Addressing two genders
When addressing women as well as men, this should also be made explicit, instead of merely implying that women are included.
Examples in German:
- Liebe Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter | Liebe Mitarbeiterin, lieber Mitarbeiter
- Expertinnen und Experten stehen Ihnen mit Rat und Tat zur Seite.
- Bitte lassen Sie den Antrag von Ihrem Betreuer oder Ihrer Betreuerin unterschreiben.
Other shorter alternatives when speaking about women and men are the forms with a forward slash or the “Binnen-I”. The “Binnen-I” is used to mark a feminine ending added on to a noun. The feminine endings of nouns in German are built with a -in in the singular, or -innen in the plural. The so called “Binnen-I”, or interior I, capitalizes the first letter -i of these feminine endings and thus serves to make the feminine ending visible in the noun. A noun with a “Binnen-I” then included both male and female addresses.
The forward slash and the “Binnen-I” are suitable both in writing and speech. A “glottal stop”, or brief pause, marks them when speaking. In speech, these forms cannot be differentiated from the underscore or the asterisk and are therefore sometimes only used in written texts, and when spoken, the masculine and female forms are both used.
Examples in German:
- Ein/e Wissenschaftler/in
- Die Forscher/innen
- Ein/e DoktorandIn
- alle BewerberInnen