tylko te napisane w danej formie
I tutaj mówię o tym, że mamy te różne rodzaje, ponieważ jeżeli chodzi o formy binarne, to istnieje bardzo, bardzo dużo ciekawych rozwiązań na stronie zaimki.pl. I jeżeli chcemy być naprawdę otwartą firmą, tworzyć aplikacje, które uwzględniają również osoby niebinarne, warto jest tam zasięgnąć pomocy i zobaczyć, w jaki sposób można napisać naszą aplikację, żeby dać jeszcze kolejny wybór, jeśli chodzi o rodzaj.
Jeżeli macie jakieś pytania na ten temat, albo chcecie wiedzieć, jakie źródła byłyby pomocne, zawsze można do mnie napisać. Tutaj jest mój adres mailowy. „Alicja Małpa Polka Dot Translations”. Umknęło „mi kropka com”. Na Twitterze jestem jako PolkaDotScot, a na Instagramie polkadottranslations. I z chęcią odpowiem na wszystkie pytania, przeczytam Wasze komentarze, więc proszę o kontakt. I jeszcze raz bardzo dziękuję całej organizacji za zajęcie się tym tematem. Mam nadzieję, że dla Was prezentacja była pomocna. Dziękuję.
Elisa: [00:00:01] Olá pessoal tudo bem bão Meu nome é e eu estou aqui a convite do Ibict Writers Collective. Estou muito feliz que esse convite inclusive para falar um pouco sobre neutralidade e inclusão de gênero na língua portuguesa. Esse projeto que inglês chama de Gender inclusive Witch Project mas que em português se chama projeto de inclusão de gênero na linguagem algo assim é um projeto que vai falar muito sobre as línguas que têm essa dificuldade esse desafio de neutralizar e de incluir todas as pessoas. Quando você lê um texto você se sentir incluída naquele texto então o português a língua portuguesa é uma dessas. É uma dessas línguas que tem esse desafio. Eu até convido vocês a assistirem os vídeos das outras línguas que vão ser disponibilizados também mas eu vou falar da língua portuguesa e principalmente do Brasil. Então eu também convido pessoas que são de outros países cuja língua também é a língua portuguesa a somarem adicionarem coisas que pode ser que não sejam discussões que estejam vigentes aqui no Brasil mas talvez nos outros países de língua portuguesa já estejam mais desenvolvidas até essa questão da inclusão de gênero. Então convido vocês a colocarem aí todos os links e pesquisas e tudo o que vocês viram a respeito disso. Tá bom. Então eu vou falar um pouco de mim e eu sou . Hoje eu trabalho como líder no mercado livre e também eu já trabalhei como Twitter na Rot Mart que é uma empresa de Belo Horizonte que é a cidade onde eu estou atualmente e eu ajudei também a fundar o Twitter BH que e ainda mais o Ademir.
Elisa: [00:01:51] A gente não fez mais encontros presenciais. É um coletivo de pessoas aqui de BH que fizeram a gente faz encontros para falar sobre whats writers e Get Writing sobre quem quer iniciar na carreira de What Whitman e eu também já trabalhei como tradutor e professora de inglês e de francês então línguas são as coisa que eu mais gosto de estudar. Eu acho incrível e eu vejo que tem esses desafios no caso do português não só o português mas no caso do português que é a minha língua nativa eu vejo que tem desafios enormes quanto à inclusão de gênero. É muito difícil às vezes você falar. Escrever uma frase mesmo é aquela pessoa que está lendo a frase qualquer pessoa que estiver lendo aquela frase sem se sentir identificada muitas vezes como o português. O neutro a a versão neutra do português e masculino. Muitas vezes ela não inclui outras pessoas como mulheres ou pessoas LGBT que é a mais. Dentro daquele ambiente a pessoa pode achar que aquela frase não está falando com ela. É muitas a gente tem pesquisas hoje em dia que mostram que isso é uma realidade. Eu posso deixar o link dessas pesquisas aqui para vocês mas assim muitas vezes eu leio por exemplo às vezes eu entro num site e leio assim o site já pegou o meu nome e eu leio bem vindo e eu achei aquilo muito estranho para mim é como se o site não estivesse falando comigo.
Elisa: [00:03:32] Então. Eu eu imagino que várias outras pessoas também se sintam assim e já conversei. Claro que quem é de Wall Street em que trabalha com isso. Nota isso todos os dias conversa com outras pessoas que também se sentem da mesma forma. E eu Eu sei que esse tema não é tão falado assim por várias pessoas que não trabalham com isso e imagino que grande parte do Brasil não tenha tido contato com esse tema mesmo com a neutralidade de gênero inclusão de gênero mas ao mesmo tempo eu vejo que isso está crescendo no Brasil e eu imagino que nos outros países de língua portuguesa também. Com uma discussão necessária porque muitas vezes a gente no nosso caso que trabalha com linguagem para a internet a gente escreve coisas que todas as pessoas vão ler e muitas vezes a gente tem que escrever e é muito difícil ser inclusivo porque por causa da limitação da língua mesmo então eu vim trazer alguns exemplos para vocês e algumas algumas dicas de como ser mais inclusivo de gênero. E eu espero que vocês gostem. Então aqui eu trouxe algumas reportagens mesmo de que mostram que essa é uma discussão que está crescendo no Brasil e eu acho que no mundo inteiro a gente está conversando no Twitter Collective com pessoas de outras línguas que também têm a mesma questão.
Elisa: [00:05:08] Então a gente vê que no Brasil já tem pessoas falando sobre isso tem algumas pessoas que não veem uma importância nessa neutralização de gênero. Outras não conhecem muito o tema e há outras que já vêm bastante. A importância dessa neutralização. Eu sou uma das pessoas que vê bastante importância nessa atualização e. Então me fizeram algumas perguntas três perguntinhas que eu vou responder aqui para vocês agora. E a primeira é essa você consegue descrever como é discutida a linguagem de gênero em sua cultura. E é um pouco do que eu já falei assim Eu acho que muitas empresas já se preocupam com a neutralidade de gênero. Eu acho que todos os experts e escritores se preocupam com essa inclusão não só. Hoje eu trabalho numa empresa que é Argentina então predominantemente em espanhol e eu vejo que eles também se preocupam com isso porque o espanhol também é muito parecido com o português nesse sentido é uma língua o português no caso é uma linguagem predominantemente masculina. Eu hoje não vejo a neutralidade como um objetivo geral. Eu vejo que tem empresas que se preocupam mais empresas que se preocupam menos empresas que não se preocupam ainda. Mas eu vejo como um caminho sem volta porque eu acho que quem já começou a se preocupar está à frente do tempo e eu acho que daqui vários anos já vai existir algum artigo neutro algum sujeito neutro.
Elisa: [00:06:45] Acho que é o futuro mesmo nem que seja informal porque hoje já existe informalmente mas talvez no futuro vai ter algo oficial mesmo na gramática tomara. E como isso afeta a cultura corporativa do trabalho. Eu acho que afeta eu falo como mulher. Muitas vezes eu percebo que a linguagem corporativa ainda é muito masculina então várias vezes eu não me sinto representada. Por exemplo quando a gente está numa reunião e as pessoas ficam falando de ah usam a expressão um cara ou lá um cara. E VAI ENTRAR NA NOSSA nosso produto e vai usar dessa forma eu automaticamente sempre penso no homem e os produtos que a gente desenvolve não necessariamente são para homens. Eles são para qualquer pessoa. E várias pesquisas já mostraram mesmo que a linguagem molda como a gente pensa. Então é claro que se eu falo por exemplo. Um CARA VAI ENTRAR AQUI NESSE QUARTO A pessoa automaticamente pensa em um homem entrando no quarto. Então nesse caso por exemplo eu não considero que cara é neutro para mim não é neutro. É uma maneira de neutralizar ou de incluir qualquer pessoa nessa frase seria falar à pessoa então em vez de falar um cara e falar a pessoa ou uma pessoa vai entrar nesse cômodo por exemplo porque automaticamente nosso cérebro já imagina que é uma pessoa e ele não coloca o gênero nessa pessoa.
Elisa: [00:08:25] Então hoje eu acho que afeta mas eu também vejo um avanço muito grande de pessoas se interessando cada vez mais por esse tema. É a segunda pergunta é quais são os problemas específicos que você enxerga em sua língua hoje. E aí eu coloquei alguns exemplos aqui nos próximos slides que eu vou mostrar para vocês que pode soar principalmente excludente porque. Eu nem diria que sou esquisito porque assim a gente está acostumado a ver a maioria das coisas no gênero masculino. Então não é exatamente estranho para gente como os brasileiros falantes da língua portuguesa mas é excludente e muitas vezes é imperceptível a gente nem nota que é excludente. Então vou mostrar para vocês por exemplo aqui. Essa foi uma busca que eu fiz no Google agora antes de fazer essa apresentação para vocês. Eu coloquei a palavra revista e coloquei você está pronta no feminino. E aí apareceram coisas somente relacionadas a mim pessoalmente relacionamento e e a mim minha vida pessoal é aí quando eu coloquei no gênero masculino apareceram várias coisas relacionadas a. Profissionais assim prontos para o intercâmbio ou às vezes pronto para morar sozinho que é uma coisa pessoal mas não é relacionado a um relacionamento. Pronto para uma mudança exponencial. Enfim parece até pronta em inglês e pronto ainda. Então é nessa busca simples que foi uma busca muito rápida que eu fiz.
Elisa: [00:10:09] Eu já percebi que se eu coloco no feminino aparecem coisas. Completamente diferentes do que aparece no masculino. E é outra música que eu fiz também bem rápida que eu fui no LinkedIn e coloquei a palavra vendedor na busca. Então aqui escrevi que vamos supor que eu estou buscando um emprego de vendedora. Então eu coloquei vendedor e vendedora apareceram buscas. Apareceram resultados diferentes e depois eu fui ver aqui que apareceram 17 mil resultados para vendedor e 1.200 resultados para vendedora. Então por exemplo se eu sou mulher ou me identifico como mulher e procuro quero trabalhar como vendedora em algum lugar. Pode ser que eu procure pela palavra vendedora porque é o que vem na minha cabeça. O que eu falei antes ou a linguagem moda como a gente pensa então eu sou uma vendedora. Eu não digo que eu sou um vendedor ou um vendedor. Então o que vem primeiro na minha cabeça de preencher ali para colocar a vaga para mim seria para a vendedora. E se eu fizesse isso apareceria muito menos resultados pra mim do que se eu colocasse o vendedor e eu imagino que todos esses vendedores que estão aqui no setor que eu coloquei no masculino também poderiam contratar mulheres. Estou partindo desse pressuposto não sei se é verdade mas. Acho que sim e seria muito interessante se nesse caso pudesse ter uma versão neutra da palavra vendedor vendedora porque aí as duas pessoas tanto homens quanto mulheres teriam as mesmas oportunidades na hora de buscar um emprego.
Elisa: [00:12:02] Eu fiz uma busca para desenvolvedor. E tive resultados parecidos então procurei a palavra desenvolvedor. Apareceu 10.000 e eu procurei a palavra desenvolvedora e apareceu 1400. E outra coisa interessante que eu vi aqui foi que quando eu coloquei desenvolvedora apareceu uma forma de neutralidade e de inclusão de gênero que já está sendo bastante usada que é esse de colocar a pessoa antes. Então a pessoa desenvolvedora a pessoa desenvolvedora aqui já vi bastante o que é muito legal. E no caso do desenvolvedor eu vi também uma uma solução que não é ideal para inclusão de gênero que é colocar esse parênteses com o porque não é uma maneira que a gente escreve normalmente o que a gente pensa a gente não pensa em quando a gente vai pensar no desenvolvedor por exemplo ou a gente pensa desenvolvedor ou a gente pensa desenvolvedora. São palavras que a gente conhece e que a gente usa essa palavra desenvolvedora não é uma palavra que vem na nossa cabeça. Então idealmente é claro que é uma boa intenção usá la ali naquele caso mas idealmente é melhor não usar melhor usar a pessoa desenvolvedora. Então aqui também a pessoa a mulher ou a pessoa que se identifica como mulher buscando por desenvolvedora ela teria muito menos resultados do que se buscar por desenvolvedor.
Elisa: [00:13:33] Então vem a pergunta 3 seria como os de Wall Street ou ásia What Fighters e membros ou membros das equipes trabalham com essa questão hoje em dia. E aí eu quis mostrar para vocês vários artigos que a gente tem que várias pessoas interessadas pelo tema pelo tema e que estudam o mesmo tema escreveram vários artigos e ajudam muito a gente queria agradecer a vocês que fazem e fazem isso. E vou mostrar que algumas. E dicas para quem quiser neutralizar o gênero então por exemplo. Nesse caso de substantivos que são usados da mesma forma no masculino e no feminino por exemplo clientes é uma forma muito fácil de neutralizar e de incluir e não colocar o artigo ou o pronome antes. Então em vez de falar nossos clientes colocar somente clientes da empresa líderes é a mesma coisa ao invés de colocar nossos os líderes da empresa colocar somente líderes da empresa ou as lideranças da empresa. Mesma coisa para os participantes do evento pode colocar participantes do evento somente ou as pessoas participantes ou as pessoas que participam. Isso já dá uma já faz a gente pensar de uma forma diferente. Se a gente coloca clientes da empresa o que vem na nossa cabeça não são necessariamente homens. Mesma coisa para líderes da empresa se a gente só coloca a palavra líderes ou as lideranças da empresa. A gente não pensa necessariamente em homens e isso inclui todos os todas as pessoas todas as pessoas se sentem incluídas.
Elisa: [00:15:19] É. Uma outra forma aí já é uma como não fazer porque muita gente hoje em dia usa esse X no final de uma palavra que poderia ter por exemplo vendedor colocar um vendedor e um X depois uma roupa depois. Isso não é uma boa ideia por vários motivos mas principalmente porque há pessoas que têm alguma e alguma que usam leitores de tela que tem alguma deficiência visual. Não o leitor de tela não consegue ler essas palavras então elas acabam não entendendo o que está escrito e também pessoas com dislexia que têm alguma dificuldade de leitura. Também acham muito mais difícil difícil ler dessa forma. Então essa é uma forma que já foi bastante usada e a gente já viu acho que vocês já devem ter visto ela sendo usada mas que está sendo cada vez menos usada por causa disso porque ela não é inclusiva pelo contrário ela acaba por deixar ela não é uma palavra né não. Não existe essa palavra na nossa gramática. E muitas vezes. E o leitor de tela não consegue entender. Então a gente prefere não usar essa essa maneira de escrever. A intenção é boa mas acaba que o resultado não é muito legal. É uma outra forma também para se referir a grupos de pessoas e usar formas alternativas então por exemplo ao invés de falar com os diretores a gente pode falar a diretoria que é você e você está falando de todo um grupo de pessoas que não necessariamente são de homens ou diretores de novo como aquilo que eu falei da gente cognitiva.
Elisa: [00:17:06] A gente já pensa em homens. Os coordenadores a mesma coisa é facilmente substituível por a coordenação. E também tem esse exemplo de os deputados que pode ser o Congresso ou a câmara que nesse caso colocar o gênero em coisas por exemplo o celular e a caneta. Nesse caso a gente não precisa preocupar com a neutralização de gênero. E mais quando eu estou falando com um grupo de pessoas que eu não sei se são homens ou mulheres ou se são os dois e eu preciso neutralizar aquilo ali para que todas as pessoas que leiam aquilo se sintam incluídas naquele texto porque a gente está falando com elas. Mas todas essas outras. E todos esses outros gêneros são coisas. Eu pessoalmente não vejo necessidade de neutralizar. É. Há também essa dica que eu falei que eu já falei no LinkedIn no LinkedIn que é substituir o sujeito por pessoas que então nesse exemplo cozinhar os cozinheiros desenvolvem muito o paladar e o olfato. Tranquilamente dá para substituir por pessoas que cozinham desenvolvem muito paladar e olfato. Essas são formas fáceis de neutralizar e de incluir todos os gêneros. É claro que o português é uma língua difícil de fazer isso. Esses exemplos aqui são maneiras simples de fazer mas tem alguns desafios que hoje são muito complicados mesmo para gente principalmente para gente que escreve para produtos digitais para pessoas todas as pessoas.
