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Sticker with the inscription “*INSIDE”: Gender is prohibited by the Prime Minister’s instructions
Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa
Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) has banned gender language in the state administration. Colons, internal Is, underscores or asterisks are no longer permitted to indicate multiple genders in a word. “A citizen-oriented administration also requires a uniform and understandable language,” said the State Chancellery in Wiesbaden on Thursday in response to a request from the dpa news agency. A new service instruction from the Prime Minister will therefore uniformly define what gender-equitable and understandable language looks like for all departments of the state administration.
“Short forms with special characters such as the gender star, the colon and the internal I are no longer permitted.” The basis is the rules of the Council for German Spelling. Several media outlets had previously reported on the publication of the regulation.
The German Spelling Council last spoke out again in mid-December 2023 against including special gender characters in the official German spelling rules. The committee pointed out that this involved “fundamental interventions in word formation, grammar and orthography”.
Neutral formulations such as “skilled workers” remain permitted
According to the Hessian Prime Minister's instructions, gender-equitable language can be taken into account in the future by mentioning both the female and male forms. The female form should be put first. Descriptions that do not explicitly name the genders are also possible. This includes the term “skilled workers,” explained the State Chancellery.
The black-red coalition agreement states: “We will stipulate that in public administration and other state and public institutions (such as schools, universities, broadcasting) gendering with special characters will be avoided and that the German Spelling Council will follow the guidelines .”
Just last week, Bavaria banned gender in authorities, universities and schools. According to the head of the State Chancellery, Florian Herrmann (CSU), special symbols for gender are “an ideologically influenced language” that has “an exclusionary effect.” In Baden-Württemberg, the coalition of the Greens and CDU also decided to ban gender language in state authorities.
has/dpa