Just Reading? How Gender-Fair Language Triggers Readers' Use of Gender-Fair Forms

Köser, Sara; Kuhn, Elisabeth A.; Sczesny, Sabine (2015). Just Reading? How Gender-Fair Language Triggers Readers' Use of Gender-Fair Forms. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 34(3), pp. 343-357. Sage Publications 10.1177/0261927X14561119

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Gender-fair language, that is, referring to men and women with symmetrical linguistic forms, has been found to promote gender equality, but it is largely unknown which factors help make gender-fair forms more common in everyday life. Two studies examined whether speakers of German used more gender-fair forms after reading a text with gender-fair wording (vs. masculine generics vs. no personal nouns vs. another topic). Both studies showed consistently that women used more gender-fair forms after reading the gender-fair text than the other texts, whereas men did not. Men employed more gender-fair forms only after being made aware of these forms (Study 2). To conclude, merely reading gender-fair texts enhances women’s inclination to use gender-fair language, whereas men need to be made aware of this type of language use. Both studies highlight the importance of using gender-fair language frequently and consistently in everyday life.

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