Gender-neutral writing is becoming more common. Writing directly in a language is one thing, but what should we do as (future) translators to include gender-neutral writing in our translations? After doing some research and thinking, here’s my take on the subject.
What Is Gender-Neutral Writing?
According to the European Parliament’s 2018 guidelines on the question,
[g]ender-neutral language is a generic term covering the use of non-sexist language, inclusive language or gender-fair language. The purpose of gender-neutral language is to avoid word choices which may be interpreted as biased, discriminatory or demeaning by implying that one sex or social gender is the norm. Using gender-fair and inclusive language also helps reduce gender stereotyping, promotes social change and contributes to achieving gender equality (European Parliament, 2018, p. 3).
Basically, gender-neutral language consists in avoiding or neutralizing references to gender when talking about or referring to a person. Its purpose is to address a wider audience and to make everyone feel included, no matter their gender.
When writing in English, it can be easy to avoid mentioning gender by using the gender-neutral pronoun “they” to refer to someone or by replacing gendered words, such as “barman/barmaid” by their gender-neutral equivalents, like “bartender.” However, it’s very different in romance languages as every word has a grammatical gender (either masculine or feminine), which depends on the object of the sentence. Compared to English, a lot more words are impacted by the gender marks. So, it’s more difficult to use inclusive writing when translating into a language that uses grammatical gender.
Gender-neutral writing has been used for more than 10 years in the European Parliament: The first guidelines on inclusive writing were released in 2008, and they were updated in 2018.
What’s the Big Deal With Gender-Neutral Writing?
In France, the debate between people in favor and against gender-neutral writing is heated. People in favor of inclusive writing think it is important to make every person feel included, no matter their gender. On the other hand, people against it argue that inclusive writing is not easy to write, to read, and, therefore, that it creates more problems (in terms of understanding) than it solves (in terms of gender equality).
Regarding the translation field in particular, the goal of translators remains to produce a text that is as clear as possible. This means the target text must not feel difficult to read because of some techniques used in gender-neutral writing. For instance, the use of forms combining masculine and feminine in French is not advised because it is considered to make reading more difficult (Parlement Européen, 2018, p. 10). On the other hand, translators must also be faithful to the source text and convey the ideas of the author accurately not only in terms of content, but also in terms of how the source text is written. It means that if the source text contains gender-neutral writing, the target text should also use it. However, it also means that the content still must be translated with accuracy, and, therefore, the focus should be on the content, and not on gender-neutral writing, at least during the first step of translation.
So, how can translators get the best of both worlds?
How to Include Gender-Neutral Writing in Translation?
In translation, one of the first steps is to identify the target audience of the text. If the target audience of the original text can be male, female, or non-binary, it is important to use gender-neutral writing. This can be the case when working with marketing texts: Sometimes, they aim to have the widest audience possible; therefore, source texts are designed to be more and more inclusive and diverse when addressing the audience.
The domain and specialization of a text must also be considered when using gender-neutral writing in translation. This means that due to the nature of some texts, the constraints relative to gender-neutral writing are not necessarily the same. Administrative texts are easy to write without mentioning the gender of a person. Here are a few examples of possible transformation in administrative texts in French (Parlement Européen, 2018, p. 11‑13):
| Gender-biased version | Gender-neutral version |
| Le candidat enverra son CV à… | Veuillez envoyer votre CV à… |
| Le programme s’adresse à tous les employés | Le programme s’adresse à tout le personnel |
| Le candidat qualifié pour le poste recevra une convocation | La personne apte à remplir le poste recevra une convocation |
| Les hommes politiques | Les responsables politiques, les politiques |
It would be very difficult to list here every recommendation for gender-neutral writing as there is no consensus regarding French inclusive writing now. This means that recommendations may change relatively quickly. Therefore, it is important to keep up to date and to refer to the vade mecum and guidelines provided by a client. If there’s none, the Translation Bureau of Quebec lists several inclusive writing guides for the French language and even conceived its own guidelines based on research and consultation with the LGBTQ+ community. These documents are updated regularly and are not meant to be followed to the letter, but to provide possible solutions for certain contexts.
Conclusion
Gender-neutral writing is now a criterion that translators should consider, so clients end up with a translation that they like and that best matches their needs. The worst that could happen to a translator is being told that the translation they produced doesn’t match the criteria and that the client will not work with them again. This is why translators need to be aware of this for when they encounter this situation during their work. Also, it is the duty of translators to keep up to date with the latest evolution of the languages they work with, such as gender-neutral writing, to produce the most accurate translation possible.
The guidelines of the European Parliament state that gender-neutral writing “has more chance of being accepted by users if it is natural and unobtrusive” (2018, p. 9). I’ve tried my best to write this article using gender-neutral writing. Would you say it is a success, or did it bother you while reading? Now it’s up to you to decide whether you want to use inclusive writing in your future translations, and how—if you do, that is.
Pauline BENIGNUS – M1 TSM (2023-2024)
References
European Parliament. 2018. Gender-neutral language in the European Parliament. Retrieved from: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/151780/GNL_Guidelines_EN.pdf.
Gouvernement du Canada. (n.d.). Écriture inclusive – Lignes directrices et resources. https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/fr/cles-de-la-redaction/ecriture-inclusive-lignes-directrices-ressources.
Government of Canada. (n.d.). Gender-inclusive writing – Guidelines for writing in French. https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/en/ressources-resources/ecriture-inclusive-writing/principes-francais-guidelines-french-eng.
Parlement Européen. 2018. Usage d’un langage neutre du point de vue du genre au Parlement européen. Retrieved from: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/187098/GNL_Guidelines_FR-original.pdf.
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