Elisa: [00:18:51] Mas tem algumas formas que são muito fáceis que são essas que eu que eu estou falando com vocês por exemplo. E tem essa forma que é colocar a letra e ou i no final das palavras que teriam um gênero. Então por exemplo todas ou todos a substituir por todos amigos ou bem vindos. Mas eu preciso falar que essa é uma forma totalmente informal hoje em dia eu vejo ela sendo usada muito mais entre grupos de amigos em chats informais. Eu acredito em uma opinião muito pessoal mas eu acredito que um dia vai existir um gênero neutro um pronome neutro na língua portuguesa e que pode ser que seja esse. Mas eu acho que isso são muitos anos para a frente mas hoje já tem muitas pessoas usando essa maneira de comunicação para quando tem. Vários tipos de pessoas dentro de um grupo. E aí a pessoa que está falando com elas usa se no final. É uma maneira que está sendo usada bastante mas ainda não é uma maneira aceita pela língua portuguesa oficialmente. Mas é um movimento está acontecendo. Eu acho como eu já falei eu acho que é algo que não tem volta. É uma discussão que vai ser cada vez mais presente mais falada mais popular.
Elisa: [00:20:27] E eu acho ela interessantíssima acho incrível. Eu acho que é preciso ter essa discussão mesmo e a gente já está começando já começamos e tomara que só evolua cada vez mais. Eu vejo muito hoje por exemplo trabalho numa empresa que é a Argentina. Então eu falo basicamente espanhol o tempo todo e eu vejo que em espanhol que é uma língua irmã do português prima talvez. Eles também fazem. Eles também colocam esse é no final. E eu acho incrível porque são duas línguas que estão fazendo movimentos separados mas assim é um movimento parecido ao mesmo tempo. Então isso está acontecendo e tomara que só que um dia daqui quem sabe alguns 50 anos já não tenha na língua portuguesa um pronome neutro porque vai fazer muito para fazer muito mais pessoas se sentirem incluídas. Na linguagem e aí vai ser muito mais fácil para todos os quatro itens brasileiros ou que falam português trabalharem. Bom é isso. Mais uma vez eu queria agradecer ou é o Twitter Collective e eu queria convidar também a todo mundo a somar nessa discussão e colocar coisas que vocês acham interessantes e que vocês talvez conversem com os amigos de vocês sobre neutralidade e inclusão de gênero. Eu me interesso muito por esse tema e eu convido vocês de novo a assistir esses vídeos feitos pelas outras pessoas dos outros países que também têm desafios de neutralizar o gênero na língua deles. E é isso muito muito muito obrigada e até a próxima. Tchau.
Elisa: [00:00:01] Hello everybody, how are you? My name is Elisa and I am here at the invitation of the UX Writers Collective. I am very happy about this invitation even to talk a little about gender neutrality and inclusion in the Portuguese language. This project that is called Gender Inclusive Language Project is a project that will talk a lot about the languages that have this difficulty and challenge of neutralizing and including all people. When you read a text you feel included in that text so the Portuguese language is one of those. It is one of those languages that has this challenge. I even invite you to watch the videos of the other languages that will also be available, but I will talk about the Portuguese language and especially about Brazil. Then I also invite people from other countries whose language is also Portuguese to add things that may not be discussions that are in force here in Brazil, but maybe in other Portuguese-speaking countries they are already more developed, even this issue of gender inclusion. So I invite you to put there all the links and research and everything you have seen about it. That’s good. So I will tell you a little bit about myself and I am Elisa. Today I work as a leader in the free market and also I have worked as a Twitter at Rot Mart which is a company in Belo Horizonte which is the city where I am currently and I also helped to found the Twitter BH which and Ademir.
Elisa: [00:01:51] We did not have any more face-to-face meetings. It’s a collective of people here in BH that we have meetings to talk about what’s writers and Get Writing for those who want to start in the What Whitman career and I have also worked as a translator and teacher of English and French, so languages are the things I most like to study. I find it incredible and I see that there are these challenges in the case of Portuguese, not only Portuguese, but in the case of Portuguese, which is my native language, I see that there are huge challenges in terms of gender inclusion. It is very difficult sometimes for you to talk. To really write a sentence is for anyone who is reading the sentence to read that sentence without feeling identified often as the Portuguese. The neuter a the neuter version of Portuguese and masculine. Often she does not include other people like women or LGBT people which is the most. Within that environment the person may feel that that phrase is not speaking to them. We have much research nowadays that show that this is a reality. I can leave the link to these surveys here for you, but many times I read them, for example, sometimes I enter a site and read, “The site already has my name and I read “Welcome Elisa” and I find it very strange, as if the site was not talking to me.
Elisa: [00:03:32] Then, I imagine that several other people also feel this way and I have talked to them. Of course, those who are from Wall Street work with that. He notes that every day he talks to other people who also feel the same way. And I know that this theme is not talked about as much by several people who don’t work with this and I imagine that a great part of Brazil has not had contact with this theme, even with the gender neutrality and gender inclusion, but at the same time I see that this is growing in Brazil and I imagine that in the other Portuguese speaking countries as well. With a necessary discussion because many times we, in our case that works with language for the internet, write things that all people will read and many times we have to write and it is very difficult to be inclusive because of the language limitation itself, so I came to bring some examples for you and some tips on how to be more gender inclusive. And I hope you like it. So here I brought some reports that show that this is a discussion that is growing in Brazil and I think that in the whole world we are talking on Twitter Collective with people from other languages who also have the same question.
Elisa: [00:05:08] So we see that in Brazil there are already people talking about this, and there are some people who don’t see the importance of this gender neutralization. Others don’t know much about the topic, and there are others who already come quite a bit. The importance of this neutralization. I am one of the people who sees a lot of importance in this update and. So they asked me some questions three little questions that I will answer here for you now. And the first is that you can describe how gender language is discussed in your culture. And it’s a bit of what I’ve already said I think that many companies are already concerned about gender neutrality. I think all experts and writers care about this inclusion not only. Today I work in a company that is in Argentina, so it is predominantly in Spanish and I see that they also worry about this because Spanish is also very similar to Portuguese in the sense it is a language that Portuguese in this case is a predominantly masculine language. I don’t see neutrality as a general goal today. I see that there are companies that care more companies that care less companies that don’t care yet. But I see it as a dead end because I think that those who have already started to worry are ahead of time and I think that in several years there will already be some neutral article some neutral subject.
Elisa: [00:06:45] I think it is the future even if it is informal because today it already exists informally but maybe in the future it will have something official even in grammar – hopefully. And how this affects the corporate work culture. I think it affects me speaking as a woman. Many times I realize that the corporate language is still very masculine, so many times I don’t feel represented. For example, when we are in a meeting and people are talking about ah, they use the expression a guy or there a guy. And it will come into our product and it will use that way I automatically always think of men and the products we develop are not necessarily for men. They are for everyone. And several researches have even shown that language shapes how we think. So, of course, if I speak for example. A MAN IS GOING INTO THIS ROOM One automatically thinks of a man entering the room. So, in this case, for example I don’t consider the guy to be neutral, for me he is not neutral. It is a way to neutralize or to include anyone in that sentence would be to speak to the person so instead of speaking a guy and speak the person or a person will enter that room for example because automatically our brain already imagines that it is a person and it doesn’t put the gender on that person.
Elisa: [00:08:25] So today I think it does, but I also see a great advance of people becoming more and more interested in this subject. The second question is what specific problems you see in your language today. And then I put some examples here in the next few slides that I’m going to show you that may sound mainly exclusionary because. I wouldn’t even say I’m weird because then we are used to seeing most things in the male gender. So it is not exactly strange for people like the Portuguese-speaking Brazilians, but it is excluding, and many times it is imperceptible, and we don’t even notice that it is excluding. So I will show you, for example, here. This was a search that I did on Google just before I made this presentation to you. I put the word magazine and put ‘you are ready’ in the feminine. And then there appeared things only related to me personally relationship and me and me my personal life is there when I put in the male gender appeared several things related to. Professionals so ready for the exchange or sometimes ready to live alone which is a personal thing but is not related to a relationship. Ready for exponential change. Anyway it even looks ready in English and ready yet. So it’s in that simple search that was a very quick search that I did.
Elisa: [00:10:09] I’ve noticed that if I put in the feminine things come up. Completely different from what appears in the masculine. And it’s another song that I did also very quickly that I went on LinkedIn and put the word salesman in the search. So here I wrote that let’s suppose I am looking for a sales job. So, I put in seller and saleswoman, and the searches appeared. Different results appeared, and then I went to see here that 17,000 results for salesperson and 1,200 results for salesperson appeared. So, for example, if I am a woman, or identify as a woman, and I want to work as a salesperson somewhere. I might look up the word saleswoman because that’s what comes to my mind. What I said before or the fashion language as we think so I am a salesperson. I don’t say that I am a salesman or a saleswoman. So what comes first in my mind of filling in there to place the vacancy for me would be for the salesperson. And if I did that it would show up a lot less results for me than if I put the salesperson in, and I imagine that all these salespeople that are here in the sector that I put in the male could also hire women. I am making this assumption I don’t know if it is true but. I think so, and it would be very interesting if in this case there could be a neutral version of the word salesman-saleswoman because then both men and women would have the same opportunities when looking for a job.
Elisa: [00:12:02] I did a developer search. And I got similar results, so I searched for the word developer. It came up 10,000 and I looked up the word developer and it came up 1400. And another interesting thing that I saw here was that when I put developer there was a form of gender neutrality and inclusion that is already being used a lot, which is putting the person before. So the developer person the developer person here has seen quite a bit which is very nice. And in the case of the developer I also saw a solution that is not ideal for gender inclusion which is to put this parenthesis with the because it is not a way that we normally write what we think we don’t think of when we are going to think of the developer for example, either we think developer or we think female developer. These are words that we know and that we use, this word developer is not a word that comes to our mind. So ideally of course it is a good intention to use it there in that case, but ideally it is better not to use it, but to use the developer. So here too the woman or the person who identifies as a woman searching for developer would get far fewer results than if she searches for developer.
Elisa: [00:13:33] Then comes question 3 would be how Wall Street or Asia What Fighters and team members or members work with this issue today. And then I wanted to show you several articles that we have, where several people interested in the theme and who study the same theme have written several articles that help us a lot. And I will show you that some. And tips for those who want to neutralize gender then for example. In this case of nouns that are used the same way in the masculine and feminine for example customers is a very easy way to neutralize and to include and not put the article or pronoun before. So instead of saying our customers put only customers of the company leaders is the same thing as instead of saying our the leaders of the company put only the leaders of the company or the leaders of the company. Same thing for event participants you can put event participants only or the people participating or the people attending. This already makes us think in a different way. If we put clients of the company what comes to our minds are not necessarily men. Same thing for company leaders if we just put the word leaders or the company’s leaders. We don’t necessarily think of men, and that includes all people all people feel included.
Elisa: [00:15:19] Another way there is already a how not to do it because many people nowadays use this X at the end of a word that could have for example salesman put a salesman and an X after a clothes after. This is not a good idea for several reasons but mainly because there are people who have some and some who use screen readers who have some visual impairment. No the screen reader cannot read these words so they end up not understanding what is written, and also people with dyslexia who have some difficulty reading. They also find it much harder to read that way. So this is a form that has already been used a lot and we have seen it being used, but I think you must have seen it being used less and less because it is not inclusive, on the contrary, it is not a word, no. There is no such word in our grammar. And often. And the screen reader can’t understand. So we prefer not to use this way of writing. The intention is good, but the result is not very nice. It is also another way to refer to groups of people and use alternative forms so for example instead of talking to the directors we can talk about the board of directors which is you and you are talking about a whole group of people that are not necessarily men or directors again like what I talked about the cognitive people.
Elisa: [00:17:06] We already think about men. The coordinators the same thing is easily replaceable by the coordination. And you also have this example of the deputies that can be the Congress or the chamber that in this case put gender on things for example the cell phone and the pen. In this case we don’t need to worry about gender neutralization. And more when I am talking to a group of people that I don’t know if they are men or women or if they are both and I need to neutralize that there so that all the people who read that feel included in that text because we are talking to them. But all those others. And all these other genres are things. I personally see no need to neutralize. É. There is also this tip that I talked about that I’ve talked about on LinkedIn on LinkedIn which is to replace the subject with people who then in this example cooking cooks develop their sense of taste and smell a lot. Quietly it can be replaced by people who cook develop a great sense of taste and smell. These are easy ways to neutralize and include all genders. Of course, Portuguese is a difficult language to do this in. These examples here are simple ways to do it but there are some challenges that today are very complicated even for people especially for people who write for digital products for all people.
Elisa: [00:18:51] But there are some ways that are very easy which are these that I am talking to you about for example. And you have this way of putting the letter e or i at the end of words that would have a gender. So for example all or all to be replaced by all friends or welcome. But I have to say that this is a totally informal way of doing things, and nowadays I see it being used much more among groups of friends in informal chats. I believe in a very personal opinion but I believe that one day there will be a gender neutral pronoun in the Portuguese language and that may be it. But I think this is many years ahead but today there are already many people using this way of communication for when you have it. Various types of people within a group. And then the person who is talking to them uses if at the end. It is a way that is being used a lot, but it is not yet an officially accepted way in the Portuguese language. But it is a movement is happening. I think, as I said before, that there is no going back. It is a discussion that is going to be more and more present more talked about more popular.
Elisa: [00:20:27] And I find her very interesting, I find her amazing. I think it is necessary to have this discussion and we are already starting it, and I hope it will only evolve more and more. I see a lot today, for example I work in a company that is Argentina. So I basically speak Spanish all the time and I see that in Spanish that is a sister language to Portuguese prima maybe. They do too. They also put that is at the end. And I think it’s amazing because it’s two languages that are making separate movements but so it’s a similar movement at the same time. So this is happening and I hope that one day in maybe 50 years time there won’t be a neutral pronoun in the Portuguese language because it will do a lot to make a lot more people feel included. In language, and then it will be much easier for all four Brazilian or Portuguese-speaking items to work. Well, that’s it. Again I wanted to thank or is Twitter Collective and I also wanted to invite everyone to add to this discussion and post things that you find interesting and that you might talk to your friends about gender neutrality and inclusion. I am very interested in this topic and I invite you again to watch these videos made by other people from other countries who also have challenges of gender neutralizing in their language. And that’s it thank you very very very very much and see you next time. Bye.
Slide 1
Salut
Eu sunt Adina și o să-ți vorbesc un pic despre limbajul incluziv în limba română. Acest video face parte din “The Gender inclusive language project”, un proiect la care participa UX writers și content designers din diverse țări ale lumii.
Sperăm că prin această serie să deschidem conversații despre ce înseamnă un limbaj incluziv și să găsim împreună soluții pentru o comunicare în care femeile și persoanele non-binare sunt mai bine reprezentate și acceptate.
Slide 2
Înainte să începem, cine sunt eu totuși? Sunt UX writer, respectiv Content designer, cu un background de câțiva ani buni în marketing și copywriting.
Am scris conținut de diverse feluri, de la conținut de site la email marketing și UX copy pentru soluții ecommerce, bănci, platforme de freelancing și companii software. Recent am scris și un curs, numit “The brand voice lab”.
