Making Spanish gender fair: a review of anti-sexist language reform attempts from a language planning perspective

Abstract

More than four decades after the commencement of feminist linguistic activities, the author critically analyses the bottlenecks in the implementation of the European Spanish non-sexist language policies. Through the lenses of language planning, this study demonstrates that these obstacles are, firstly, the difficulty faced by feminist language planning in pervading the different domains and secondly, the limitations posed by language practices, beliefs and management. Other principal factors include inadequate attention to the role of local contexts in the implementation of gender-fair language. Using a survey, the author finally provides current data on speakers’ acceptance or rejection of non-sexist language alternatives. It also provides qualitative data on participants’ reaction to anti-sexist language reform attempts and discusses how these factors can be taken into consideration in feminist language planning.