In addition to the fact that the Law on Gender Equality states that the use of gender-sensitive language has a positive effect on the development of gender equality, and therefore on the reduction of gender discrimination, it is very important to note that through the use of this type of language, greater visibility of women is ensured, not only in the linguistic, but also in the public sphere of life
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The new Law on Gender Equality from 2021 introduced and defined gender-sensitive language as "a language that promotes the equality of women and men and a tool that influences the awareness of those who use that language in the direction of achieving equality, including changes in opinions, attitudes and behavior within the language used in personal and professional life". According to the Law (Article 37, paragraph 3), the use of gender-sensitive language is foreseen in the field of education, upbringing, science and technological development, among other things, in textbooks, teaching materials, certificates, diplomas, classifications, titles, occupations, etc. Also, the Law in the field of public information (Article 44, paragraph 3) prescribes that the means of public information are obliged to use gender-sensitive language when reporting and thus participate in developing awareness of the importance of gender equality, which leads to the eradication of gender stereotypes, discrimination on the basis of gender, as well as gender-based violence, domestic violence and violence against women. In addition to the fact that the Law (Articles 37 and 44) obliges public authorities, educational institutions and the media to use gender-sensitive language, and provides fines for violating the provisions, the use of this type of language has caused a series of violent reactions and debates in the public.
Language represents "living matter" and as such is subject to changes, as well as adaptation to social tendencies, while it inevitably keeps pace with the times of the society in which it is used as a means of communication, exchange of opinions and dialogue. Thus, the introduction of new terms into language use, especially when it comes to occupations in the female gender, is quite expected and logical because there have been changes regarding the increased number of employed women, who are increasingly occupying positions that traditionally belonged to men. For example, terms like housewife, teacher, doctor, etc. have become established over time in linguistic usage that there is rarely a controversy about their "consistency" and "(in)correctness", while at the same time they represent roles and occupations that are in the female gender and follow the logic of gender-sensitive language. The question arises why terms such as female psychologist, female minister, female prime minister, and female soldier encounter great resistance from the scientific community and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which represent institutions with a wide social influence, and which promote a very conservative attitude towards the use of gender-sensitive language.
RESISTANCE TO THE USE OF GENDER SENSITIVE LANGUAGE
Among the first and most vocal opponents of the use of gender-sensitive language is the Board for Language Standardization, which as a scientific expert body at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts has an advisory role regarding issues related to the policy of the use and standards of the Serbian language. The board insists on the position that gender-sensitive language represents a serious form of violence against the Serbian language and its literary and linguistic norms, while at the same time it advocates the use of "generic masculine" which presents the masculine grammatical gender as universal and which includes most nouns, both masculine and feminine. genus. Thus, according to the opinion of the Board, certain professions in the female gender, such as female pilots or academics, are considered unnecessary and substitutive with their male forms - pilot and academic.
Recent statements by the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church about the unconstitutionality of the law that promotes and imposes gender-sensitive language reveal that the church has a very conservative attitude towards the role of women in Serbian society. Also, the church insists on preserving the traditional values of marriage and family, which, according to the official opinion of the religious leader, are greatly threatened by the insistence on the use of gender-sensitive language. However, such statements contain a series of illogicalities and misunderstandings of the basic goals of the Law on Gender Equality and the concept of gender-sensitive language. First of all, it remains unclear in what way the law is against the Constitution, given that the Constitutional Court in Serbia, as the only body responsible for evaluating the constitutionality of laws in the country, has not yet announced the unconstitutionality of the legal provision on the use of gender-sensitive language.
According to the only publicly available initiative for the evaluation of constitutionality that was submitted to the Constitutional Court, as arguments for the unconstitutionality of provisions related to the use of gender-sensitive language, it is stated that the Law does not define what the term gender actually means, nor does it prescribe how gender-sensitive language is determined , which can lead to legal chaos and the suspension of the application of numerous regulations that are not aligned with the articles of the new law. However, the Law stipulates that the application of gender-sensitive language shall enter into force three years after its adoption, precisely for the reason of leaving enough time for the necessary harmonization of the relevant acts. Also, it should be borne in mind that gender as a personal attribute is explicitly stated in the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, as well as that Article 20 of this Law specifically prohibits discrimination of sex, gender and gender identity.
Also, the statement of the head of the church about the causal connection between the use of gender-sensitive language and the endangerment of marriage and family is unclear, especially since no further explanation was given on the basis of which the mentioned connection can be substantiated. A video that was recently published on social networks in which the head of the church addresses an unknown female person with very offensive words such as "poor" and "wretch", because of her criticism of the previous statement of the head of the church on the issue of gender-sensitive language, caused violent reactions in the public. From the aspect of gender-sensitive language, it is unclear why the religious leader, using precisely the terms that follow the logic of such language, criticizes the people who advocate for its use. One gets the impression that the head of the church selectively criticizes gender-sensitive language by not having a problem with the use of degrading nouns in the feminine gender, but that is why he is very opposed to the use of nouns related to occupations and professions in the feminine gender.
It is also interesting that through public and media debates about the application of gender-sensitive language, arguments against the appointment of women to ministerial and high-level diplomatic positions, such as "minister", "ambassador" or "rector", have appeared, by women who exactly they are in such functions. Namely, some women perceive their positions exclusively in a male form because they believe that in a female form they lose their meaning and lead to wrong conclusions that they are, for example, the wives of ministers or ambassadors, and not about persons who only perform the function for which they are appointed. This only points to the lack of awareness of certain individuals, who, in addition to performing and occupying very influential and important social positions, cannot leave the circles of the established patriarchal system that treats women and their work as less valuable and valued.
CAUSAL CONNECTION BETWEEN GENDER EQUALITY AND GENDER SENSITIVE LANGUAGE
In addition to the fact that the Law on Gender Equality states that the use of gender-sensitive language has a positive effect on the development of the importance of gender equality, and therefore on the reduction of gender discrimination, it is very important to note that through the use of this type of language, greater visibility of women is ensured, not only in linguistic, but also in the public sphere of life. Such visibility contributes to women's work and influence being perceived as competent and more valued, but also equal to the jobs and work performed by men. Since an increasing number of women occupy important social positions and engage in important professions, language should also follow and adapt to current social trends.
Insisting on the use of the generic masculine gender as a language standard only maintains the existing patriarchal patterns of power in the sphere of linguistics, which perceive men as subjects and active linguistic factors against women as objects and passive factors, which further spills over into other spheres of social life and contributes to the preservation of existing patterns thoughts, attitudes and speech. Although certain segments of society advocate the maintenance of traditional and patriarchal systems of power and relationships that are also preserved status quo in linguistics, new social changes and changing the structure of the labor market, which has an increasing percentage of women in leading and so far predominantly male workplaces, inevitably leads to linguistic transformation and its sensitization in terms of gender identity.
The importance of gender-sensitive language is reflected in the fact that gender equality, as a product of modern civilization and the long-standing struggle of women for independence and a better social position, can be additionally strengthened by linguistic solutions. Gender-sensitive language leads to greater visibility of women and the recognition of their importance and contribution by the very act of naming their roles and working in a grammatically feminine gender and form.
The author is an integration advisor for the Belgrade Center for Human Rights
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