Slide 3
OK, și acum să revenim la lucrurile importante. Cum spuneam la început, scopul acestui video este să discutăm despre limbajul nostru – cel de zi cu zi, și în special cel pe care-l folosim în rolul de creatori de conținut. Când spun conținut mă refer și la articole, și la conținutul principal al unui site, și la postări de social media, și la textele din interfață aplicațiilor, adică la tot, de fapt.
Indiferent de format, scriem cu un scop și un public anume în minte și ambele contribuie la modul în care formulăm acel mesaj. În mod ideal ne dorim să influențăm cumva persoanele care văd conținutul nostru – să cumpere, să se aboneze sau să folosească o aplicație. Vorbesc despre lucrurile astea pentru că e important să nu uităm că a fi creatori de conținut înseamnă a fi creatori de conversații și felul în care scriem o știre sau descriem un produs formează percepții, așa cum se întâmplă și într-o discuție directă cu o prietenă sau un coleg.
Există însă cel puțin 2 diferențe importante între o discuție între prieteni și una pe care o deschidem prin conținutul publicat:
– în primul rând, dimensiunea audienței – într-o discuție amicală reacțiile sunt limitate la grupul respectiv, dar un articol de blog poate fi citit de mii de persoane, așa ce ce spui acolo poate avea un impact mult mai mare
– în al doilea rând, dimensiunea impactului – în discuția amicală schimbul de idei și reacții este rapid – ai șansă să înțelegi repede ce efect au cuvintele tale; în cazul articolului feedback-ul este aproximativ, pentru că dincolo de comentarii (pe care poate le primești sau poate nu), pur și simplu nu știi întotdeauna cum a fost interpretat mesajul tău și cum afectează, poate, atitudinea sau acțiunile altora. Așa că e și mai important să îți alegi cu atenție cuvintele.
Ce vreau să spun cu acest intro de fapt este că ce scriem e echivalent, într-un fel, cu ce facem. Dacă scriem prietenos, deschidem ușa pentru o prietenie. Dacă scriem cu prejudecăți, validăm acele prejudecăți.
Slide 4
Scopul limbajului este să ne pună în contact, să transmită cine suntem și ce vrem, că să ne putem înțelege și colabora.
Atunci când limbajul pe care-l folosim în mod obișnuit este mai favorabil unui grup și exclude sau minimizează alte persoane, vorbim despre un limbaj non-incluziv. Adică un limbaj care nu mai servește scopului sau fundamental.
Slide 5
Dacă sună un pic abstract când zic “limbaj non-incluziv”, încearcă să-ți imaginezi scena asta: managerul organizează o ședință de echipă, dar atunci când vorbește face contact vizual cu o singură persoană din echipa. Sau poate îți e mai ușor să te gândeșți la o întâlnire cu prietenii, unde bărbații se salută între ei dar nu spun “bună” și femeilor prezente. Cam așa se simte și limbajul non-incluziv – e ca si cum ai spune “știu că ești aici, dar aleg să nu-ti vorbesc”.
Uneori lucrurile astea se întâmplă fără rea intenție, poate dintr-un fel de stanjeneala socială, și e ok – ni se poate întâmpla tuturor. Doar că efectul se resimte oricum, din păcate – și e ușor să te simți pe lista persoanelor neimportante sau “de ignorat” în situații ca astea.
Dacă ar trebui să simți efectul asta în toate situațiile prin care treci într-o zi oarecare – fie că mergi la școală sau la job, intri într-un magazin sau chemi un electrician sau orice alte feluri de interacțiuni – cred că ai trece dincolo de o stare de disconfort și ai începe să-ți pui alte întrebări despre cei din jur, si despre tine.
Slide 6
Sunt foarte multe studii care analizează impactul limbajului non-incluziv, dat fiind că e o situație pe care o vedem în multe limbi vorbite în lume. Poți vedea și accesa câteva dintre ele la finalul acestui video așa că nu o să întru în detalii acum.
Ce ar fi important de spus însă este faptul că vocabularul nostru zilnic e uneori vinovat de forme de discriminare și “auto-discriminare” care influențează viețile femeilor și persoanelor non-binare. Când spun “auto-discriminare” mă refer la percepții de genul “eu nu sunt suficient de bună ca să fiu manager” sau “fetele nu pot să fie ingineri”.
Pe scurt, limbajul în care genul masculin este cel predominant, adică îl folosim aproape natural că varianta standard în exprimare, perpetuează stereotipuri sau creează unele noi despre rolul femeilor și al persoanele LGBTQ+
Și mai pe scurt: cuvintele au impact. Dacă ți le alegi cu grijă poți avea un impact social extraordinar.
Slide 7
Limbile cu gen gramatical sunt construite în jurul formelor de masculin – fie că vorbim despre substantive, fie că vorbim despre pronume. În consecință, cuvintele feminine apar că variații ale acestora, de obicei prin sufixuri specifice – în română “iță” sau “ă” ar fi câteva exemple.
Tot în consecință, variantele feminine sunt practic subordonate masculinului și asta se traduce, mai des decât ar fi cazul, în norme sociale cu același tipar pe care continuăm să le impunem sau să ni le asumăm, după caz.
Când începem să vorbim, in copilarie, începem practic să punem etichete pe tot ce ne înconjoară – ăsta e un măr, asta e o rochie, ăsta e un câine – și să împărțim lumea în masculin, feminin și neutru. De aici și până la a deduce că ierahia genurilor gramaticale se aplică și persoanelor din jurul nostru (inclusiv nouă) e un pas destul de mic. Genul ăsta de etichetare duce uneori la discriminarea pe care am menționat-o mai devreme – ajungem să judecăm și comparăm abilitățile, drepturile și meritele persoanelor prin filtrul genului. Adică să gândim în stereotipuri.
Slide 8
Ok, am vorbit despre impactul limbajului la nivel general, dar care e situația în limba română?
Slide 9
Limba română face parte din categoria limbilor cu gen gramatical, în care toate substantivele și pronumele au gen masculin, feminin sau neutru. Alte exemple din categoria asta sunt spaniola, franceza, araba, germană și rusa.
Din motive istorice și culturale, genul masculin este cel implicit în limba română, adică “el” e opțiunea principala în exprimare.
De exemplu, vedem destul de des (spre aproape exclusiv) termeni că “utilizator”, “client”, “pacient” sau “angajat” în site-uri, emailuri sau aplicații mobile. Cum toate sunt de gen masculin, e că și cum persoanele de gen feminin sau non-binare nu există.
Dacă ți se pare un pic exagerat, încearcă un test simplu: schimbă niște termeni de la masculin la feminin și vezi cum se simt bărbații atunci când li se vorbește așa. De exemplu, cum s-ar simți un programator care citește un anunț de angajare intitulat “căutăm programatoare cu experiență” sau cum ar fi dacă toate paginile de creare de cont ar spune “creează-ți cont de clientă”?
O altă problemă în limba română este confuzia legată de “sex” și “gen”. Deși nu înseamnă deloc același lucru, conceptele astea sunt folosite aproape aleator, uneori chiar amestecate, și aproape exclusiv binar.
Slide 10
Vestea bună e că există soluții simple pentru toate aceste lucruri, care pot transforma limbajul nostru comun într-unul incluziv.
Slide 11
Să începem cu masculinul generic. Preferința pentru genul masculin este cumva automată și e destul ușor de înțeles de ce apare și în interfețe web sau mobile.
Uneori spațiul este o problema în sine, pentru că e limitat și nu poți folosi ambele forme (adică masculin și feminin), dar există și pentru asta soluții.
De exemplu, poți să reformulezi textul în așa fel încât să nu mai ceară acordul cu genul. În exemplele de față, dacă înlocuiești substantivele cu formulări la persoana întâi (eu “am cont”) sau a doua (“Plătești TVA?”) nu mai trebuie să alegi un gen sau altul. Ambele variante au un beneficiu în plus: îți transformă textul într-unul mai conversațional, în care persoana respectivă se simte mai implicată.
O altă soluție, și mai simplă, este să menționezi și sufixul pentru genul feminin.
Slide 12
Dacă ai de-a face cu instrucțiuni sau texte mai ample, poți încerca să folosești formule de plural sau politețe, atunci când nu implică un gen anume. Că să fie mai clar la ce mă refer, gândește-te la diferența între a spune “Oferta este valabilă pentru abonații noștri” și “Oferta este valabilă pentru persoanele abonate” sau “Oferta este valabilă pentru dvs., în urmă abonării”.
Abordarea asta nu e întotdeauna ușoară sau posibilă, așa că o altă soluție este reformularea textului în așa fel încât să eviți raportarea la un anumit gen. În cazul de față, varianta “Păstrați autentificarea activă” folosește formă de politețe, fără să ceară acordul cu genul.
Ar fi bine să ai în vedere faptul că formulările politicoase nu se potrivesc tuturor produselor sau tipurilor de clienți și cliente, și tinde să facă textele un pic mai greu de citit și scanat. Asigură-te că soluția asta se potrivește în contextul tău și, dacă nu pare să fie o idee bună, încearcă adresarea directă, la persoana a doua, pe care am discutat-o în slide-ul anterior.
Slide 13
Un alt exemplu de masculin generic în interfață sunt textele ajutătoare (sau placeholder). Conform statisticilor recente, femeile înseamnă 51% din populația României, așa că pentru orice nume masculin folosit că exemplu sigur putem găsi ușor un nume feminin.
E destul de improbabil că toate persoanele care completează un formular să aibă un nume masculin așa că schimbarea acestor texte cu sugestii de gen feminin sau, și mai bine, nume neutre de gen este o soluție simplă care transmite un mesaj pozitiv.
Și încă o mențiune aici: alegerea unei forme de adresare (adică doamna, domnișoară, domnul) poate fi destul de inconfortabilă. În limbajul de zi cu zi, “doamna” implică o oarecare vârstă și statut marital, spre deosebire de “domnul” care e doar o formă de respect. Soluția cea mai simplă este să elimini aceste câmpuri sau, dacă trebuie totuși incluse, să le afișezi că opționale și nu obligatorii.
Slide 14
Și, desigur, cea mai prietenoasă soluție => adresează-te direct ambelor genuri atunci când poți.
Slide 15
Și am ajuns la genul profesional 🙂
Istoric vorbind, aproape toate ocupațiile au primit o denumire masculină, dat fiind că femeile aveau acces limitat sau deloc în mediul profesional. Dintre cele 4300+ de ocupații din România doar aproximativ 20 sunt menționate cu forme de feminin și sunt ocupații legate de roluri tradiționale ale femeilor – femeie de serviciu, guvernantă sau îngrijitoare.
Clasificarea asta în mod cert nu mai reflectă realitatea în care femeile sunt programatoare, inginere, ministre sau orice altceva își aleg că profesie. Faptul că folosim doar denumiri de meserii la masculin (chiar și atunci când avem ilustrații cu persoane de gen feminin, că în imaginile de aici) poate transmite mesajul că rolurile sunt deja stabilite și că unii sunt mai potriviți sau merită mai mult să aibă o anumită carieră.
Există studii care au arătat cât de receptivi sunt copiii la astfel de mesaje și cât de ușor este să asocieze o ocupație cu un anumit gen așa că folosirea titlurilor masculine atunci când vorbim despre profesii nu face decât să reconfirme stereotipuri de gen. Și uneori asta poate fi suficient ca să te facă să renunți la un vis din copilărie și să crezi, de exemplu, că doar bărbații pot fi astronauți.
Slide 16
În 2021, România a fost pe locul 25 din 27 în UE din perspectiva Indicelui egalității de gen, o valoare care nu s-a schimbat aproape deloc din 2010 încoace. Ce înseamnă asta? Înseamnă că în România femeile sunt mai expuse riscului de sărăcie decât bărbații, înseamnă că cele mai multe lucrează în domenii cu salarii mici, și mai înseamnă că sunt mai puține femei în conducerea companiilor private sau în roluri politice decât în majoritatea țărilor europene. În mod clar îmbunătățirea situației depinde de multe elemente, dar putem începe cu pași mici și de impact, cum ar fi să nu mai promovăm stereotipuri de gen în mediul profesional.
Fie că e vorba despre un manual, o campanie în social media, un site sau un anunț de angajare, folosește un conținut incluziv, care nu face presupuneri despre abilitățile sau carieră cuiva pe baza genului. Încearcă să-ți adaptezi limbajul scris și vizual astfel încât să te adresezi tuturor genurilor, binare și non-binare, că să nu fie unii mai egali decât alții.
Slide 17
În prezent cele mai multe anunțuri de angajare folosesc titluri de joburi la genul masculin. Cum ar fi dacă situația ar fi invers și toate ar folosi forme de feminin? S-ar mai simți un bărbat confortabil să aplice pentru un rol de casiera sau chimistă sau agentă de vânzări?
Asta clar nu e soluția pe care o propun, pentru că scopul este să fim toți incluși și incluse.
Așa că dacă te întrebi ce gen ar trebui să fie vizibil în titlul unui anunț, răspunsul este: toate. Dacă aș fi spus “ambele” ar fi însemnat să limităm audiență la persoanele de gen masculin și feminin, însă există mai multă diversitate decât cea binară. Așa că prin “toate” mă refer la genurile masculin, femin și non-binar.
Poți face asta indicând genurile într-o paranteză, folosind M pentru masculin, F pentru feminin și D sau G-N pentru persoanele non-binare. D reprezintă termenul “divers” iar “G-N” este acronimul pentru “gender neutral”. Ca un trivia fact, în Germania menționarea genurilor în anunturile de angajare este obligatorie prin lege de câțiva ani.
Dacă menționarea tuturor genurilor nu este o variantă posibilă (deși este cea mai incluzivă), menționează măcar și forma de feminin în anunț – ca în sugestia de aici, psiholog – psihologă.
Slide 18
Deși nu sunt foarte populare sau vizibile, acum există mult mai multe forme de gen feminin pentru nume de profesii. De bancheră, comisară și până la decană sau primară, există multiple variante de reprezentare a femeilor în ceea ce privește meseriile. Folosirea lor, în locul variantelor masculine, poate să încurajeze accesul în aceste domenii și să reducă din prejudecățile despre cine sunt persoanele potrivite pentru astfel de roluri.
Poți vedea mai multe exemple și recomandări în Ghidul pentru limbaj neutru din perspectiva genului, publicat de Parlamentul European în 2018.
Slide 19
Adaptarea titlurilor este primul pas, însă nu singurul. Descrierea dintr-un anunț e alt element care poate influență cine aplică sau nu la un job. Conform unor studii recente din America, diverși termeni deja clasici sunt percepuți diferit de femei și bărbați. De exemplu, cuvinte că “superstar”, “guru” sau “competitiv” sunt văzute ca fiind specifice genului masculin, așa că unele femei se pot simți nepregătite pentru un job descris așa. Statistic femeile sunt mai confortabile cu descrieri care fac referire la atribute că “atenție”, “flexibilitate” sau “încredere”.
Asta nu înseamnă că femeile nu pot fi competitive sau că își doresc doar joburi care cer multă atenție. Înseamnă doar că imaginea creată de anumite cuvinte poate atrage sau descuraja, în funcție de gen.
Asta se vede și în felul în care femeile și bărbații iau decizia de a candida pentru un job – bărbații aplică atunci când simt că acoperă 60% din cerințe, în timp ce femeile au nevoie de un procent de 100% că să simtă că e ok să aplice. Cuvintele incluzive, care evita acordul cu genul masculin și nu sugerează o tipologie masculină, împreună cu o lista de cerințe realistă, adică nu una care descrie o persoană imposibil de multilateral dezvoltată, pot face diferența între a avea 10 sau 100 de persoane care aplică la un job.
Slide 20
Și am ajuns la confuzia dintre sex și gen. Când vine vorba de gen și sex există o oarecare confuzie în general, nu doar în limba română. Există diverse situații în care cele 2 cuvinte sunt folosite fără a fi înțelese – o să vedem imediat câteva exemple în acest sens.
