The legal opinion by legal scholar Prof. Dr Ulrike Lembke states that universities, as public-law bodies bound by fundamental rights, are obliged to use non-discriminatory language. The linguistic equality of women, the right to gender-accurate forms of address, and gender-inclusive forms for trans*, intersex and non-binary people apply to all official language use.
‘Everything we are, we are in communication’ (K. Jaspers)
Gender equality is a central goal of Friedrich Schiller University Jena. It is achieved by acting in a way that considers the interests of all genders equally and fairly. In this context, we cannot ignore the most important medium of social action: language.
Language is not a rigid structure, but changes with our society. It reflects social developments through new terms and contemporary ways of writing and speaking.
By using gender-neutral wording, we can ensure that all genders are treated fairly in terms of language. It is empirically proven that women and men are equally ‘thought of’ when both genders are mentioned (pair form) and when terms include gender markers such as slashes, asterics or colons (in German).?Accordingly, the Presidential Board specifies the following language usage for official documents at the university and also recommends?
In texts and speeches:
In forms:
Tips on how to address inter*, trans* and non-binary persons are available here?de
The United Nations provide resources and recommendations on the use of gender-inclusive language in English, e.g. Guidelines for Gender-Inclusive Language in EnglishExternal link including an overview of best practices and strategies.