Writing Genders

Writing Genders : French in Helvetia

When discussing new approaches in Switzerland to expressing gender differences in language, it is impossible to do without a little history. As far as equality between women and men is concerned, Switzerland was hardly a pioneer; it was only in 1971 that women gained the right to vote and stand for election in federal elections and it was more than ten years later that the first female member of the federal government was elected. The organisation of local, cantonal and federal rights is complex, but in the cantons equality also progressed at a 'snail's pace', although the French-speaking cantons were the first to accord women political rights.

These are the cantons, along with Jura, created since, which today continue to be pioneers as far as linguistic parity is concerned. Administrative documents are drawn up in line with epicene rules, meaning that all efforts are made to include women systematically, both in written and spoken texts. The reason why this choice has been made is that the past has clearly shown that linguistic exclusion was used as a way of justifying civic exclusion. Thus, for example, the first Swiss woman to obtain a doctorate in law in 1887, Emilie Kempin-Spyri, was prevented from practising at the bar because she did not have full political rights, without which it was impossible to be a barrister. She thus became the first in a long series of women to request that the federal court should interpret the constitution, her point of view being that irrespective of a person's gender, someone with Swiss nationality should automatically be a Swiss citizen. The court refused, affirming on the contrary that 'd'après les idées traditionnelles encore dominantes sans aucun doute, l'inégalité de traitement des sexes en matière de droit privé, et notamment en ce qui a trait au droit d'exercer une activité publique, n'est nullement dénué de justification'. Between 1887 and 1990 women's groups tried to get it generally accepted that words such as 'citoyen', 'chacun', 'tout individu' and 'suisse' (in Article 74 for instance) applied to women as well as men. But for federal judges, the expressions which figure in federal legislation on voting rights concerned only male citizens, for 'cette désignation ['suisse' in Article 74], comme les expressions analogues qui figurent dans la législation fédérale sur les élections et votations, ne vise que les citoyens suisses du sexe masculin. Selon l'antique droit coutumier ou écrit et jusqu'ˆ nos jours, les femmes sont généralement exclues des droits politiques. La suppression de cette exclusion équivaut par conséquent ˆ l'abolition d'une situation juridique profondément enracinée'. Some towns, following the example of Zurich, included in their constitutions the expression 'tous les citoyens suisses masculins' in order to make sure that women would not be able to vote. Indeed, there was no feminine form for the voting card ('carte d'électeur') or for words such as 'député', 'syndic', 'conseiller', 'municipal' or 'avocat', posts which could only be occupied by males.