that are specific to the French, for instance our language. I am probably a little biased with words but it is a professionnal bias : being a writer, language is my material. Besides, linguists have given proof that words are not innocent and that language is the mirror of a community, reflecting its prejudices and its taboos. Unfortunatly our French language has a sexist structure with our 2 genders and the masculine always winning over the feminine. One male dog is enough, among 50 women, to require the masculine gender for the adjective. And we have another blocking-screw : we are dissuaded of using the femine form for the new jobs that women practice nowadays. We are summoned to say : MADAME LE MINISTRE, madame LE DIRECTEUR, and so forth.
In low-rank jobs, poorly paid, no problem. UN OPERATEUR, UNE OPERATRICE. But as soon as a woman climbs the ladder of power, she can no longer use the feminine article and noun to designate herself. For instance you can be LA DIRECTRICE in a day-care center for small children, but in Univercity and high offices, you become Mme LE DIRECTEUR !
Yvette Roudy, our former Minister for the RIGHTS OF WOMEN in 83, when the Socialist governement was young, elected by women mainly and therefor full of good intentions, had gathered a commission to propose new feminine forms and to find the best way to impose them to the public and the media.
I worked in this Commission during the 2 years of its existence, together with grammairians, linguists and representatives of all the trades, and we issued in 1986 a decree in the "Journal Officiel" which solved a few problems and difficult cases. But as other Commissions worked in peace on the scientific medical language for instance, ours, because ut was coping with feminine questions, met with mockery an incredible ill-will. Every journalist was set on writing short articles, supposedly full of wit, to run down the work of these poor females trying to "put petticoats on the words."
         It's tricky to explain Frenc linguistic in English so I'll skip most of the story to say that things beginning to change.
But it will take time since many women do not dare use the feminine gender...always their good education wich leads never to disturb men. When I call myself UNE ECRIVAINE, most people look at me with compassion as if I was completely obsessed with my féminist ideas!
         And yes, truly, I am. Perhaps because I belong to a turning-point generation. I reached my majority, when majority was at 21 and not yet at 18, without even having the right to vote ! I was a Latin teacher, but being born a woman, I was considered as incapable. Of course I lived most of my married life before contraception and experienced the dark ages of illegal abortion. I had to ask my husband's authorization to open a bank account to put in the money I had earned by MY own work. And many other incapacities.