France moves closer to banning gender-inclusive language

The French Senate has voted in favour of a proposed law banning gender-inclusive language from official communications in France.

MPs will now have to vote on the law, although no date has been announced for this as yet.

On Monday,  Emmanuel Macron urged France not to "not to give in to the tides of time" and reject gender-inclusive writing in order to safeguard the French language.

"In this language, the masculine is the neutral. There's no need to add dots in the middle of words, or hyphens, or anything else to make it readable," the French President said at the opening of a new language centre in the town of Villers-Cotterêts, near Paris.

French is a language that "builds the unity of the nation" said Macron. 

"We need to allow this language to live, to draw inspiration from others, to steal words, including from the other side of the world (...) to continue to invent, but also to keep its foundations, the foundations of its grammar.

The decision by the Senate follows a long-standing debate between rightwing-leaning language purists and the left and feminists.

"Inclusive writing," or écriture inclusive, adds the feminine ending to a noun, so rather than the masculine form standing in for both male and female, both genders are represented. 

For example: “président.e.s” (president), sénateur.rice.s (sénateurs- senators) and cher·e·s lecteur·rice·s (cher lecteur -dear reader).

The language in question also includes: 

The law would ban such language in the workplace, advertising and contracts  “whenever the legislation (or regulatory bodies) require a text to be written in French''. 

The French President’s wife, Brigitte Macron and the Académie Française have long railed against what they see as a "barbaric abuse of syntax".  

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