Implicațiile acestei confuzii merg dincolo de un text online, așa că e important să facem o distincție între cele două și să le folosim în mod corect.
Așadar, atunci când vorbim despre “sex” ne referim la o categorie biologică care ne este atribuită la naștere. În funcție de trăsăturile fiziologice și cromozomi, primim un certificat în care sexul este fie feminin (sau femeiesc) fie masculin (sau bărbătesc).
“Genul” este o categorie socială, care asociază anumite trăsături și comportamente cu sexul feminin sau masculin. Acestea reprezintă, de fapt, rolurile de gen, adică așteptările celor din jur despre cum ar trebui să fie o față sau un băiat – de la aspectul fizic, la maniere, carieră potrivită sau lucrurile pe care ar trebui să le facă în viață.
Spre deosebire de “sex” și “gen”, care sunt concepte despre cum suntem văzuți din exterior, identitatea de gen este despre auto-percepție. Identitatea de gen se referă la propriile preferințe și alegeri, de la cum ne place să ne îmbrăcăm sau să ne tundem părul la cum ne simțim cel mai confortabil să interacționăm sau pur și simplu să fim.
Identitatea de gen este un spectru care nu se mai raportează la sexul feminin sau masculin că repere absolute, pentru că în viață de zi cu zi nu suntem niște tipare umblătoare – avem personalități, aspirații, bucurii și frici de foarte multe feluri, pe care nu ni le “alegem” în funcție de sexul din certificat sau rolul de gen cu care este obișnuită societatea.
Acest spectru al identității include genuri binare și non-binare.
Cu aceste distincții clare, sper, hai să vedem câteva exemple de folosire a genului în interfețe.
Slide 21
Există încă destule site-uri (de la magazine online la furnizori de utilități) care îți cer să alegi un gen atunci când îți creezi cont. Nu prea am întâlnit situații în care genul să se reflecte cumva în experiența ulterioară, adică în conținut sau produse adaptate genului ales, așa că de cele mai multe ori nu e clar de ce ni se cere declararea genului. În plus, opțiunile sunt în general feminin sau masculin, fără să includă persoanele binare sau pur și simplu opțiunea de a nu indica un anumit gen.
Deci cum putem face formulare neutre de gen? În primul rând, ar trebui să fie clar de ce e nevoie de această informație – pentru noi, că autori ai formularului, și pentru persoanele care trebuie să-l completeze. Dacă nu există un motiv suficient de bun (de exemplu unul legal sau medical), cel mai simplu ar fi să elimini această întrebare. Asta înseamnă că și formularul sau procesul de creare de cont va fi mult mai simplu de completat și deci mai plăcut pentru toată lumea.
Dacă vrei totuși să ceri această informație, asigura-te în primul rând că vorbești despre gen (și nu sex) și apoi că există opțiuni prin care toată lumea se poate simți reprezentată – binare și non-binare.
În unele cazuri, de exemplu platforme de recrutare sau rețele sociale, este recomandată și varianta afișării pronumelui preferat de persoană respectivă. În exemplul de aici, luat din Facebook, alegerea unui pronume înseamnă un mod de reprezentare a identității persoanei respective, dar și un mod prin care alte persoane vor ști cum să i se adreseze în mod corect.
Slide 22
Toate exemplele din acest video sunt doar câteva cazuri, relativ comune, în care limbajul pe care-l folosim acum nu este incluziv. Există multe alte situații sau tipuri de comunicare în care apare limbajul non-incluziv și în care interactionăm mai degrabă conditionați de stereotipuri.
Din fericire, limba română, ca orice limbă din lume, este un element viu, care poate evolua odată cu noi. Și pentru asta trebuie doar sa acordăm mai multă atenție vocabularului pe care-l folosim și sa continuam să exersăm reguli noi, incluzive.
Slide 23
Aici sunt câteva idei simple care ne pot ajuta să scriem și să comunicăm mai empatic și mai incluziv. Chiar dacă standardul actual, în care folosim masculinul generic aproape ca un reflex, este simplu și la îndemână, nu e de fapt atât de complicat să trecem la un limbaj incluziv.
Într-un fel extrem de simplificat, tot ce trebuie să facem este că în loc de “bună ziua, doamnelor și domnilor” să spunem “bună ziua tuturor”. Și mai trebuie să ținem minte că deși nu știm mereu cu cine vorbim prin textul nostru, ar trebui să scriem în așa fel încât toată lumea să se simtă binevenită în conversație.
Că autori de conținut, scopul nostru este să comunicăm și să ghidăm. Asta înseamnă că avem responsabilitatea impactului pe care îl au cuvintele noastre – de la manuale școlare la anunțuri de angajare. Din fericire, avem și libertatea să rescriem reguli sau tipare care nu mai reflectă realitatea.
Slide 24
În concluzie, cuvintele pot invita sau, dimpotrivă, pot exclude. Cum vorbim definește atmosfera și exprimă ce considerăm a fi sau nu acceptabil.
Cum vorbim este și ceva ce putem controla și schimba imediat. Dacă folosești un limbaj incluziv asta nu înseamnă că cineva pierde și altcineva câștigă. Dimpotrivă – un limbaj incluziv ne permite tuturor – femei, bărbați și persoane LGBTQ+ – să participăm.
Slide 25
N/A
Slide 26
Îți mulțumesc pentru atenție și să ne auzim incluziv!
Slide 1
Hello! My name is Adina and I’ll be talking to you a bit about inclusive language in Romanian. This video is part of “The Gender Inclusive Language Project”, a project which gathers UX writers and content designers from various countries of the world.
Through this series we hope to initiate conversations about what an inclusive language is and to find, together, solutions for communications in which women and non-binary persons are better represented and accepted.
Slide 2
Before we begin, who am I though? I’m a UX writer/ Content designer, with several years of experience in marketing and copywriting. I’ve written all sorts of content, from website content to email marketing and UX copy, for ecommerce products, banks, freelancing platforms and software companies. Recently, I wrote a course titled “The brand voice lab”.
Slide 3
OK, now let’s get back to the important stuff. As I said earlier, the purpose of this video is to discuss our language – our day to day vocabulary and, especially, the one we use as content creators. When I say “content” I’m talking about articles, website content, social media posts or app interface copy, so pretty much every type of content out there.
Regardless of the format, we write content with a specific goal and audience in mind, and both elements impact the way we formulate our message. Ideally, we want to somehow influence the people who consume our content – whether to buy, subscribe or use our app. I’m mentioning these things because it’s important to remember that being content creators implies creating conversations, and the way we write a piece of news or describe a product creates perceptions, just like in an informal discussion with a friend or colleague.
But there are at least 2 important differences between a friendly chat and a discussion we start through our published content:
Firstly, the size of the audience. In a friendly chat the reactions we create are limited to the respective group, but a blog article can be read by thousands of people, so what you communicate through it can have a much bigger impact.
Secondly, the momentum of the message. In a friendly chat the exchange of ideas and reactions is fast, meaning you get a chance to learn the impact of your words quickly. In the case of the blog article, feedback is only approximate, because beyond comments (which you may or may not get), you just don’t really know how your message was interpreted and how it might affect the attitudes or actions of others. So it’s very important to choose your words wisely.
What I’m trying to say with this intro is that what we write is equivalent, in some ways, with what we do. If we create friendly content, we open ourselves to friendships. If we write with prejudice, we validate those prejudices.
Slide 4
The purpose of language is to put us in contact, to describe who we are and what we want, so that we can understand each other and collaborate.
When our everyday language favors a certain group and excludes or minimizes other persons, we’re dealing with non-inclusive language. And that’s a language that doesn’t serve its foundational purpose anymore.
Slide 5
If it sounds a bit abstract when I say “non-inclusive language”, try to imagine this scene: a manager gathers the entire team for a meeting, but when they talk they make eye contact with only 1 person from the team. Or maybe it’s easier to think about a group of friends meeting at a restaurant, where men greet each other but don’t say “hello” to the women present.
That’s roughly what non-inclusive language can feel like – it’s almost like saying “I know you’re here, but I choose not to talk to you.”
Sometimes, these things happen without ill intent, out of social awkwardness for example, and that’s ok – it can happen to the best of us. But their impact can be felt anyway, sadly, and it’s easy to feel like the unimportant or “ignorable” person in the room in such cases.
If you had to feel like this in every situation you go through in a random day – at school or work, in a store, when talking to a plumber or in any other type of interaction – I think you might feel more than just uncomfortable and you might start questioning both yourself and those around you.
Slide 6
There are a lot of studies analyzing the impact of non-inclusive language, given that it’s a problem in many languages around the world. You can check out some of them at the end of this video, so I won’t go into details right now.
What’s important to mention though, is the fact that our daily vocabulary is sometimes “guilty” of discriminatory and self-discriminatory formulas which influence the lives of women and non-binary persons. By “self-discriminatory” I mean perceptions such as “I’m not good enough to be a manager” or “girls can’t be engineers.”
In short, a language in which the masculine gender is the predominant one, meaning it’s used as the standard gender in our casual conversations, is a language which perpetuates stereotypes and occasionally creates new ones about the role of women and LGBTQ+ persons.
Words have an impact. If you choose them carefully you can have an extraordinary social impact.
Slide 7
Gendered languages are built around the masculine gender, for both nouns and pronouns. As a consequence, feminine words appear as variations of the masculine, usually through specific suffixes – “iță” or “ă” are some examples in Romanian.
Also as a consequence, feminine words are practically subordinated to the masculine and that translates, more frequently than it should, into social norms with the same pattern, which we continue to impose or adopt.
When we begin to talk, in our childhood, we basically start labeling everything around us – this is an apple, this is a dress, this is a dog – and dividing the world in masculine, feminine and neutral areas. It’s just a small step from this to assuming that the grammatical gender hierarchy also applies to people around us. This type of labeling sometimes leads to the type of discrimination I mentioned earlier – we begin to judge and compare the abilities, rights and merits of people through the filter of gender. Which is another way of saying that we start thinking in stereotypes.
Slide 8
OK, we talked about the impact of language in general, but what’s the status in Romanian?
Slide 9
Romanian is part of the gendered languages group, in which all nouns and pronouns have a masculine, feminine or neutral gender. Other languages in this group include Spanish, French, Arabic, German and Russian.
Due to historical and cultural reasons, masculine is the generic gender in Romanian, meaning “he” is the default option in conversations.
For instance, we often (close to exclusively) see terms such as “user”, “client”, “patient” or “employee” in various emails, websites or mobile apps. As they’re all maculine nouns, it almost feels like women or non-binary persons don’t exist.
If you think that’s a bit of an exaggeration, try this simple test: change some terms from their masculine form to the feminine one and see how men feel when they’re addressed like that. For example, how would a male software developer feel when reading a job ad titled “Hiring experienced female developers” or what would it be like if all account creation pages would state “create your female client account”?
Another problem in Romanian is the confusion around “sex” and “gender”. Although they have different meanings, these concepts are being used almost randomly, sometimes even mixed together, and almost exclusively in a binary fashion.
Slide 10
The good news is that there are simple solutions for all these things, solutions which can turn our day to day language into an inclusive one.
Slide 11
Let’s start with the generic masculine. The preference for the masculine gender is almost subsconscious and it’s relatively easy to understand why it’s the main choice for both web and mobile interfaces.
Sometimes the limited space available is a problem in itself, as it means you can’t use both gender forms (feminine and masculine), but there are workarounds for this too.
For instance, you can rephrase the text so that it doesn’t require you to conjugate verbs or adjectives to align with nouns or pronouns. In these examples, if you replace the nouns with 1st person (“I have an account”) or 2nd person forms (“Paying VAT?”) you no longer have to choose one gender or the other. Both options come with a bonus benefit: they make your text more conversational, meaning the reader will feel more involved.
Another, simpler, solution is to just include the femine suffix as well.
Slide 12
If you’re dealing with more complex instructions or texts, you can try to use plural or polite forms, when they don’t involve a specific gender. To make it clearer, think about the differences between saying “This offer is available to our subscribers (male plural)” and “This offer is available to all subscribed persons” or “This offer is available to you, as you’re subscribed”.
This approach isn’t always easy or possible, so another solution is rephrasing the text so that you avoid gender conjugation. In this case, the version “Keep your authentication active” uses a polite form which doesn’t reference a specific gender.
Keep in mind that polite forms aren’t appropriate for all products or client profiles, and they do tend to make texts a bit harder to read and scan. Make sure this solution fits your context and, if it doesn’t look like the best idea, try a direct approach, using the 2nd person form we discussed in the previous slide.
Slide 13
Another example of the generic masculine in interfaces are placeholder texts. According to recent statistics, women represent 51% of Romania’s population, so for every male name used as an example we can easily find a female example.
It’s pretty unlikely that all persons filling in a form have a male name, so changing these placeholders with female suggestions or, even better, gender-neutral names is a very simple solution sending a great, positive message.
And one more thing: choosing a title (meaning mrs., ms., mr.) can be quite uncomfortable. In day to day vocabulary, “mrs.” implies a certain age range and marital status, as opposed to “mr.” which is just a form of respect. The easiest solution is to just remove these fields or, if they absolutely must be kept, to show them as optional, not mandatory ones.
Slide 14
And, of course, the friendliest option: speak to both genders when you can.
Slide 15
And we reached the professional gender 🙂
Historically speaking, almost all professions got a masculine title due to the fact that women had little to no access to the workforce. Out of the 4300+ occupations indexed in Romania, only about 20 are mentioned with a feminine form and they’re all linked to traditional female roles – for example “cleaning lady”, “governess” or “caretaker”
This classification certainly doesn’t reflect reality anymore, as women now work as software developers, engineers, ministers or any other profession they choose. The fact that we still only use masculine versions of these professions (even when the imagery used shows women, like in these examples) can send the message that roles are clearly defined and some are better or deserve more to have a certain career.
There are studies that show how receptives kids can be to such messages and how easy it is for them to associate a certain job with a certain gender, so using masculine profession titles can only serve to reconfirm gender stereotypes. And sometimes that’s all it takes to make you abandon your childhood dream and think, for example, that only men can become astronauts.
Slide 16
In 2021, Romania ranked 25th out of 27 in the EU’s Gender Equality Index, a score that virtually hasn’t changed since 2010. What does that mean? It means that women in Romania are more exposed to poverty risk than men, that most women work in low-paying industries and that we have less women in boards of directors or political roles than the European average.
Clearly, there are lots of elements that need to change to improve this status, but we can start with small steps, such as by no longer promoting gender stereotypes in our fields of work.
Whether it’s a course book, a social media campaign, a website page or a job ad, use inclusive language which doesn’t make assumptions about someone’s abilities or career based on their gender. Try to adapt your written and visual language so that you address all genders, binary and non-binary, so that we no longer have some be “more equal” than others.
Slide 17
Currently most job ads use masculine role titles. But what would it be like if the situation was the other way around and all of them used feminine titles? Would a man still feel comfortable to apply for a “cashieress”, “chemistess” or saleswoman role?
This is definitely not a solution I’m suggesting, because the goal is for all of us to be included.
So, if you’re wondering which gender should be visible in a job ad, the answer is: all of them. If I’d have said “both” that would’ve meant limiting the audience to male and female persons, but there’s more diversity than just the binary one. So by “all of them” I’m referring to masculine, feminine and non-binary genders.
You can apply this by mentioning genders in parentheses, using M for masculine, F for feminine and D or G-N for non-binary persons. D stands for “diverse” and “G-N” is the acronym for non-binary persons. As a trivia fact, mentioning genders in job ads has been mandatory by law in Germany, for the past couple of years.
If mentioning all genders isn’t possible (although it is the most inclusive one), make sure to at least include the feminine form in your ad – like in this suggestion for psychologists.
