In English, specific feninine forms are going out; one form is used for both genders - eg no-one says poetess any more (both men and women are poets) and, increasingly, actor is used for women instead of actress.
Other words, like engineer or doctor, have referred to both genders ever since women have been able to practice those professions - (though they are often still assumed to be male, so people will say 'a lady doctor').
The decreasing use of special forms for women is felt to be more 'feminist' - not to suggest that women are somehow a special case.
Now, in French, it seems that the opposite is true. More and more feminine forms are used - eg la ministre, whereas it used to be le ministre even if a woman, or une auteure. (My friend here talks about the 'doctoresse' but I think that's old fashioned.) It seems that here, not using a masculine form for a woman is seen to be more 'feminist'.
Have I got this right ? And if so - isn't it wierd ?
Moderator note: multiple threads merged to create this one. Please note that this thread is closed, as we cannot discuss a long list of different job titles. Please refer to our Resources post on the topic. You will find a number of helpful links in the last post.
Other words, like engineer or doctor, have referred to both genders ever since women have been able to practice those professions - (though they are often still assumed to be male, so people will say 'a lady doctor').
The decreasing use of special forms for women is felt to be more 'feminist' - not to suggest that women are somehow a special case.
Now, in French, it seems that the opposite is true. More and more feminine forms are used - eg la ministre, whereas it used to be le ministre even if a woman, or une auteure. (My friend here talks about the 'doctoresse' but I think that's old fashioned.) It seems that here, not using a masculine form for a woman is seen to be more 'feminist'.
Have I got this right ? And if so - isn't it wierd ?
Moderator note: multiple threads merged to create this one. Please note that this thread is closed, as we cannot discuss a long list of different job titles. Please refer to our Resources post on the topic. You will find a number of helpful links in the last post.
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