According to a newspaper report, women's minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) speaks out in favor of ministries and federal authorities forgoing the gender asterisk.
Special characters as word components in official communication are “not to be used”, according to the “Neuer Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Wednesday) in a recommendation by the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth on gender-equitable language in the federal administration.
In addition to the gender star, the internal colon, the internal underscore, the large internal I or the trema should also disappear from official communication.
Reference is made to the opinion of the German Spelling Council, according to which the use of special characters is currently illegal and there is no guarantee that such spellings are generally understandable.
Recommendation: "Customers"
The letter, dated September 16, is addressed to the federal administration including the Chancellery and ministries, but also to federal courts and foundations under federal public law, as the newspaper reports.
The Bundestag as legislator or the Federal President are not among the addressees.
While special characters are rejected, the Ministry of Women's Affairs expressly recommends avoiding the generic masculine, even if a feminine form exists, such as "customer" and "customer".
According to the report, only legal or abstract persons such as “employers” are excluded.
For compound words, on the other hand, according to the newspaper, a “pragmatic approach” is encouraged.
The use of the term “Prime Minister's Conference” is correct, although the clarification has to be made when the compound is dissolved, for example as a “Conference of the Federal Chancellor with the heads of government of the federal states”.
The alternate use of the masculine and feminine form is not recommended.