Slide 18
Although they’re not very popular or visible, we now have plenty of feminine versions for various professions. From bankers and commissioners to deans and mayoresses, there are several ways to represent women when it comes to professional roles. Using these, instead of the masculine ones, can encourage access in their respective domains and reduce prejudices about who’s the right person for the job.
You can check out more examples and recommendations in the European Parliament’s Guide for Gender-Neutral Language from 2018.
Slide 19
Adjusting titles is the first step, but not the only one. Job descriptions are another element that can influence who applies for a job and who doesn’t. According to recent studies from the USA, certain terms widely used in job descriptions are perceived differently by men and women. For example, words like “superstar”, “guru” or “competitive” are seen as male-specific and they can make some women feel unprepared for a job described as such. Statistically, women feel more comfortable applying for jobs which include terms like “attentive”, “flexible” or “trustworthy”.
This doesn’t mean women aren’t competitive or that they only aspire to jobs demanding a lot of attention. It only means that the perception created by some words can attract or discourage, depending on the gender of the candidate.
This is also visible in the way women and men decide to apply for a job – men apply when they feel that they match 60% of the job requirements, while women need a full 100% to feel eligible.
Inclusive words, which avoid masculine gender conjugation and which don’t imply a masculine typology, along with a realistic requirements list (meaning not one describing an impossibly multiskilled person), can make the difference between having 10 or 100 persons applying for a job.
Slide 20
And we’ve reached the topic of “sex” versus “gender”. When it comes to gender and sex there’s a certain confusion in general, not just in the Romanian language. There are different situations in which these 2 words are used without a proper understanding of their meaning – we’ll see some examples soon.
The implications of this confusion go beyond a simple online text, so it’s important to make a clear distinction and to use them correctly.
So, when we talk about “sex” we’re referring to a biological category which is attributed to us at birth. Based on the physiological traits and chromosomes, we’re given a birth certificate in which the sex is either female or male.
“Gender” is a social category, which associates certain attributes and behaviors with the female or male sex. These actually represent the gender roles, meaning society’s expectations about how a girl or boy should be – from the physical appearance to manners, the appropriate career or the things they must do in their life.
Unlike “sex” and “gender”, which are concepts about how we’re seen from the outside, “gender identity” is all about self-perception. Gender identity represents our own preferences and choices, such as how we like to dress or cut our hair, how we like to interact and how we simply like to be and live our lives.
Gender identity is a spectrum which doesn’t use the female and male sex as absolute reference points, because in real life none of us is a “template” – we have personalities, aspirations, joys and fears of so many different sorts, which we don’t “choose” based on our birth sex or the gender role most familiar to the society.
This identity spectrum includes binary and non-binary genders.
With these distinctions hopefully clear now, let’s look at some examples of gender being used in interfaces.
Slide 21
There are still lots of websites (from online shops to utility providers) which require you to choose a gender when creating an account. I didn’t really encounter situations in which this choice is somehow reflected in my user experience, such as in tailored content or products, so most of the time it’s not really clear why we’re asked to declare our gender. On top of that, the options are usually strictly female or male, excluding non-binary persons and not offering the option to simply not choose a gender.
So how can we create gender-neutral forms? First, it should be clear why we’re asking for this information – to us, as form owners, and to the persons completing it. If there isn’t a good enough reason (such as a legal or medical requirement), the simplest solution is to remove this question. That would simplify the form and the account creation process, making it a better experience for everybody.
If, however, you do want to collect this information, make sure you’re referring to “gender” and not “sex” and check that the options you include allow everybody to feel represented – both binary and non-binary persons.
In some cases, such as recruitment platforms or social networks, it’s recommended to include the option to display the preferred pronoun. In this example, from Facebook, choosing a pronoun allows you to represent your identity, while also letting others know how they should address you.
Slide 22
All the examples in this video are just a few, relatively common situations in which the language we use isn’t inclusive. There are a lot of other situations or communication channels where non-inclusive language appears and where our interactions are still biased by stereotypes.
Luckily, the Romanian language, like any other language in the world, is a live organism, which can evolve with us. And for that to happen all we need to do is pay more attention to our vocabulary and continue practicing new, inclusive rules.
Slide 23
These are some simple ideas that can help us write and communicate in a more empathetic and inclusive way. Even if the current standard, in which we use the generic masculine almost out of reflex, is easy and within reach, it’s not really that hard to move on to an inclusive language.
In a very simplified way, all we need to do is, instead of saying “hello, ladies and gentlemen”, just say “hello, everybody”. And we need to also remember that we don’t always know who we’re talking to through our text, so we should write in a way that makes everyone feel welcomed to the conversation.
As content creators our goal is to communicate and to guide. And that implies taking responsibility for the impact of our words – from school books to job ads. Fortunately, we also have the freedom to rewrite rules or patterns which no longer reflect reality.
Slide 24
In conclusion, words can invite or, quite the opposite, exclude. How we speak defines the general feeling and expresses what we consider acceptable or not.
How we speak is also something that we control and can change right away. If you use an inclusive language that doesn’t mean somebody loses and somebody else wins. On the contrary – inclusive language allows all of us – women, men and LGBTQ+ persons – to participate.
Slide 25
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Slide 26
Thank you for watching and let’s talk inclusively soon!
Всем привет!
Это видео — часть проекта «The Gender-Inclusive Language Project». Цель этого проекта — показать, как писать гендерно-инклюзивные или гендерно-нейтральные тексты для интерфейсов (и не только). В проекте участвует много языков, и это видео посвящается русскому языку.
Сначала пара слов о себе. Меня зовут Кристина Левченя. По первому образованию я учительница английского и немецкого. Еще я закончила магистратуру по письменному и устному переводу в Майнцском университете в Германии и уже больше 4,5 лет перевожу интерфейсные тексты для приложений, веб-сайтов и ПО. Также я в прошлом году прошла курс повышения квалификации по программе «UX-писательство».
Итак, что же такое гендерно-нейтральный язык? Это язык, в котором нет отсылок к какому то одному полу или гендеру. В чем же разница между полом и гендером? Пол — это та анатомически данность, с которой человек рождается, а гендер — это то, как человек, родившийся мужчиной или женщиной, ощущает себя, ведет себя и воспринимается другими людьми в обществе. Гендер еще называют социальным полом, а людей, которые не определяют себя однозначно как мужчину или женщину, называют небинарными людьми. Так вот, гендерно-нейтральный язык учитывает людей всех гендеров и обращается ко всем одинаково, никого не игнорируя и не исключая.
Почему важно использовать гендерно-нейтральный язык? Многие ученые сходятся во мнении, что то, как мы говорим или пишем, не только отражает наше восприятие действительности, но и, в свою очередь, определяет его, влияет на то, как мы видим окружающий нас мир. Используя гендерно-нейтральные формулировки, мы сглаживает гендерное неравенство в самом языке, а это способствует тому, что и окружающая нас реальность становится более инклюзивной и менее конфликтной.
Итак, давайте посмотрим на то, как обстоит дело с гендерной нейтральностью в русском языке и в русскоязычных интерфейсах. Как мы видим, все очень плохо. Основная проблема — это использование языка, ориентированного на мужчин, что делает мужской пол социальной нормой, а всё остальное — отклонением от этой нормы. Примеров очень много: я не получил, я прочитал, я согласен, твердо уверен, участник, пользователь. Иногда используются бинарные формы: был(а). Почему это плохо? Во-первых, это развивает легендарную слепоту, то есть отказ от восприятия гендерных различий и вообще отказ принимать тот факт, что в мире много гендеров, а не только два (мужчины и женщины). Во-вторых, наверняка есть люди, которые не захотят пользоваться цифровым продуктом, который не обращается к ним или исключает их из целевой аудитории.
Итак, всего можно выделить три основные проблемы: существительные мужского рода и соответствующие им местоимения, прилагательные с родовыми окончаниями и глаголы с родовыми окончаниями. Давайте разберемся с каждой проблемой в отдельности.
Первая проблема — это существительное мужского рода. Для этой проблемы есть несколько решений.
Первое решение. Очень часто вместо существительных мужского рода в единственном числе используют множественное число, например, вместо Каждый пользователь должен пишут Все пользователи должны, полагая, что такое предложение нейтрально, ведь нет согласования глагола по мужскому роду. Но все-таки слово «пользователи» все еще мужского рода, потому что оно описывает группу мужчин. Ведь можно сказать «пользовательницы», чтобы описать группу женщин. Поэтому этого способа все же лучше избегать.
Второе решение — феминизация. Это использование слов женского рода, то есть феминитивов. Например, вместо «пользователь» мы можем сказать или написать «пользовательница», говоря о женщине или девочке. В русском языке много феминитивов, например: пассажирка, лекторша, директриса. Они часто используются в разговорной речи, но не очень подходят для интерфейсов. Почему? Во-первых, в русском языке очень много суффиксов, при помощи которых можно образовать феминитивы, поэтому сложно знать, как правильно образовать ту или иную форму, и если форм уже несколько (например, блогерка и блогерша), то сложно договориться, какую форму принять за основную. Во-вторых, некоторые феминитивы нейтральны, например пассажирка, пользовательница, учительница, а другие имеют пренебрежительный или даже уничижительный оттенок (иногда менее, иногда более заметный), например: врачиха, авторка. Поэтому многие женщины не хотят, чтобы к ним так обращались. Они не хотят, чтобы их называли «авторкой» или «эксперткой». Поэтому этих форм лучше избегать. Потому что если мы их будем использовать в интерфейсе, то наверняка кого-то обидим. В-третьих, и это последний и самый важный аргумент: феминитивы хоть и делают наш язык и наш интерфейс более инклюзивным, но они не делают его нейтральным, то есть мы наоборот даже подчеркиваем бинарность нашего языка и нашего общества и говорим, что в языке и в обществе есть место только мужчинам и женщинам. Поэтому все-таки лучше использовать последнее решение — нейтрализацию.
Третье решение — нейтрализация. Это когда гендерный маркер вообще стирается и подыскивается форма, где пол не виден. Например, не «пользователи и пользовательницы», а «люди, пользующиеся приложением». Итак, давайте посмотрим на конкретные примеры того, как можно «нейтрализовать» интерфейс.
Первое решение — сделать дополнение подлежащим: Кажется, пользователя Маша сейчас нет на месте. Где бы вы ни были, мобильное приложение Slack даст знать, когда он вам ответит. У нас здесь пользователь Маша, который он. Это звучит и выглядит плохо. Поэтому от этой формы лучше избавиться. Но мы не можем просто выбросить из предложения слово «пользователь», потому что тогда нам пришлось бы просклонять имя, а этого мы сделать по техническим причинам не можем. Поэтому можно сделать дополнение подлежащим и, например, написать: Кажется, Маша не может сейчас общаться. Где бы вы ни были, мобильное приложение Slack даст знать, когда вам ответят. Следующий пример: У пользователя Даша отключены уведомления. → Даша пока не хочет получать уведомления. Следующий пример: 50 руб. отправлено участнику Паша. → Паша скоро получит ваш перевод. Второе решение — это использовать предлог с двоеточием, то есть вместо Отправить сообщение пользователю Маша → Отправить сообщение для: Маша. После двоеточия идет перечисление, поэтому можно использовать именительный падеж и не нужно согласовывать имя с предлогом. Следующий пример: Это самое начало истории ваших личных сообщений с пользователем Маша → Это самое начало истории ваших личных сообщений с: Маша. Это, возможно, не самый оптимальный вариант, но все-таки это лучше, чем называть пользовательниц пользователями. Третье решение — это использовать безличного конструкцию. Например, вместо У пользователя приложения не должно быть доступа → У никого из загрузивших приложение не должно быть доступа; вместо Первое, что видит пользователь, когда он заходит на сайт → Первое, что видно при входе на сайт или Первое, что видно, когда заходишь на сайт.
Давайте теперь разберемся с проблемой номер два — это прилагательные с родовыми окончаниями. Что же можно сделать? Во-первых, можно удалить гендерный маркер: Насколько вы грамотный? → Насколько вы грамотны? Вместо Уполномоченный(-ая) можно написать Уполномоченное лицо (средний род). Во-вторых, можно заменить прилагательное на другую часть речи. Например, не Будь осторожен, а Сохраняй осторожность; не Будь первым, кто узнает, а Узнай раньше всех. Вместо Согласен можно использовать глаголы Соглашаюсь или Принимаю, вместо Не согласен → Против. Еще два примера. Первый пример (вверху). Итак, у нас здесь набор радиокнопок: согласен, частично согласен, затрудняюсь ответить, частично не согласен и не согласен. Гендерно-нейтральная форма здесь только одна: затрудняюсь ответить. Все остальные формы «заточены» под мужской род и пол. Как же это можно исправить? Можно использовать глаголы. Например: поддерживаю, частично поддерживаю, затрудняюсь ответить (эта форма сохраняется), в чем-то не соглашусь и не могу согласиться. Еще один пример (внизу): Насколько вы уверены, что эту задачу нужно решить в первую очередь? твердо уверен; не совсем уверен; не уверен. Решение на скриншоте справа: Насколько вы уверены, что эту задачу нужно решить в первую очередь? конечно, эту первой; 50 на 50, есть сомнения; вообще не знаю. Здесь использованы конструкции без глаголов, но всё прекрасно читается, и смысл сохранен. Это как раз то, что нам нужно.
