Italian is a gender-marked language with a grammatical system meant to make women visible in a symmetrical way with respect to men. Nevertheless, since the seminal work of Alma Sabatini (1987) several studies have observed a cultural resistance to the use of feminine nouns, especially for naming women in top positions. Through an annotated bibliography, this chapter offers a 25-year historical retrospective of studies reporting the use of feminine vs. masculine forms to name women ministers in linguistic corpora from news media. Looking at 2015 as a turning point, a comparison between data before and after 2015 shows an increase of the feminine term ministra in the Italian news, allegedly due to the effort made by political institutions and journalists’ organizations in the period 2015-2018.
Gender Identity and Language Use in the Italian News Media between Grammar and Culture
Azzalini, Monia
2022-01-01
Abstract
Italian is a gender-marked language with a grammatical system meant to make women visible in a symmetrical way with respect to men. Nevertheless, since the seminal work of Alma Sabatini (1987) several studies have observed a cultural resistance to the use of feminine nouns, especially for naming women in top positions. Through an annotated bibliography, this chapter offers a 25-year historical retrospective of studies reporting the use of feminine vs. masculine forms to name women ministers in linguistic corpora from news media. Looking at 2015 as a turning point, a comparison between data before and after 2015 shows an increase of the feminine term ministra in the Italian news, allegedly due to the effort made by political institutions and journalists’ organizations in the period 2015-2018.
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