LHe perpetual secretary of the French Academy Hélène Carrère d’Encausse died in August 2023. The first woman to occupy this prestigious position, the historian nevertheless died in the male, and had insisted on this point as soon as he was appointed, in 1999. “She pointed out that this election was” important for women “then wrote The world, But decided that she would be called “Madam the perpetual secretary”. »»
“The secretary”, in the feminine, did she send back in her mind, as in that of her contemporaries, to a subordinate function … and typically female? In most XXI companiese A century, moreover, the secretaries have disappeared in favor of assistants who fulfill the same functions, under a different name, rid of its derogatory fragrance.
A living language is a language that evolves, it is even what characterizes it. The French have taken an increasing place in economic life since the Second World War. Feminization, in particular that of business and function names, is the site – still in progress – which has the most deeply upset French in recent decades. Combining language, politics and society, this feminization turns on passions. Should we say: “I like this author”, “this author” or “this author”? “We welcome the Minister” or “Madam Minister”? …
Meli-melo
Edith Cresson, who was the first Frenchwoman in 1991 to become Prime Minister, never heard that “the Prime Minister” was called. The world of February 8, 1992, thus quotes, in a disturbing Méli-Mélo feminine-Masculin, a deputy “Seduced by the Prime Minister’s intervention:” She was really mobilizing for the left (…)a real campaign leader “”… Obviously, the Frenchman did not provide for a woman to one day assume the functions of Prime Minister … or that she can be chief of anything. Linguist Bernard Cerquiglini published a work entitled in 2018 in 2018 The Minister is pregnant, whose title alone says how urgent it was that the vocabulary catches up with the evolution of society. Especially since the prestigious functions were not the only ones to miss feminine. “Predecessor”, “driver”, “buyer”, for example, were considered male names (“this woman, who was my predecessor behind the wheel of this semi-trailer, is an excellent driver”).
You have 22.18% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.