Следующая проблема — это глаголы с родовыми окончаниями. В русском языке глаголы в прошедшем времени изменяются в единственном числе по родам. Как же обычно справляются с этой проблемой? Одно из решений — это использовать форму вежливого обращения («вы»). Например, Вы пользовались туалетом более 25 минут. Если же используется обращение на «ты», то в прошедшем времени (или сослагательном наклонении) часто используется бинарная форма, например: Как бы ты хотел(а) выполнить это упражнение? То же самое касается 1-го и 3-го лица: кто-то прошел(ла) обучение по программе, кто-то прошел(а) повышение квалификации, кто-то поделился(лась) публикацией. Иногда используют только глагол мужского рода: Я прочитал и соглашаюсь с условиями предоставления услуг. Я думаю, излишне объяснять, почему эту форму нельзя использовать. Кстати, это предложение очень легко «нейтрализовать»: нужно просто убрать слово прочитал, у нас останется Я соглашаюсь с условиями предоставления услуг. Если я соглашаюсь, то я, наверное, все-таки их прочитал (или прочитала). Итак, с этим все понятно. Но что же не так бинарными формами, когда используется окончание женского рода в скобках? Не так вообще всё. Во-первых, это некрасиво. Во-вторых, такие формы неудобно читать и зачитывать. В-третьих, есть разногласия по поводу того, как это оформлять: с пробелом между глаголом и скобками или без, с дефисом в скобках или без. Вообще нет четких правил оформления таких окончаний, поэтому очень часто образуются очевидно неправильные формы, например прошел(а). Но самая важная причина — это то, что такие формы наоборот подчеркивают, что в мире и в языке есть место только мужскому и женскому родам. И это, конечно, неправильно. Это как раз то, от чего мы хотим избавиться, используя гендерно-нейтральный язык. Итак, давайте посмотрим на то, какие есть решения для проблемы 3, то есть для глаголов с родовыми окончаниями. Как же их можно нейтрализовать? Во-первых, можно заменить прошедшее время на настоящее и вместо Маша начал(а) отслеживать ваши обновления можно написать Маша теперь отслеживает ваши обновления. Вообще очень часто помогает слово «теперь» — его просто нужно сказать, и глагол как-то сам напрашивается. Следующий пример: Выбери метод оплаты, который ты использовал(а) раньше. → Выбери метод оплаты, который ты уже используешь. Здесь помогает слово «уже». Следующий пример: Паша присоединился(лась) к каналу такому-то. Это очень некрасивая и тяжеловесная конструкция, поэтому от нее лучше избавиться и написать: Паша теперь в канале. Как я уже сказала, слово «теперь» всегда помогает, иногда даже помогает избавиться от глагола. Дальше. Иногда можно и нужно заменить прошедшее время на настоящее, чтобы избавиться от родовых форм, но не получится сохранить глагол. Например: Насколько вы определились с выбором курса или профессии? Выбрал(а). Вместо этой формы можно написать Точно знаю или Примерно знаю. Вместо Не определился(-ась) с направлением можно написать Пока не знаю, какое направление выбрать или Пока думаю, какое направление выбрать. Иногда можно заменить прошедшее время на инфинитив, то есть на неопределенную форму глагола. Особенно хорошо это решение подходит для кнопок. Например: Удалить сообщение? Вы точно хотите удалить это сообщение? Вернуть его будет уже нельзя. Нет, я передумал. Вместо Нет, я передумал можно написать Нет, оставить. Заголовок и кнопка прекрасно сочетаются. Иногда можно оставить прошедшее время, но нужно заменить подлежащее, например: Я заработал в этом году на кэшбэке → Мне принес кэшбэк в этом году. Следующее решение — это использовать страдательный залог. Например, Ты обновил(а) способ оплаты → Способ оплаты (был) обновлен. Вместо Проверь, хорошо ли ты усвоил(а) изученный материал → Проверь, хорошо ли тобой усвоен изученный материал. Я вообще не очень люблю страдательный залог и стараюсь его избегать, но все-таки страдательный залог — это меньшее зло, чем бинарные формы. Последнее решение, которое я предлагаю использовать, — это окончание множественного числа. То есть вместо Я не получил заказ или Я не получил возврат можно написать Я не получили заказ и Я не получили возврат. Почему это хорошее решение? Во-первых, это то, как небинарные люди сами про себя говорят. То есть они говорят «я не получили», «я отправили», «я сделали». Во-вторых, такие формы активно притягивают внимание к тем группам населения и группам общества, которые обычно замалчиваются, то есть к небинарным людям. В-третьих, благодаря такому простому решению в наших интерфейсах может быть меньше путаницы и тяжеловесности и больше гендерного равноправия. Давайте посмотрим еще на несколько примеров: Маша поделился(ась) публикацией → Маша поделились публикацией. Паша просмотрел(а) ваш профиль → Паша просмотрели ваш профиль. Наташа был(а) → Наташа были. То есть здесь мы, говоря про какого-то одного человека, используем форму глагола во множественном числе. Получается, мы за основу берем местоимение «они», говоря про одного человека. Это местоимение «они» в единственном числе. В этой функции местоимение «они» очень часто используется в английском языке, например, когда мы не знаем гендер какого-то человека и не знаем, как лучше сказать — «он» или «она», или мы вообще не хотим называть гендер или пол, потому что он нам не важен. Я убеждена, что и в русском языке это решение, то есть использование местоимения «они» в единственном числе, может прижиться. Мне очень понравилась цитата Элки из Москвы: Местоимение «они» я ощущаю как самое правильное и естественное. Оно не несет в себе горечь принуждения и социализации в приписанном гендере, оно позволяет просто быть, в моей изначальной свободной человеческой форме. Вот у нас уже есть готовое решение. Небинарные люди нам говорят, как они хотят, чтобы к ним обращались, а именно используя местоимение «они» и глаголы во множественном числе. Так почему бы не делать этого?
Итак, мы подходим к концу. Если вам хочется еще что-то почитать на эту тему, то вот список интересных источников.
Я очень надеюсь, что это видео поможет вам писать более гендерно-нейтральные тексты для интерфейсов. Благодарю вас за внимание и всем пока.
Patricia: [00:00:00] Hola, mi nombre es Patricia Gomez y hoy estoy junto con mi compañera Andrea Zamora y vamos a hacer un video para contaros un poco la situación del lenguaje inclusivo en el idioma español. Esto forma parte de un programa global que estamos haciendo junto con Content Collective sobre el lenguaje inclusivo alrededor del mundo, sobre todo en todos los idiomas. Y Andrea y yo vamos a hacer este vídeo sobre el español en particular, así que esperemos que les guste.
Andrea: [00:00:31] Hola, como decía Patricia, mi nombre es Andrea Zamora, soy directora general de Ida, que es una consultora en diseño de experiencia de usuario que está ubicada en Chile y también soy coordinadora del diploma en X Content Strategy, que es un programa de formación de posgrado dirigido para personas que quieran especializarse como UX, Fighters o Content. Cizañas en LinkedIn me pueden encontrar como Andrea Zamora y en Twitter como negra.
Patricia: [00:01:01] Y yo soy Patricia. Trabajo en King con mi asociada Vector of Content Design forma parte del equipo de la comunidad de Content Design a España y también doy clase en el postgrado de Content Design en Shifty. Me pueden encontrar en LinkedIn como Patricia Gomez y en Twitter como padres PAT. Bueno, que es la cuestión de la que vamos a hablar en este en este vídeo, bueno, para empezar a nuestra intención es dar como una visión general sobre sobre la cuestión del lenguaje inclusivo y dar iremos dando a multitud de recursos para por si queréis profundizar en esta cuestión. Pero nuestro objetivo aquí es dar como un primer paso, una primera aproximación a la cuestión del lenguaje inclusivo en el idioma español. Bueno, eh, seguramente hayamos estado acostumbradas al al uso que se hace del idioma español de una manera sexista, porque no existen idiomas sexistas o no, sino que existe un uso sexista que se hace del idioma, en este caso cuando usamos el lenguaje español de una forma sexista. Esto contribuye a que las mujeres y también los colectivos LGTBI se sientan menospreciados y sientan como que no tienen presencia en la sociedad, porque lo que no se menciona no existe.
Patricia: [00:02:28] Bueno, quería contaros un ejemplo que que resume muy bien está el estado de la cuestión es que había estando en un colegio, la maestra decía vale, los niños que acaben la tarea pueden salir al recreo. Y Julia se quedó en su silla quieta y la maestra le dijo Julia puede salir al recreo. Y claro, ella se quedó como vale, pero has dicho los niños y dice Bueno, en este caso los niños también se refiere a las niñas. Y ella dijo Vale, perfecto. Y salió al recreo. Y luego más tarde el profesor de gimnasia dijo Vale, que levanten la mano los niños que quieran participar en el equipo de fútbol. Y Julia levantó la mano porque ella quería ser parte del equipo de fútbol. El profesor de Gimnasia, un poco incómodo, le dijo Ya Julia, pero es que dije los niños y ella dijo. Pero antes la profe me ha dicho que los niños incluye a las niñas y ahora no es un poco confuso? Y esto ejemplifica un poco como las mujeres hemos tenido que aprender a saber cuándo el lenguaje o el masculino genérico nos están incluyendo y cuándo y cuándo no,
Andrea: [00:03:36] Eso, incluso hoy en día, afecta a los grados académicos que las mujeres podemos tener. Por ejemplo, tenemos ingenieros y no ingenieras, aunque hayamos estudiado ingeniería siendo mujeres.
Patricia: [00:03:49] Claro, también tenemos enfermeras, pero casi no hay enfermeros porque siempre ha sido como una una profesión dominada por mujeres o también tenemos jueces, pero no está bien dicho ser jueza. De hecho, el otro día vi como una medio polémica en Twitter porque una chica había aprobado la oposición para ser jueza en aquí en España. Entonces pues lo publicó en Twitter con la alegría que normal, porque a conseguir la plaza de juez en España, pues no es no. No es fácil, es un logro bastante, bastante grande. Entonces, claro, en Twitter puso una foto y dijo que ya era que había conseguido la plaza de jueza y hubo gente que le recriminó que dijera la palabra jueza. No, ya eres juez, en fin.
Andrea: [00:04:37] Y bueno, tenemos distintos ejemplos a lo largo del mundo, como decía Patricia, la presencia del comportamiento sexista cuando hablamos del lenguaje también es una manera en que nosotros vamos excluyendo a personas exclusivamente por manifestar su condición de género. Y eso en términos de el fenómeno social y cultural que eso involucra. También afecta a la manera en que nosotros nos comunicamos y usamos el lenguaje y nos vamos apropiando de ese de esos conceptos y los vamos incorporando en nuestra, en nuestra vida cotidiana. En términos de la investigación, por ejemplo, nos vamos a encontrar con que hay distintos procesos de investigación que plantean que en la medida en que nosotros somos capaces de incorporar los roles de género no predominantes o de roles no masculinos, también estamos contribuyendo a poder generar instancias de inclusión y de expectativa de personas que se sienten hoy día discriminadas porque su género no está en ese discurso. En ese contexto, cuando hablamos de lenguaje con perspectiva de género, en la medida en que no lo consideramos, también estamos limitando oportunidades y actitudes de personas que no tengan género masculino y que sientan que pueden participar de esos distintos espacios. Sin ir más lejos, cuestiones como la brecha salarial y la postulación a cargos en el caso de mujeres, por ejemplo, suele ser menor versus la situación de los hombres o si postulas al mismo cargo siendo mujer, también ves afectada tu remuneración en la medida que no tenemos paridad salarial en ese tipo de instancias. Si nosotros incorporamos en el lenguaje cuestiones que tengan que ver con la inclusión de la diversidad de género y de la perspectiva de género, claramente estamos contribuyendo, a diferencia del ejemplo que da la Patricia de los dos profesores, a incorporar desde situaciones muy cotidianas, desde que las personas son muy, muy pequeñas, los niños y las niñas.
Andrea: [00:06:52] La perspectiva de que hay una igualdad que no está determinada por cuál es el género con el que yo me identifico hoy día. En el caso de Chile, por ejemplo, hay algunas iniciativas que nos han permitido avanzar hacia la inclusión primero de la mujer como una primera etapa y del resto de la diversidad en etapas siguientes. Sin ir más lejos, hoy día tenemos un Ministerio de la Mujer y de la Equidad de Género que partió haciendo el Servicio Nacional de la Mujer y que se refería específicamente a situaciones en las que nosotras nos viéramos involucradas y hoy día también incorpora los demás géneros en su gestión. Además, se ha avanzado bastante en el reconocimiento social de la identidad de género, permitiendo hoy día que las personas trans, por ejemplo, puedan usar su nombre social sin necesidad de que sea el nombre que aparece en su identificación oficial. Y el caso más reciente fue la aprobación del matrimonio igualitario. Después de más de 15 años de discusión en el Congreso, que permite a personas del mismo sexo poder contraer el vínculo legal del matrimonio y además abre la posibilidad de que ellos puedan optar a la adopción de niños y niñas. Sin duda, estas iniciativas, que son más bien desde la institucionalidad, nos ayudan a avanzar hacia la inclusión de las personas sin considerar su género como un elemento que pueda ser discriminatorio.
Patricia: [00:08:28] En el caso de España contamos con un Ministerio de Igualdad desde el año 2008, bajo el mandato de José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, y últimamente también se ha avanzado, sobre todo en cuestiones de a de derechos de la de la comunidad trans y en general de la comunidad LGTBI. En este caso os muestro el cartel del orgullo de este año en España porque por primera vez se ha usado como lenguaje inclusivo, lo cual ha causado bastante revuelo, como os podéis imaginar. Y la actual ministra de Igualdad es una gran defensora del lenguaje inclusivo y derecho. De hecho, en sus discursos habla de hijo e hija Euge y también, como os podéis imaginar, está recibiendo muchísimas críticas en este sentido y también se llega a ridiculizar que use la palabra y o todes. Pero bueno, como ella dice, lo que no se nombra no existe. Así que por eso lo hace. En este caso, el lenguaje es también una forma de representar la ideología política.
Andrea: [00:09:39] Ahora, siguiendo la misma línea de que lo que no se nombra no existe en el idioma español, nos vamos a encontrar con que el masculino genérico resulta predominante en la comunicación de las personas según las posturas académicas que existen sobre este fenómeno. En el caso del lenguaje español, el masculino va a ser el género no marcado. La última gramática académica plantea además que hay un sentido de economía lingüística. Por lo tanto, vamos a evitar usar el los demás géneros en nuestra comunicación, en todas y todes, por ejemplo, porque necesitamos ser mucho más económicos en el uso del lenguaje y por lo tanto el poder desdoblar cada uno de los de los conceptos que vamos a usar para el resto de los géneros va en contra de esa, de esa perspectiva. Y además hay una un planteamiento en torno a la concordancia gramatical y que tiene que ver con que en la medida que nosotros incorporamos los demás géneros, la palabra que estamos tratando de nombrar pierde sentido. Entonces, por ejemplo, hablar de las alumnas de también de figura la palabra alumnos, que es el masculino genérico que se usa habitualmente. En ese contexto nos vamos a encontrar con que la gramática de la Real Academia Española, que es en el caso de nuestro idioma, es como la que vigila el super, vigila la la mantención y la sostenibilidad del idioma. Plantea que los sustantivos masculinos no sólo se emplean para referirse a individuos de ese sexo, sino que en los contextos apropiados para designar a todos los individuos que puedan estar. Si nosotros estuviéramos con un hombre en esta mesa, tendríamos que decir nosotros y no nosotras.
Andrea: [00:11:36] A pesar de que las mujeres estamos en una situación de mayoría y esa discusión claramente, al ser una discusión más teórica y académica, no va a la par de los fenómenos socioculturales que se asocian a la visibilidad y la reivindicación de las comunidades LGBTQ más y también de las disidencias que la componen. Algunos ejemplos de masculino genérico, por ejemplo, tenemos el caso de El login de un banco donde nos habla de Bienvenido. Tenemos también otros servicios que nos hablan de mantenernos conectados o de un viajero, como si las demás personas no viajáramos. Y en el último caso, donde también hablamos de no estar registrado. Si bien usan soy cliente como concepto genérico y que podría involucrar a todas las personas, seguimos manteniendo el masculino genérico en el resto de la comunicación. Por lo tanto, a pesar de yo ser mujer o de no sentirme identificada con el género masculino, me van a tratar de igual forma como si lo tuviera. Y este es otro caso de un sitio chileno del Centro de Investigación Periodística de Ciper Chile, donde la invitación es a ser socio y e idealmente ser invitado por otro socio. Y pareciera que las mujeres no tenemos espacio cierto para hacer la donación. Esa invisibilidad hace que nosotros, desde el lenguaje y desde el contenido, estemos favoreciendo la exclusión de personas que no necesariamente se sientan identificadas con el género masculino. Y el desafío desde nuestra disciplina tiene que ver con cómo somos capaces de incorporar esa diversidad también en la comunicación que hacemos a través de las distintas interfaces.
Patricia: [00:13:37] Yo quería añadir también, además, que hay una corriente también considerada extrema, que es usar el femenino genérico. Esto no es muy común, sobre todo en productos digitales en el mundo online, pero sí que es verdad que en el día a día en hablando, porque al final del idioma lo usamos los hablantes y somos los que marcamos como queremos usarlo. Pero si hay determinados contextos donde se usa el femenino genérico, esto es una opción que tenemos como como hablantes, porque al final el idioma es nuestro y aquí os mostramos cuál es la posición de la de la RAE. Pero el idioma español castellano es súper rico porque bueno, lo hablamos muchísimas millones de personas alrededor del mundo en diferentes países y por ejemplo el castellano que hablan, que se habla en Galicia en comparación con Andalucía, pues es totalmente diferente. Así que imaginaos cómo de diferente puede ser entre todos los países que lo que lo hablamos. Así que tenemos que aprender el
Andrea: [00:14:42] Idioma español del español chileno, que es uno de los más difíciles de aprender.
Patricia: [00:14:47] Entonces tenemos la oportunidad realmente de usarlo en la manera en la que mejor nos represente y más como nos quede.
