| | |  Editorials | Issues | December 2009 
Is Spanish Discriminatory?
 Miren Gutierrez & Oriana Boselli - Inter Press Service
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December 27, 2009
 |  | In the feminist theory and sociology it is notorious the attitude of women who, having reached an important public job, try to blend in the dominant group and deny the discrimination that goes on.
- José Luis Aliaga Jiménez |  | | |
"My conclusion is that it is so," says José Luis Aliaga Jiménez, professor in Linguistics of the Universidad de Zaragoza. "It is so in the conservative resistance for the formation of feminine nouns; in the rejection of masculine forms when men start doing jobs that were traditionally feminine, such as ‘azafato’ (hostess), ‘amo de casa’ (househusband) or ‘niñero’ (baby minder); and particularly, in the use of the masculine form as a generic."
On the masculine form as a generic, Aliaga Jiménez coincides with politician Luisa Capelli, but from a linguistic point of view. "My research has led me to believe that the supposedly generic character of the masculine when applied to mixed groups isn’t a linguistic quality at all, but a pragmatic interpretation that ends up in a discursive suppression of women and their achievements," he says.
"In the feminist theory and sociology," he adds, "it is notorious the attitude of women who, having reached an important public job, try to blend in the dominant group (of men), and deny the discrimination that goes on, including the linguist discrimination… It is usually accompanied by statements such as: ‘I have never felt discriminated against’, which are the toll some women believe have to be paid to be accepted in a masculinised public realm."
Spanish philosopher Amelia Valcarcel has described this as the "dynamic of the exception".
"It is in that context in which you can understand the preference for the masculine professional titles, which is found in the Spanish-speaking world, although to a lesser extent than in Italian or French," he concludes. |
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