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19 Int'l J. Semiotics L. 1 (2006)

handle is hein.journals/intjsemi19 and id is 1 raw text is: MICHELE LENOBLE-PINSON and ANNE WAGNER INTRODUCTION The current period is characterised by the influence of women in the workplace. Their competence as well as their ambition is not limited to the family sphere. It is evident that they are increasingly numerous in professions or jobs traditionally reserved for men, but this established fact of society does not always appear in contem- porary language use. The pre-eminence of the masculine over the feminine persists, in spite of having been denounced by grammar- ians such as Brunot, Damourette and Pichon for more than a century. There is obvious resistance to the use of feminine forms regard- less of post or job. This form of blockage seems rooted in psycho- sociological considerations, which do not allow the acceptance of linguistic arguments. The subject of this special edition is the result of group reflec- tion on language construction. It tries to assess the consequences of the feminisation of language and the problematics of research. 1. PROBLEMS OF PRINCIPLE ON THE JUDICIAL LEVEL In France, the 1958 Constitution in the First article announces that the Republic assumes the equality before the law of all its citizens without distinction. This definition, which privileges the masculine, is ambiguous in its formulation. In Belgium, a decree regarding the feminisation of job titles, functions, grades and other titles became effective in June 21, 1993. Michele Lenoble-Pinson has analysed it in a synthetic work Dire et se dire au feminin. She brings out the influence of this linguistic policy act in its application as foreseen by the order of December 13, 1993. It is a synthesising analysis, which compares the systems of feminisation used in Quebec, France and Switzerland. She shows that the resistance to feminisa- tion is rarely or not at all linguistic, but rather that the reasons are principally ideological and socio-cultural. In The role of Women in Italian Legislation, Dino Bressan shows that Italy made its legal language gender neutral. The codes, which cover legislative texts, designate 'Man' as a generic person and not as a gendered person. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law Revue Internationale de Semiotique Juridique (2006) 19: 1-3 DOI 10.1007/s11196-005-9006-5 © Springer 2006

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