"Comme on est mal dans sa peau, on peut se sentir mal dans ses mots." The Self-Image of Women and French Language Policy

The implementation of gender-neutral & gender-inclusive designations of occupations, titles, & terms in French is relatively slow in comparison to English or German. It is argued that French women cannot wait for French men to do it for them but must become assertive in demanding & making a change themselves. It is observed that the socialist government of Lionel Jospin included four women ministers who demanded that the linguistic form of their titles be in the feminine gender. Jospin also signed a decree in 1998 promulgating the feminization of the names of occupations, functions, titles, & degrees. It is the assertive actions of these four ministers in the French government that contributed more to the elimination of linguistic sexism in French than any other language planning action to-date; the fate of Laurent Fabius's 1986 decree which promised a similar action on behalf of gender-equal designations but was ineffective in bringing about any significant change is pointed out. Research investigating the resistance of French to feminization is surveyed, discussing, among others, the thesis that masculine nomina agentis carry a higher prestige than their feminine counterparts & the former are thus more desired by women. The need for a new, more assertive self-image of French women is recognized. The more advanced feminization of Quebec & Belgian French is noted. The contents of the Fabius decree are outlined. The organization of French professional women known as "Internenettes" ([URL:http://www.internenettes.fr]) demanding & encouraging nonsexist language use is presented. 44 References. Z. Dubiel