Gender in legal texts – sounds dry and far away. But laws determine our daily interaction. For the Saxon Minister of Justice and Equality, Katja Meier, “the language of our laws is still shaped by a time when men and women did not have the same rights”. That is why it is important to her that equality between women and men is finally expressed in language.
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According to its own statements, the state of Saxony follows the rules of German spelling in the Duden and the so-called manual of legal formality, so that the comprehensibility of legal provisions is not impaired. Justice Minister Meier explains: “That means: We do not use gender asterisks, internal isos, underscores or slashes. We use female and male forms, for example citizens, civil servants – or we also use neutral formulations to ensure non-discrimination in laws to formulate. ”
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Schafhausen: Lawyers are used to long legal texts
Martin Schafhausen is a lawyer and Vice President of the German Bar Association. In his opinion, gender-sensitive language in legal texts should go further than that. He prefers to use gender-neutral terms or the masculine and feminine form. Nevertheless, Schafhausen emphasizes that he does not shy away from working with the inner I and colon or underscore in a legal text. “The possibilities are manifold. We should use them.”
Because it is also about making people visible in language who do not feel they belong to either the female or the male gender. Martin Schafhausen does not believe that gender-sensitive language has an impact on the day-to-day work of lawyers or that it creates problems in interpreting the law. Lawyers are professionals in dealing with language and are used to reading long legal texts. So if they get longer, it doesn’t make any difference to the lawyers.
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The majority of Germans continue to reject gender
According to Schafhausen, the legislature must above all keep an eye on those to whom the law applies. Writing understandable and gender-sensitive laws is not an easy task, said the lawyer. At the same time, he is convinced that gender-sensitive language is possible in legal texts. The legislature only has to dare to approach the matter and deal with it properly. Even if the majority of the population at 65 percent reject gender.
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In my opinion, questions of discrimination or the avoidance of discrimination are not questions that can be addressed by the majority of the population. In order to prevent discrimination, in order to achieve equality, the legislature must also bring things in motion that may not yet have a majority, but are still necessary.
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Gender Competence Center: First step taken
The Gender Competence Center Saxony, which is also financed with funds from the Saxon Ministry of Justice, uses the gender asterisk itself. According to education officer Maria Kropp, the fact that only gender-neutral terms or the masculine and feminine form are used in the state laws of Saxony is at least a correct first step.
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The most important thing is to stimulate the discourse at all, even if there are different opinions in Saxony about how gendering should be organized. The Saxon Ministry of Justice, the Lawyers’ Association and the Gender Competence Center have one thing in common: not gendering at all is not the right approach.
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