Plaintiffs against gender language
Complainant Alexander B. is bothered by the fact that gender forms such as the underscore (“employees”) are to be used in communication with him.
(Photo: dpa)
A Volkswagen employee defends himself in court against the gender language at the subsidiary Audi. Before the district court in Ingolstadt on Tuesday, the plaintiff quoted from work instructions given to him by Audi with formulations such as: “The BSM expert is a qualified technical expert”. The presiding judge proposed an amicable settlement to write to the plaintiff in conventional language in the future. However, the Audi lawyers rejected this as impractical and unmanageable.
Judge Christoph Hellerbrand made it clear that his chamber would not make a landmark decision. This process is only about the specific individual case: “It’s about you, about your personal concern through this gender guide,” he told the VW employee.
Audi introduced the guide in March 2021 and stated that the company wanted to “make gender-sensitive language ubiquitous in internal and external written Audi communication from now on”. Gender-sensitive formulations are necessary in all internal and external letters from the company. This was done using neutral formulations (“manager” instead of “boss”) or the so-called gender gap, which connects male and female forms with an underscore (“employees”).
Plaintiff’s attorney Dirk Giesen said his client was clearly in favor of equality and against discrimination. But “he wants to be left alone with this gender language”. Audi should no longer send him emails, email attachments and instructions specifying the gender gap. The judge summarized the injunctive relief as follows: “The gender gap must go.” The lawsuit is supported by the German Language Association, which rejects gender as an ideology.
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