The gender debate continues in Switzerland – while the Swiss Federal Council had only declared in September that gender language was still banned in all texts and websites of the Swiss government and that nothing should be changed, said the University of Zurich of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) on the same day for gendering, fueled by the decision of the Zurich City Council in June this year to introduce the gender star in the administration. But now the gender sign in the country’s largest city is about to disappear again.
Members of different parties don’t want gender
A non-partisan committee with the name “Bye Gender Star!” is now clearly in favor of abolishing gender language. It is neither sensible nor flawless in terms of labor law that employees of the city administration should use the gender star in their texts, emails and other publications. The city administration currently only offers employees the option to use gender-neutral wording (e.g. “students” instead of students) or to use the gender star. The committee, which has members from practically all parties, wants to return to understandable and grammatically correct language and also refers to various studies – as in Germany, a large part of the population in Switzerland obviously rejects the use of gender language.
Misuse of language as a political statement?
Susanne Brunner of the commission: “With the gender star, the city council abuses language as a political tool. However, the language belongs to everyone, not just the City of Zurich. She must not use language as a platform for her fight for equality or to emphasize different gender identities. The city council thus creates a gap between the population and a detached city government”. The goal now is to get the city population to vote with a popular initiative.
Gender controversy also in Germany
The gender language dispute recently sparked heated debate again in Germany, after a majority of Thuringian state parliament deputies voted against the introduction of gender language in early November. This nullified the minority red-red-green coalition in government, which had repeatedly supported the introduction of gender language. The ban applies to all state institutions and authorities, as well as schools.