Andrea: [00:14:57] Y ahí es muy importante que nosotros también tengamos sobre la mesa cómo entendemos de manera adecuada la diferencia entre sexo y género? Porque parte de la la discusión tiene que ver con que el argumento es que nos deberíamos guiar por el sexo, cuando en realidad la el fenómeno social y cultural en torno a las disidencias. Y esto plantea que nosotros deberíamos identificarnos a partir de nuestro género y es esa su principal reivindicación. En el ejemplo tenemos el registro cuando uno crea una cuenta en Facebook en español y si bien nos preguntan por género, seguimos también con elementos que son más bien predominantes y relacionados con el masculino genérico. En la medida en que tengo solamente las condiciones de hombre y mujer. Y un tercer estado que es personalizado, que no necesariamente me permite incorporar otro género en esa, en esa personalización. Y además nos da la posibilidad de que nosotros podamos elegir cómo queremos que nuestros contactos nos traten. Pero mantenemos la figura patriarcal cierto de el femenino, el masculino y el neutro. Por lo tanto, si yo me identifico con no me identifico ni con él ni con ella, van a tratarme de manera neutra. Pero lo más fácil de la manera neutra tiene que ver con mantener el masculino genérico otra vez.
Andrea: [00:16:33] Y un segundo ejemplo, en el caso del registro en Spotify en español nos vamos a encontrar con que hay una inconsistencia, porque si bien consideran hombre, mujer y no binario que nos hace, nos plantea que efectivamente están pensando con una perspectiva de género en la medida que nos preguntan por nuestro sexo. La pregunta se vuelve incómoda porque ya no necesariamente voy a identificarme desde ahí. En ese contexto, es súper relevante que nosotros entendamos que la el reconocimiento social del género con el que las personas se identifican es clave para que nosotros podamos comunicar a través de una interfaz. Y además, es muy necesario que entendamos también que si son datos que no son relevantes para la experiencia que la persona va a tener en el uso de nuestros productos digitales, es preferible no avanzar sobre esto. Sobre estos elementos si no necesitas o mi género o mi número de identificación, por ejemplo, para que yo complete un formulario, es mejor que esa información queda excluida de ese proceso y nos concentremos exclusivamente en la información que sí es necesaria.
Patricia: [00:17:46] Si, como conté en Designers y sobre todo profesionales que trabajan en el diseño centrado en las personas, es importante que hagamos estas preguntas en las empresas donde trabajamos, en los proyectos en los que colaboramos. La pregunta es es realmente importante saber el sexo o el género del usuario? Porque a lo mejor que esa persona no quiera compartirlo con nosotros y tenemos que aceptar también que no quieran compartir esta información con nosotros. Así que es como podemos hacer mucho por que las empresas se plantean si realmente necesitan esta información y para qué la necesitan. Así es. Bueno, hablemos sobre el lenguaje inclusivo, ya hemos hablado sobre un poco la problemática que genera el uso del del masculino genérico y el uso de no saber diferenciar entre sexo y género. Entonces ahora vamos a empezar a hablar un poco de qué podemos hacer desde nuestra perspectiva para usar un lenguaje con muchísima más empatía de género. Os mostramos una serie de recursos que os pueden ayudar a profundizar en esta cuestión, sobre todo que os puede dar herramientas para cómo usar el lenguaje de una manera mucho más inclusiva. Tenéis la guía para una comunicación más inclusiva, de prodigioso volcán. También tenéis la guía de la Fundéu y luego tenéis dos libros bastante importantes. Por un lado, el de Y Alegre, que se titula Exciting con empatía de género. También podéis ver numerosos vídeos de charlas que ella ha hecho, así que podéis buscarla en YouTube, en Instagram, en Twitter, etc.
Patricia: [00:19:31] Y la encontraréis hablando sobre este tema y también a otro libro. Ni por favor ni ni por favor. Existen multitud de guías y de información sobre sobre cómo usar el lenguaje inclusivo. De hecho, hay muchísimas universidades que también las publican, pero os ponemos aquí estos, estas cuatro guías, porque en nuestro caso nos han parecido bastante representativas. Entonces empezamos una de las primeras técnicas que podemos usar para hacer un uso más inclusivo del lenguaje es el desdoblamiento, que es usar tanto el mencionar tanto el género masculino como como femenino. Esto va en contra un poco con la visión que tiene la RAE de usar el lenguaje de una forma mucho más económica. Pero bueno, en este caso de nuevo, como estamos haciendo diseño centrado en las personas, lo que queremos es hacer que esas personas se sientan mucho más representadas a la hora de de usar el producto. Seguramente usar el desdoblamiento sea o conlleve dificultades porque ocupa más espacio en la interfaz. Pero bueno, la idea es buscar una serie de empujar esos límites del lenguaje también para para que las personas se sientan incluidas. Aquí tenemos dos dos ejemplos uno de una página de seguros donde se habla de el hijo hija con una barra y otra página de Chile, creo que es la
Andrea: [00:21:03] Del seguro de cesantía.
Patricia: [00:21:05] Exacto. Entonces aquí no sólo se usa el desdoblamiento, sino que también se están usando íconos más inclusivos, porque se usa el ícono de arriba de un chico o una chica de abajo, de una persona mayor, un hombre mayor y una y una mujer mayor.
Andrea: [00:21:24] Ahí la recomendación principal tiene que ver con cómo nosotros incorporamos conceptos o llamamos a la acción que estén definidos en un género neutro y que no sea ese género el masculino. Por ejemplo, en el caso de quedó cesante, nosotros estamos haciendo una pregunta de género neutro, pero le damos una perspectiva de género en la medida que incorporamos un ícono donde aparece un hombre y una mujer. Y ahí también cumplimos con la regla de la Real Academia Española de ser económicos en el lenguaje en la medida que reemplazamos los conceptos que involucran los géneros.
Patricia: [00:22:05] Otro otro ejemplo que se me viene a la cabeza es cuando una interfaz te pregunta Estás seguro de que quieres continuar? Cuando hay una manera mucho más económica, es decir, seguro que quieres continuar porque es una, es una forma, una fórmula totalmente neutra y encima es más corta. Por tanto, a veces el hecho de ser inclusivo puede que no sea que sea incluso económico.
Andrea: [00:22:28] Exactamente. Y acá tenemos otro. Otro ejemplo que tiene que ver con cómo nosotros evitamos el masculino genérico reemplazando el uso de ese estado por uno neutro. Y ahí creo que uno de los errores más habituales que cometemos tiene que ver con usar el símbolo arroba o la equis, para no decir todos y todas, sino de todos con una X reemplazando a la que nos da el masculino. Cuál es la dificultad de esto? Es que efectivamente podemos estar siendo inclusivos desde la perspectiva de género, pero en el caso de las personas con discapacidad especialmente visual y que usan lectores de pantalla para poder entender y leer las interfaces, la X y el arroba no van a ser leídas de manera correcta. Por lo tanto, la persona no va a entender que como es el ejemplo dice bienvenido, sino que en realidad dice bienvenido a Roma. Y eso no es una palabra que exista en nuestro idioma. Entonces ahí también está esta idea de la economía, del lenguaje y de tratar de buscar expresiones que sean neutras en género. Facilita además la comprensión lectora de las personas, sean o no evidentes, tengan o no una discapacidad visual, en la medida que el contenido está expresado de manera correcta, sin intervenciones o sin conceptos que no puedan ser comprendidos de manera fácil.
Patricia: [00:24:01] Claro, en este caso la solución es inclusiva, pero no es accesible. Entonces estás dando una solución, proponiendo otro problema.
Andrea: [00:24:10] Efectivamente. Y ahí este error es más habitual de lo que uno quiera. Y volvemos al a a esta disyuntiva cierto del fenómeno social, porque hay muchas comunidades que usan efectivamente el arroba como reemplazo o como incorporación de la isla o en su comunicación, pero que en el caso de las interfaces digitales son también una forma de exclusión de las personas con discapacidad que pueden utilizar ayudas técnicas para ocupar estas estas interfaces.
Patricia: [00:24:45] Vale, otra, otra solución que podemos adoptar es como hablábamos antes, hay muchas, a la manera en la que se usa el nombre de las profesiones, pues puede ser también sexista. Hablamos del ejemplo de juez, jueza, etc. Entonces una de las soluciones es usar el nombre genérico para la profesión en sí la comunidad profesional y no el la persona profesional. Entonces, en el caso de en lugar de usar profesor o profesora, podemos usar el profesorado o por ejemplo, durante la pandemia siempre hemos estado hablando de los sanitarios y se puede hablar de la comunidad de profesionales. Bueno, esto tampoco sería inclusivo. Es complicado usar el lenguaje de manera inclusiva, pero para referirnos a los sanitarios, cómo podríamos referirnos a ellos? Porque no los
Andrea: [00:25:32] Generales de la salud?
Patricia: [00:25:34] Exacto. Gracias.
Andrea: [00:25:37] En el caso, por ejemplo, cuando estamos haciendo labores de docencia y tenemos que hablar con nuestro estudiantado en vez de alumnos y alumnas, también podemos usar estudiantes, que también se entiende como neutro en género. Ahí sí tenemos que incorporar el les estudiantes en vez de los estudiantes para no caer en el masculino genérico del que estamos tratando de escapar. Y también es importante que cuando nosotros entendemos el el diseño de experiencia y específicamente el diseño de experiencia desde el contenido, tenemos que tener muy claro que no es solamente la redacción de esos contenidos. También es cómo nosotros ubicamos otros elementos dentro de la interfaz que tienen que ver principalmente con elementos gráficos. En este caso, y lo revisamos hacer algunas slide atrás, nos encontramos con que el uso de iconografía también va a favorecer a que las personas se sientan identificadas. En este caso usamos una pareja compuesta por un hombre y una mujer. Por lo tanto, entendemos que el servicio que entrega la aseguradora del fondo de cesantía en el caso chileno es una institución que se relaciona con hombres y con mujeres principalmente, y eso puede hacer que sus usuarios y sus usuarias se sientan identificados con lo que están viendo en pantalla. Si se fijan, cuando nosotros hablamos de inclusión, no solamente es un fenómeno cultural que se estudia y que es como intenso y masivo en su en su organización, sino también a través de pequeñas cosas como incorporar iconografía que tenga perspectiva de género. También podemos ofrecer una mejor experiencia a las personas usuarias de ese servicio.
Patricia: [00:27:32] Y por último, nos podemos servir también del código de software para hacer que el lenguaje sea más inclusivo. La primera captura la ha sacado de un vídeo que grabó Pablo Muñoz, que es un traductor de ingles español a quien en España entonces habla sobre cómo hacer traducciones que sean más inclusivas y ponía este ejemplo que es básicamente puedes usar diferentes etiquetas según el género, en este caso del del carácter. Siempre está en inglés. Del carácter de un videojuego. En el caso de que sea de género masculino o femenino, etcétera, etcétera. Entonces echar un vistazo al vídeo porque da bastantes trucos a la hora de traducir del inglés al castellano de una manera que sea mucho más inclusiva. Y luego también podéis echar un vistazo a la página de developer de Android, donde también se explica cómo a través del código se puede hacer que la concordancia de género sea mucho más inclusiva. Muy parecido a la forma en la que se construyen los plurales a través de diferentes etiquetas.
Andrea: [00:28:45] Efectivamente, ahí creemos que lo más relevante es que nosotros y nosotras, como diseñadores de experiencia, como Content Designer, como Reuters, entendamos que tenemos una responsabilidad y tenemos la posibilidad de poder crear interfaces que sean más inclusivas. Y al ser este un cambio cultural, es probable que la normativa vaya un poco más atrás de lo que orgánicamente está está pasando. Nosotros hacemos diseño de experiencia y al menos los que hemos estudiado esto nos enseñan siempre que la empatía es clave para que nosotros podamos ofrecer una experiencia que sea significativa o memorable para las personas. La empatía comienza con ponernos en el lugar de un otro o una otra, y si olvidamos como ellos se identifican desde el género. Claramente esa premisa no nos está cumpliendo y estamos siendo discriminatorios con él.
Patricia: [00:29:44] Por lo tanto, tenemos una gran poder y responsabilidad, porque al fin y al cabo estamos creando el lenguaje en español o castellano, en internet o en el mundo digital. Así que está en nuestra mano que sea lo más inclusivo posible, sobre todo pensando en las personas para las cuales estamos diseñando contenido. Y no los dejamos aquí una una serie de recursos que podéis consultar sobre libros, guías, vídeos, artículos, etc. sobre el sobre el lenguaje inclusivo y nada. Espero que les haya gustado el vídeo y que podamos seguir hablando sobre lenguaje inclusivo. Muchísimos años más.
Andrea: [00:30:29] Muchas gracias también por haber habernos puesto atención y esperamos que nuestras ideas y nuestros planteamientos también le sirvan para su trabajo diario. Un abrazo desde Chile
Patricia: [00:30:43] Y un abrazo desde España.
Andrea: [00:30:45] Y nos encontramos en otra oportunidad.
Patricia: [00:00:00] Hello, my name is Patricia Gomez and today I am with my partner Andrea Zamora and we are going to make a video to tell you a little about the situation of inclusive language in the Spanish language. This is part of a global program we are doing together with UX Content Collective on inclusive language around the world, especially in all languages. And Andrea and I are going to make this video about Spanish in particular, so hopefully you’ll like it.
Andrea: [00:00:31] Hello, as Patricia was saying, my name is Andrea Zamora, I am the general manager of Ida, which is a user experience design consultancy based in Chile and I am also the coordinator of the diploma in X Content Strategy, which is a postgraduate training program for people who want to specialize as UX, Fighters or Content. Cizañas on LinkedIn you can find me as Andrea Zamora and on Twitter as negra.
Patricia: [00:01:01] And I am Patricia. I work in King with my partner Vector of Content Design, I am part of the team of the Content Design community in Spain and I also teach in the postgraduate course of Content Design at Shifty. You can find me on LinkedIn as Patricia Gomez and on Twitter as PAT parents. Well, that is the issue that we are going to talk about in this video, well, to begin with our intention is to give an overview of the issue of inclusive language and we will give you a lot of resources in case you want to go deeper into this issue. But our objective here is to give as a first step, a first approach to the issue of inclusive language in the Spanish language. Well, uh, surely we have been accustomed to the use of the Spanish language in a sexist way, because there are no sexist languages or not, but there is a sexist use of the language, in this case when we use the Spanish language in a sexist way. This contributes to women and also LGTBI collectives feeling undervalued and feeling as if they have no presence in society, because what is not mentioned does not exist.
Patricia: [00:02:28] Well, I wanted to tell you an example that summarizes very well the state of the question is that I was in a school, the teacher said okay, the children who finish their homework can go out to recess. And Julia sat still in her chair and the teacher said Julia can go out to recess. And of course, she was like okay, but you said boys and she says Well, in this case boys also refers to girls. And she said Okay, perfect. And he went out for recess. And then later the gym teacher said Okay, show of hands for the kids who want to join the soccer team. And Julia raised her hand because she wanted to be part of the soccer team. The Gymnastics teacher, a little uncomfortable, said Ya Julia, but I said children and she said. But earlier the teacher told me that boys include girls and now isn’t that a bit confusing? And this exemplifies a bit how women have had to learn to know when the language or the generic masculine is including us and when and when not,
Andrea: [00:03:36] That, even today, affects the academic degrees that women can have. For example, we have engineers and non-engineers, even though we studied engineering as women.
Patricia: [00:03:49] Sure, we also have nurses, but there are almost no nurses because it has always been like a female-dominated profession or we also have judges, but it is not well said to be a judge. In fact, the other day I saw like a half controversy on Twitter because a girl had passed the opposition to be a judge in here in Spain. So then he posted it on Twitter with the joy that normal, because to get the judge’s seat in Spain, well it is not no. It’s not easy, it’s a pretty, pretty big accomplishment. Then, of course, she posted a photo on Twitter and said that she had already gotten the judgeship and some people reproached her for saying the word judge. No, you are already a judge, anyway.
