Federal Ministries Lack Representation of Both Genders
New Council for German Orthography Guidelines Emphasize Traditional Language Use in Official Contexts
In a recent government press conference, the spokesperson for the Digital Ministry in Berlin confirmed the implementation of new guidelines on special characters in words, effective since early July. These guidelines, set by the Council for German Orthography, aim to preserve the "rules of the German language" and address concerns about forced or artificial gendering of language.
The new guidelines emphasize using traditional, standard forms of German and reject the use of gender-neutral markers such as asterisks (*) or internal capitalization (e.g., Binnen-I) in official contexts. This move aligns with official policy, such as the one from the German Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, who has banned gender-inclusive language in official communications from his department starting August 2025.
Weimer stated that forced gendering does not reflect the way the majority in Germany speaks and deepens societal divisions. He further clarified that gendering is not used in letters, emails, and notes within the Chancellery. The guidelines followed by the federal government are those of the Council for German Orthography.
The guidelines ensure grammatically correct language and clarity, as well as gender-inclusive language that is understandable, readable, and can be read aloud. It is important to note that these guidelines do not include special characters. The overall development regarding special characters is still being monitored.
The Council's guidelines take into account accessibility and screen reader software. However, the use of these special characters can lead to grammatical consequences in various cases that have not yet been clarified.
These new guidelines do not repeat earlier points about gender-inclusive language, accessibility, clarity, legal certainty, or the absence of special characters in the federal government's guidelines. The guideline aims to ensure legal certainty, maintaining a consistent and clear approach in official German language use.
The debate about gender-inclusive language continues, influenced by feminist ideas and efforts to include non-binary and diverse gender identities beyond the traditional masculine/feminine binary that German grammatical gender reflects. Previous efforts and recommendations to foster gender-inclusive language have included adding suffixes (e.g., feminine -in) or using gender-neutral alternatives, but no uniform standard has emerged, leading to these recent guidelines favoring a return to traditional rules for official usage.
It is not yet clear if these new guidelines apply to the Digital Ministry's guidelines as well. The overall development regarding these guidelines is an ongoing topic of discussion and academic recommendations about more inclusive language practices.
In light of the ongoing debate about gender-inclusive language, the new guidelines by the Council for German Orthography, a part of the general news and policy-and-legislation discourse, favor a return to traditional rules for official German language use, promoting clarity and legal certainty. Simultaneously, German politics has seen a move towards maintaining traditional language use in official contexts, such as in the policy set by the German Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, who has banned gender-inclusive language in official communications from his department starting August 2025.
