Gender dispute in Saarland: CDU application fails on the gender star!

Gender dispute in Saarland: CDU application fails on the gender star!

In Saarland, gender with special characters will continue to be allowed in the future. The state parliament rejected an application from the CDU, which had requested a ban on the gender star. This is a significant decision that further fueled the discussion about gender language in schools and authorities. According to Tagesschau.de failed to ban the gender star in public administration and other state organizations. The application aimed at a "generally binding and uniform regulation" in dealing with gender language.

The CDU MP Frank Wagner pointed out how important intelligibility is in communication and referred to recommendations from the Council for German Spelling. He criticized the fact that the Saarland was the only federal state that has no uniform language regulation for authorities. Despite these concerns, a survey showed that 81 percent of the Saarlanders reject the gender star. In contrast to this, the SPD MP Maximilian Raber emphasized that there is no obligation to gender in Saarland and that the freedom of employees should be in the foreground. Raber argued that a ban in contradiction to rejection of any linguistic patronage.

regulations in other federal states

The debate about gender runs through the entire Federal Republic. In Saxony, for example, the ban on gender signs was expanded and now also applies to correspondence with contractual partners. According to rnd.de , this ban refers to schools and the communication of the educational authorities. The reason is based on a letter from the Council for German Spelling from 2021, which does not recommend the use of special characters in the wording.

In Saxony-Anhalt, the use of gender signs in schools is also prohibited and violations can be punished with up to two points. Schleswig-Holstein has introduced a similar ban, which enables gender to be seen as a mistake. In total, eleven federal states refer to the Council of German Spelling, which does not explicitly prohibit gender signs in schools, but also do not support their use.

In contrast, some federal states, such as Berlin, are actively promoting the discussion about gender and gender -friendly spellings in schools. There, such spellings that are not recognized by the official set of rules may not be rated as wrong as long as they are conclusively used. Lower Saxony critically observes the debate about gender -neutral language and emphasizes the importance that all people feel correctly addressed.

A look at the development of linguistic equal treatment

The discussion about gender language is not new and has its historical roots in the Weimar constitution, which stipulates equality before the law for men and women. Over the years, numerous studies and surveys, such as those of Karin Eichhoff-Cyrus and Margot Dietrich in 1997, have shown that various phrases are debated for linguistic equality. It is true that there is broad acceptance for neutral designation forms.

The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder recently announced that there will be no absolute ban on gender in Bavaria in the future. This reflects the current attitude that a balance between traditional linguistic norm and modern requirements for gender equity must be found in the educational language.

Overall, the case of the Saarland shows how different the regulations and opinions on gender language are in German federal states. The dispute over the right handling of gender language will continue to provide discussions and challenge society to continue dialogue about it.