Andrea: [00:04:37] And well, we have different examples throughout the world, as Patricia said, the presence of sexist behavior when we talk about language is also a way in which we exclude people exclusively because of their gender condition. And that in terms of the social and cultural phenomena involved. It also affects the way in which we communicate and use language and we are appropriating these concepts and incorporating them in our, in our daily life. In terms of research, for example, we will find that there are different research processes that suggest that to the extent that we are able to incorporate non-predominant gender roles or non-masculine roles, we are also contributing to generate instances of inclusion and expectations of people who feel discriminated against today because their gender is not in that discourse. In this context, when we talk about language with a gender perspective, to the extent that we do not consider it, we are also limiting the opportunities and attitudes of people who do not have a male gender and who feel they can participate in these different spaces. Without going any further, issues such as the salary gap and the application for positions in the case of women, for example, is usually less than the situation of men, or if you apply for the same position as a woman, your remuneration is also affected to the extent that we do not have salary parity in these types of instances. If we incorporate into the language issues that have to do with the inclusion of gender diversity and the gender perspective, we are clearly contributing, unlike the example given by Patricia of the two teachers, to incorporate from very everyday situations, from when people are very, very small, boys and girls.
Andrea: [00:06:52] The perspective that there is an equality that is not determined by which gender I identify with today. In the case of Chile, for example, there are some initiatives that have allowed us to advance towards the inclusion of women as a first stage and of the rest of the diversity in subsequent stages. Without going any further, today we have a Ministry of Women and Gender Equality that started out as the National Women’s Service and specifically referred to situations in which we were involved, and today it also incorporates the other genders in its management. In addition, considerable progress has been made in the social recognition of gender identity, allowing trans persons, for example, to use their social name without the need for it to be the name that appears on their official identification. And the most recent case was the approval of equal marriage. After more than 15 years of discussion in Congress, which allows people of the same sex to enter into the legal bond of marriage and also opens the possibility for them to opt for the adoption of children. Undoubtedly, these initiatives, which are more of an institutional nature, help us to move towards the inclusion of people without considering their gender as an element that may be discriminatory.
Patricia: [00:08:28] In the case of Spain, we have had a Ministry of Equality since 2008, under the mandate of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and recently progress has also been made, especially in matters of rights of the trans community and the LGTBI community in general. In this case I show you this year’s pride poster in Spain because for the first time it has been used as inclusive language, which has caused quite a stir, as you can imagine. And the current Minister of Equality is a strong advocate of inclusive and straightforward language. In fact, in his speeches he speaks of son and daughter Euge and also, as you can imagine, he is receiving a lot of criticism in this regard and is also ridiculed for using the word and or todes. But well, as she says, what is not named does not exist. So that’s why he does it. In this case, language is also a way of representing political ideology.
Andrea: [00:09:39] Now, following the same line that what is not named does not exist in the Spanish language, we will find that the generic masculine is predominant in the communication of people according to the academic positions that exist on this phenomenon. In the case of the Spanish language, the masculine will be the unmarked gender. The latest academic grammar further posits that there is a sense of linguistic economy. Therefore, we are going to avoid using the other genders in our communication, in todas and todes, for example, because we need to be much more economical in the use of language and therefore being able to unfold each of the concepts that we are going to use for the rest of the genders goes against that, that perspective. And there is also an approach to grammatical concordance that has to do with the fact that to the extent that we incorporate the other genders, the word we are trying to name loses meaning. So, for example, to speak of female students is also to use the word “students”, which is the generic masculine word that is usually used. In this context, we will find that the grammar of the Real Academia Española, which in the case of our language, is like the one that watches over the super, watches over the maintenance and sustainability of the language. It states that masculine nouns are not only used to refer to individuals of that sex, but in appropriate contexts to designate all individuals who may be. If we were with a man at this table, we would have to say we and not us.
Andrea: [00:11:36] Despite the fact that women are in a majority situation and that discussion clearly, being a more theoretical and academic discussion, does not go hand in hand with the socio-cultural phenomena that are associated with the visibility and vindication of LGBTQ communities and also of the dissidences that compose it. Some examples of generic masculine, for example, we have the case of El login de un banco where it tells us about Bienvenido. We also have other services that talk about staying connected or a traveler, as if other people don’t travel. And in the last case, where we also talk about not being registered. Although they use I am a customer as a generic concept that could involve all people, we continue to use the generic masculine in the rest of the communication. Therefore, despite the fact that I am a woman or do not identify with the male gender, I will be treated the same as if I did. And this is another case of a Chilean site of the Centro de Investigación Periodística de Ciper Chile, where the invitation is to be a partner and ideally to be invited by another partner. And it seems that women do not have the space to donate. This invisibility means that we, through language and content, are favoring the exclusion of people who do not necessarily identify with the male gender. And the challenge from our discipline has to do with how we are able to incorporate that diversity also in the communication we do through the different interfaces.
Patricia: [00:13:37] I also wanted to add that there is a trend that is also considered extreme, which is to use the generic feminine. This is not very common, especially in digital products in the online world, but it is true that in the day to day speaking, because at the end of the language is used by the speakers and we are the ones who mark how we want to use it. But if there are certain contexts where the generic feminine is used, this is a choice we have as speakers, because in the end the language is ours and here we show you what is the position of the RAE. But the Castilian Spanish language is very rich because, well, it is spoken by many millions of people around the world in different countries and, for example, the Spanish spoken in Galicia compared to Andalusia is totally different. So imagine how different it can be among all the countries that speak it. So we have to learn the
Andrea: [00:14:42] Spanish language of Chilean Spanish, which is one of the most difficult to learn.
Patricia: [00:14:47] Then we have the opportunity to really use it in the way that best represents us and the way it fits us.
Andrea: [00:14:57] And here it is very important that we also have on the table how we properly understand the difference between sex and gender? Because part of the discussion has to do with the argument that we should be guided by sex, when in fact the social and cultural phenomenon around dissidence. And this suggests that we should identify ourselves on the basis of our gender, and that is its main claim. In the example we have the record when one creates a Facebook account in Spanish and although we are asked for gender, we also continue with elements that are rather predominant and related to the generic masculine. Insofar as I have only the conditions of male and female. And a third state that is personalized, that does not necessarily allow me to incorporate another genre in that, in that personalization. It also gives us the possibility to choose how we want our contacts to treat us. But we maintain the true patriarchal figure of the feminine, the masculine and the neutral. Therefore, if I identify with neither him nor her, they will treat me neutrally. But the easiest of the neutral way has to do with keeping the masculine generic again.
Andrea: [00:16:33] And a second example, in the case of the record in Spotify in Spanish we are going to find that there is an inconsistency, because while they consider male, female and non-binary that makes us, it raises us that they are indeed thinking with a gender perspective to the extent that they ask us about our sex. The question becomes uncomfortable because I am no longer necessarily going to identify myself from there. In this context, it is very important for us to understand that the social recognition of the gender with which people identify themselves is key for us to be able to communicate through an interface. And also, it is very necessary that we also understand that if it is data that is not relevant to the experience that the person is going to have in the use of our digital products, it is preferable not to move forward on this. On these elements, if you do not need my gender or my ID number, for example, for me to fill out a form, it is better that this information is excluded from this process and we concentrate exclusively on the information that is necessary.
Patricia: [00:17:46] Yes, as I told in Designers and especially professionals working in people-centered design, it is important that we ask these questions in the companies where we work, in the projects in which we collaborate. The question is it really important to know the sex or gender of the user? Because that person may not want to share it with us and we have to accept that they may not want to share this information with us. So that’s how we can do a lot to get companies to think about whether they really need this information and what they need it for. That’s right. Well, let’s talk about inclusive language, we have already talked about the problems generated by the use of the generic masculine and the use of not knowing how to differentiate between sex and gender. So now let’s start talking a little bit about what we can do from our perspective to use much more gender-empathetic language. We show you a series of resources that can help you to go deeper into this issue, especially that can give you tools on how to use language in a much more inclusive way. You have the guide for a more inclusive communication, of prodigious volcano. You also have the Fundéu guide and then you have two very important books. On the one hand, that of Y Alegre, entitled Exciting with gender empathy. You can also see numerous videos of talks she has done, so you can look her up on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Patricia: [00:19:31] And you will find her talking about this subject and also to another book. Neither please nor please. There are a multitude of guides and information on how to use inclusive language. In fact, there are many universities that also publish them, but we put these four guides here, because in our case we have found them to be quite representative. Then we start one of the first techniques we can use to make a more inclusive use of language is splitting, which is using both the masculine and feminine genders. This goes against the RAE’s vision of using language in a much more economical way. But well, in this case again, since we are doing people-centered design, what we want to do is make those people feel much more represented when it comes to using the product. It is likely that using the splitting will be or will lead to difficulties because it takes up more space on the interface. But, well, the idea is to look for a series of pushing those language boundaries as well so that people feel included. Here we have two examples, one from an insurance website where they talk about the son daughter with a slash and another website from Chile, I think it is the
Andrea: [00:21:03] Severance insurance.
Patricia: [00:21:05] Exactly. So here not only is the splitting used, but also more inclusive icons are being used, because the icon above is used of a boy or a girl below, of an older person, an older man and an older woman.
Andrea: [00:21:24] Here the main recommendation has to do with how we incorporate concepts or call to action that are defined in a neutral gender and that is not the masculine gender. For example, in the case of quedó cesante, we are asking a gender-neutral question, but we give it a gender perspective to the extent that we incorporate an icon where a man and a woman appear. And there we also comply with the Real Academia Española’s rule of being economical in language to the extent that we replace concepts involving genders.
Patricia: [00:22:05] Another example that comes to mind is when an interface asks you: Are you sure you want to continue? When there is a much more economical way, I mean, sure you want to continue because it’s a, it’s a way, it’s a totally neutral formula and on top of that it’s shorter. Therefore, sometimes being inclusive may not be that it is even economical.
Andrea: [00:22:28] Exactly. And here’s another one. Another example has to do with how we avoid the generic masculine by replacing the use of that status with a neutral one. And here I believe that one of the most common mistakes we make has to do with using the at symbol or the x, so as not to say todos and todas, but de todos with an X replacing the one that gives us the masculine. What is the difficulty of this? We may indeed be being inclusive from a gender perspective, but in the case of people with visual disabilities and who use screen readers to understand and read the interfaces, the X and the at sign will not be read correctly. Therefore, the person will not understand that as the example says welcome, but actually says welcome to Rome. And that is not a word that exists in our language. So there is also this idea of economy, of language and of trying to find expressions that are gender neutral. It also facilitates the reading comprehension of people, whether or not they are visually impaired, as the content is expressed correctly, without interventions or concepts that cannot be easily understood.
Patricia: [00:24:01] Sure, in this case the solution is inclusive, but it is not accessible. So you are providing a solution, proposing another problem.
Andrea: [00:24:10] Indeed. And here this error is more common than one would like. And we return to this disjunctive social phenomenon, because there are many communities that effectively use the at as a replacement or as an incorporation of the island or in their communication, but in the case of digital interfaces are also a form of exclusion of people with disabilities who can use technical aids to occupy these interfaces.
Patricia: [00:24:45] Okay, another, another solution that we can adopt is as we were talking about before, there are many, to the way in which the name of the professions is used, because it can also be sexist. We talked about the example of judge, judge, etc. So one of the solutions is to use the generic name for the profession itself, the professional community, and not the professional person. So, in the case of instead of using teacher, we can use the teaching staff or for example, during the pandemic we have always been talking about the healthcare workers and we can talk about the community of professionals. Well, this would not be inclusive either. It is complicated to use language in an inclusive way, but to refer to sanitary workers, how could we refer to them? Because they are not
Andrea: [00:25:32] General health care?
Patricia: [00:25:34] Exactly. Thank you.
Andrea: [00:25:37] In the case, for example, when we are teaching and we have to talk to our students instead of alumnos and alumnas, we can also use estudiantes, which is also understood as gender neutral. Here we do have to incorporate les estudiantes instead of los estudiantes so as not to fall into the generic masculine from which we are trying to escape. And it is also important that when we understand the experience design and specifically the experience design from the content, we have to be very clear that it is not only the writing of those contents. It is also how we place other elements within the interface that have to do mainly with graphical elements. In this case, and we reviewed it a few slides ago, we found that the use of iconography will also help people to feel identified. In this case we use a couple composed of a man and a woman. Therefore, we understand that the service provided by the unemployment fund insurer in the Chilean case is an institution that relates mainly to men and women, and that can make its users feel identified with what they are seeing on the screen. If you notice, when we talk about inclusion, it is not only a cultural phenomenon that is studied and is as intense and massive in its organization, but also through small things like incorporating iconography that has a gender perspective. We can also offer a better experience to the users of that service.
Patricia: [00:27:32] And finally, we can also use software code to make the language more inclusive. The first screenshot was taken from a video recorded by Pablo Muñoz, who is a Spanish to English translator in Spain so he talks about how to make translations more inclusive and he gave this example which is basically you can use different labels depending on the gender, in this case of the character. It is always in English. Of the character of a video game. In the case of male or female gender, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Then take a look at the video because it gives a lot of tips on how to translate from English to Spanish in a way that is much more inclusive. And then you can also take a look at the Android developer page, which also explains how through code you can make gender matching much more inclusive. Very similar to the way plurals are constructed through different tags.
Andrea: [00:28:45] Indeed, we believe that the most important thing is that we, as experience designers, as Content Designers, as Reuters, understand that we have a responsibility and we have the possibility to create interfaces that are more inclusive. And since this is a cultural change, it is likely that the regulations will be a bit more backward than what is happening organically. We do experience design and at least those of us who have studied this are always taught that empathy is key for us to deliver an experience that is meaningful or memorable to people. Empathy begins with putting ourselves in the place of the other, and if we forget how they identify themselves based on gender. Clearly that premise is not being fulfilled and we are being discriminatory with him.
Patricia: [00:29:44] Therefore, we have a great power and responsibility, because at the end of the day we are creating the language in Spanish or Castilian, on the Internet or in the digital world. So it’s up to us to make it as inclusive as possible, especially with the people we’re designing content for in mind. And we do not leave you here with a series of resources that you can consult on books, guides, videos, articles, etc. about inclusive language and nothing. I hope you liked the video and that we can continue talking about inclusive language. Many, many more years.
Andrea: [00:30:29] Thank you very much for having paid attention to us and we hope that our ideas and approaches will also help you in your daily work. A hug from Chile
Patricia: [00:30:43] And a hug from Spain.
Andrea: [00:30:45] And we find ourselves in another opportunity.
The project is a combined initiative of Kinneret Yifrah, Bobbie Wood, and Katie Szymanski.
Kinneret Yifrah:
A UX writing pioneer, and a bestselling author of Microcopy: The Complete Guide and The Microcopy Course. She works with Israel’s largest corporations across all industries, and her true passion is digital public services, where microcopy can genuinely improve lives on a national scale.
Bobbie Wood:
Another UX writing pioneer, the founder and CEO of UX Content Collective, the leading global provider of UX writing and content strategy courses. She helped to shape UX writing best practices and establish the content design discipline at Intuit, Google, and other high-tech startups.
Katie Szymanski:
Head of marketing for UX Content Collective. Her background includes content marketing and social media strategy for startups, universities, Fortune 500 companies, and nonprofits.
Here are 3 ways you can help promote the project:
Here’s a shortened link: https://bit.ly/GIL-Project. Feel free to also share:
If you’re interested in creating and sharing a video in your language, please fill out this form. We’re especially encouraging men and nonbinary people to get involved. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
Other ideas? Please reach out to Kinneret Yifrah (kinnerety@gmail.com), Katie Szymanski (katie@uxcontent.com), or Bobbie Wood (bobbie@uxcontent.com). We’ll send materials and help you get started. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
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