In Denmark, a gender inclusive revision of the official Danish dictionary has been announced. Against the backdrop of an explosive debate in German universities, public institutions and everyday discussions, the question arises what the status quo of the debate is in our neighboring country. A collection of linguistic, social and journalistic explanations.

In an effort to tackle inequality by making the Danish language more gender inclusive, the official Danish dictionary of spelling Retskrivningsordbogen, equivalent to the German Duden, will be relaunched for the first time in twelve years in 2024. Sofar in Danish, the head of a company is called "Formand" – “mand”, translating to “man” in English. While the word “Formand” is used for a woman, a man and anything on the non-binary spectrum, the Danish Language Council finally acknowledges a need for female and gender-neutral equivalents: “Forkvinde” and “Forperson”.  In October 2023, they announced that 18 respective job titles will be adjusted. Two years after the Duden made a similar, but wider change: In 2021 the female form was added to 12,000 job titles that have only known the generic masculine before. Does that mean that Germany is ahead in using gender inclusive language? Is Denmark not usually the one ahead, at least when it comes to digitalisation and interior design – and equality? It is not that simple. The gender inclusive language debate in Denmark seems to differ from Germany for a variety of reasons. 

Language creates reality: Those who are underrepresented lose significance

Efforts to reduce the masculine or feminine connotations of words can be seen in many languages around the world. The European Parliament has set the goal “to avoid word choices which may be interpreted as biased, discriminatory or demeaning by implying that one sex or social gender is the norm.” To promote the use of gender inclusive language, UN Women published a gender inclusive dictionary in Arabic, French, English, Russian, and Spanish. Just like French and Spanish, German is among the languages with the strongest gender anchoring. The West Germanic tongue counts three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. 

Each entails a different ending to a noun. The masculine is the epicene gender, meant to speak for everyone and long used uncritically. However, science proves that it excludes women linguistically. The findings are clear: Language creates reality. Those who are underrepresented lose significance. Therefore, gender inclusive language in German is all about adjusting the word endings. 

Danish debate is different, not behind

But not all languages work the same. So how is it in Danish? The North Germanic language is equally rooted in the Germanic family, but has developed in a different way. While historically it also counted three genders (in Danish “køn”), the masculine and the feminine have merged over time. Now only two genders are left: Common and neuter. Most nouns referring to living beings are of common gender. There are few exceptions in the Danish dictionary, where female equivalents can be found. To name one example: In Danish, an actor and actress would equally be called “Skuespiller”. The term “Skuespillerinde” is mentioned in the dictionary, but hardly ever used. Where the female (and non-binary) form is missing – in job titles like “Formand.” 

- Explanation Video -

These are the very few Danish words that are gender sensitive at all. While Germany had to adapt 12,000 job titles, Denmark counts only 18 that require change at all. Ergo, the Danish debate about gender inclusive language does not lag behind. The language is simply different.

Hot topic of the Danish debate: pronouns

While emotions were shortly running high at the announcement of the Danish Language Council regarding the revision of the dictionary, the debate “has already gone silent again”, states Margrethe Heidemann Andersen, a Senior Researcher at the Council and Editor of the dictionary. The discourse focuses much more on the use of pronouns, explains Peter Bakker, Lecturer at the Institute of Culture and Linguistics at Aarhus University, the country’s second largest university. The idea of non-binary pronouns (pronouns that do not index someone as either male or female) has slowly emerged during the 2000s. At first, this was discussed almost exclusively within queer communities. In 2021, Sweden introduced their gender-neutral pronoun “hen”, which became a symbol for gender equality. Denmark followed suit: Non-binary pronouns such as “de” and “hen”- equivalent to the English “they” - have now also become widespread in Danish. 

So if you ask someone in Denmark about the hot topics of the gender inclusive language debate, their answer will be pronouns. In Germany one would certainly get much more involved in heated debates about the so-called “Gendersternchen” – The asterisk has become a symbol of the confusing variety of punctuation marks and grammatical constructions, that can be used for adjusting male German word endings. The asterisk between root and suffix of a word, as in “Schüler*in” takes all genders into account, including non-binary. The colon or the underscore can be used in the same way: “Schüler:in”, “Schüler_in”.

There is a flood of possibilities and yet no nationwide regulation on the what and the how of gender inclusive language use in Germany. More and more companies, universities, and public authorities are issuing their own guidelines and directives. Some city councils, such as Berlin, Munich or Hanover, have made linguistic equality mandatory for official administrative language use. While the Berlin University of Arts recommends the use of gender neutral language by including the asterisk, the Humboldt University of Berlin advocates the use of a colon.

More pressure on German media houses 

How is it in the professional field of journalism? Journalists extensively deal with language everyday.. In 2021, Judith Wittwer, the Editor-in-Chief of Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), one of Germany’s leading daily newspapers, states in a public statement that their journalists are supposed “to write in such a way that the texts are understandable for as many, ideally all, readers as possible.” – she touches upon a common argument against gender inclusive language: The disruption of reading flow. Not only SZ, but also Zeit, another leading newspaper in Germany, argues against the use of any punctuation marks as gender inclusive language in their reporting. Yet, the two major media houses felt the need to publish explicit statements on this, which is due to high public pressure in this regard.

This need does not seem to exist in Denmark. Neither in Danish media, nor in other areas of public life, such statements or regulations can be  found. “There are fewer rules for Danish”, linguist Bakker states. This has surely to do with the roots of the language, but there is also something particular when it comes to rules in the country. “In contrast to Germany and Sweden, Denmark is less politically correct. The Danes don't like rules”, explains Mette Davidsen-Nielsen with a smile. She is Head Editor of the Cultural Department at Politiken, a leading Danish daily newspaper, considered left-liberal just like SZ and Zeit. Although there is no guideline on gender inclusive language, the issue of gender equality is on top of the agenda. Davidsen-Nielsen shares that even though she has "been involved in a couple of quite heated debates about language”, the focus of equality lies much more on counting gender-balanced sources as well as avoiding general stereotyping and unconscious bias. Bakker from Aarhus University also acknowledges that gender inclusive language is important, but rates its impact as "not so big". He states: “In Denmark, they prefer to discuss concrete inequality instead of language modalities.”

Linguistic differences in Danish and German require different solutions. Both have come up with their own ways to address the specific shortcomings to make their language more inclusive. In German, it takes more effort to include all genders, which logically leads to more discussion. Gender inclusive language is therefore not a race, one country chasing the other. As Davidsen-Nielsen explains, the debate is dividing much more along gender and age than different nationalities. She concludes that, no matter if German or Danish, “to fight gender inequalities, people's hearts and minds have to be changed first.”