French Gender Neutral Pronoun Sparks Controversy
Le Petit Robert’s decision to include the gender-neutral pronoun “iel” in its online dictionary caused backlash among government officials and academics. (Steve Shupe)
When Le Petit Robert, a popular French dictionary, decided to add a gender-neutral pronoun to its online edition last month, a variety of politicians and public figures denounced the change. The dictionary entry for “iel” says that it can refer to a person of any gender. The word is already in common use among gender-nonconforming French speakers but had not been added to any prominent dictionaries until recently.
French Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer was one of the first officials to publicly oppose the inclusion of “iel.” He wrote in a statement that “inclusive writing is not the future of the French language.” Brigitte Macron, France’s first lady and a former French literature teacher, responded to the dictionary entry by saying, “There are two pronouns: he and she,” and implying that gender-neutral language would detract from the beauty of French.
Charles Bimbenet, the director of Le Petit Robert, responded by saying that the dictionary’s function is to reflect common usage, not to make value judgments about what words should or should not exist. Because “iel” is a widespread and understood term, Bimbenet argued that it deserves a place in the dictionary.
Proper language usage in French is prescribed by the Academie Francaise, a selective body of 40 writers and linguists who have a reputation for fiercely opposing linguistic innovation. Many members of the Academie believe they have a duty to protect the French language from perceived foreign influences. Francois Jolivet, a member of parliament from Macron’s party, wrote a letter to the Academie asking it to weigh in on “iel.” Jolivet tweeted that the advocates for gender-neutral language are “militants of a cause that has nothing to do with France: #wokism." The Academie has not issued an opinion on the new pronoun.
The fault lines in discussions of social justice do not neatly match French political affiliations. Rather, politicians from all sides have opposed causes that they see as divisive. In 2017, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe banned the use of “inclusive language” in government documents, responding to some civil servants’ use of unofficial feminine forms of words and refusal to use masculine terms for mixed-gender groups. The right-wing presidential candidate Marine Le Pen once derided efforts to promote religious tolerance or to re-examine the checkered history of leaders like Napoleon as U.S. encroachment on French universalism. Like-minded politicians see themselves as fighting a culture war not against their own progressive compatriots, but rather American-inspired usurpers of French values. At the same time, advocates for inclusive language in France respond that they simply want to express their identities in their mother tongue.