Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 10:12:00 -0500
From: "Mark Logan and Kathleen O'Grady" <kerouack-AT-golden.net>
Subject: [Fwd: more on "la ministre"]


This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

A follow up post....

--
Kathleen O'Grady
Trinity College, University of Cambridge
ko10001-AT-hermes.cam.ac.uk

Mailing address: PO Box 31004
25 Frederick Street
Kitchener, Ontario  N2H 6S7
Canada

Fax: (519) 744-1370



Received: from nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu (nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu [128.227.75.9]) by golden.net (8.8.5/8.6.12) with SMTP id IAA17543 for <kerouack-AT-GOLDEN.NET>; Tue, 13 Jan 1998 08:24:37 -0500 (EST)
Received: from CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU by nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R3)
   with BSMTP id 8553; Tue, 13 Jan 98 08:07:18 EST
Received: from CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU by CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU (Mailer R2.10 ptf000)
 with BSMTP id 5470; Tue, 13 Jan 98 07:56:20 EST
Received: from CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU by CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU (LISTSERV release 1.8c)
          with NJE id 9430 for SWIP-L-AT-CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU; Tue, 13 Jan 1998
          07:54:18 -0500
X-Delivery-Notice:  SMTP MAIL FROM does not correspond to sender.
Received: from CFRVM (SMTPV2) by CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU (Mailer R2.10 ptf000) with
          BSMTP id 3885; Mon, 12 Jan 98 15:58:20 EST
Received: from planetx.bloomu.edu by CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with
          TCP; Mon, 12 Jan 98 15:58:17 EST
Received: from [148.137.15.219] (lee1.bloomu.edu [148.137.15.219]) by
          planetx.bloomu.edu (AIX4.2/UCB 8.7/8.7) with SMTP id PAA144162 for
          <SWIP-L-AT-CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU>; Mon, 12 Jan 1998 15:56:12 -0500 (EST)
Approved-By:  Wendy Lee-Lampshire <lamp-AT-PLANETX.BLOOMU.EDU>
Message-ID:  <v01530516b0dfb52d71c0-AT-[148.137.15.219]>
Date:         Mon, 12 Jan 1998 15:58:47 +0400
Reply-To: Society for Women in Philosophy Information and Discussion List
              <SWIP-L-AT-CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU>
Sender: Society for Women in Philosophy Information and Discussion List
              <SWIP-L-AT-CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU>
From: Wendy Lee-Lampshire <lamp-AT-planetx.bloomu.edu>
Subject:      more on "la ministre"
To: SWIP-L-AT-CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU

A slightly more detailed account of the flap in France over female minsters'
refusal to refer to themselves with the male article.
>
-- Louise Antony


  The original sender was  C-afp-AT-clari.net (AFP).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


   PARIS, Jan 9 (AFP) - The ire of the French Academy, proud   custodian
of the country's language, is so great over a new  "feminist" quirk of
speech that it has taken the unusual step of  turning for help to
President Jacques Chirac.
   At stake is the growing use of "Madame la ministre" to address   the
record number of women ministers in the government -- eight in  the
26-member cabinet that took office last June.
   In a language fraught with feminines and masculines, minister   has
always been masculine, as are doctors, dentists and lawyers.
   But while all lawyers, male and female, are politely addressed   as
"Maitre," members of the government's female contingent are being
increasingly referred to as "Madame la ministre" rather than "Madame  le
ministre," as grammar would have it.
   And the new female politicians, most of them in their 40s and   50s,
from a generation which grew up with feminism, have encouraged  the use
of the "la".
   In a public letter of complaint Thursday over the infringement,   the
French Academy told Chirac it had "resolved to call on you  publicly as
its Protector to ask for your aid in a matter which, in  the upper
reaches of the State, is an attack on the French  language."
   "It appears," the letter went on, "that decrees listing   ministers'
duties do not include the right to change French grammar  and usage of
their own accord."
   "The Academy therefore requests that the president use his   supreme
authority to remind each and every one of the respect due to  the
language," the letter concluded.
   Monsieur le President has yet to respond.
  But in a first irate reaction, Education Minister Segolene   Royale,
one of the eight women in the cabinet, said the Academy  would have to
adapt to the times.
   "If certain words have no feminine it's simply because for   centuries
there were no women holding down these jobs," she told  reporters.
   "This debate on the gender of words is all the more ridiculous   when
you look at the suffering of women on a global scale," she  added. "Yet
it reveals the sort of conservatism that hampers social  progress."
-=-=-
Want to tell us what you think about the ClariNews?  Please feel  free to
email us your comments>> <comments-AT-clari.net>.

-----------------------------------------------------
 -- End of forwarded message
-----------------------------------------------------

--
                                         Regards,
                                         David
-----------------------------------------------------------
David Auerbach                           auerbach-AT-unity.ncsu.edu (David
Auerbach)
Department of Philosophy & Religion
NCSU
Box 8103
Raleigh, 27695-8103
-----------------------------------------------------------

Louise M. Antony
Department of Philosophy                       PH #: (919) 962-3318
University of North Carolina                   FAX: (919) 962-6094
CB # 3125, Caldwell Hall                       lantony-AT-email.unc.edu
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3125





     --- from list french-feminism-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---