It is a first that should have a short half-life. Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) sees herself as a feminist and a pioneer for gender equitable language – and so her ministry has now simply tried something that is new legislative territory.
The generic feminine is used almost exclusively in the draft bill for the “Further development of restructuring and insolvency law (SanInsFoG)”. It is teeming with formulations such as employees, complainants, creditors, debtors and even “holders of separate entitlements”.
When asked whether other federal ministries are also planning such legal texts exclusively with the generic feminine, government spokesman Steffen Seibert looks at the federal press conference on Monday, rather perplexed. Nobody answers.
Two examples from the draft bill: “If the legal person (…) is threatened with insolvency (Section 18 of the Insolvency Code), the managers safeguard the interests of all of the creditors.”
Elsewhere it is emphasized: “The restructuring plan can also design the rights of the owners of restructuring claims to which they (…) as guarantor, co-debtor or due to any other liability assumed or to objects of the assets of this company (group-internal third-party security).”
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A spokesman for Lambrecht emphasizes on the background of the experiment: “In general, when drafting laws, care is taken to ensure that the language is technically correct and understandable. In addition, according to the joint rules of procedure of the federal ministries, the draft bills should also express the equality of women and men linguistically. ”
But the test balloon bursts quickly. And some in the grand coalition are wondering whether something like this is necessary in times of the Corona crisis.
CDU / CSU: SPD risks delay in the legislative process
“I have no understanding whatsoever for this kind of gender madness,” says, for example, the deputy chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei, when asked by the Tagesspiegel. “We urgently need this law so that our economy can better deal with the consequences of COVID-19.” Nevertheless, the coalition partner SPD now risks delays in the legislative process, “because he thinks he has to fight fundamental ideological issues right now.”
He very much hopes “that it remains a one-time slip”. FDP parliamentary group vice Stephan Thomae emphasizes that language should also be non-discriminatory in legal texts. “In view of the impending wave of bankruptcies, however, restructuring and bankruptcy law is not the right setting for the farcical coalition dispute over the generic use of feminine and masculine.”
Also criticism within the SPD
In the SPD itself, too, some Social Democrats get stuck on issues that for many citizens bypass their own realities of life. Thomae says that it is now important “that we provide small and medium-sized companies that have got into economic difficulties due to the corona, suitable instruments so that they can reorganize themselves effectively and efficiently”.
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The spokesman for the Minister of the Interior and Constitutional Affairs, Horst Seehofer (CSU), who is responsible for the coordination of laws, emphasizes that the law can hardly be constitutional. “While the generic masculine, i.e. the use of the masculine form of speech, is recognized for people of male and female gender, the generic feminine for use by female and male people has not yet been recognized linguistically.”
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According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the draft must be adapted to the applicable regulations. “This applies completely regardless of whether a certain social situation is desired.” The correctness of the language must be guaranteed, especially with legal texts, also with regard to legal formality.
Lambrecht’s department announces pretty quickly: The draft does not yet take into account “the results of the legal and language test”.
In this respect, the draft will be revised before it is presented to the federal cabinet.
