Male or female ? The French language is full of all kinds of subtleties that can give a cold sweat to anyone who uses it. Men and women, supposed to have equal rights, are not always so in the language of Molière, who wanted to keep words exclusively spelled in the feminine form. If the French have followed their spelling and vocabulary lessons well, some errors die hard. That is why Current wife proposes to test your knowledge of these words that do not have a masculine gender. It is also interesting to note that most of the words which are always written in the feminine are not not there to flatter the fairer sex, quite the contrary. The term rombière for example, which designates a middle-aged woman, is used to emphasize the pretentious, even ridiculous, character of the latter. To better combat them, know how to identify them!
>> Quiz: Test yourself on these macho words that don’t have a masculine gender
Inclusive writing, a new debate on equality between men and women
If certain derogatory words are exclusively feminine, there was a time when there was a masculine equivalent for some. The term greluche, designating a young woman with loose morals, had an equivalent term to describe the opposite sex… to discover in our quiz! Another subtlety of our language: epicene, these words identical to masculine and feminine. Thus, minister, pilot, architect or substitute are written in the same way whether they designate a man or a woman. But long accused of sexism, the French language has decided to change.
The time has therefore come for equality of the sexes, even in spelling and conjugation, as evidenced by the arrival of inclusive writing, a practice intended to erase the superiority of the masculine over the feminine. Finally officially abandoned by a circular from the Minister of National Education in 2021, inclusive writing continues to ignite debates. “This creates linguistic insecurity and poses a real problem for people with learning difficulties”, explained Mathieu Avanzi, lecturer in French at Sorbonne University. If the devil is in the details, it is a safe bet that true equality will not be resolved on a question of spelling, but through deeper debates, notably on equal pay for example.