Rationale
The society of the third millennium is still shaped by a worldview based on an androcentric heritage, which still perpetrates the gender power asymmetry, fostering stereotyping processes and hindering the slow advance towards an inclusive and equal society. Issues concerning gender inequalities are a priority today, as documented by numerous studies, researches and indicators, including the Global Gender Gap Report, annually edited by the World Economic Forum, which highlights Italy's backward position; and the UN 2030 Agenda, which sets the achievement of gender equality as one of its goals (goal 5). In this context, language - iconic ;)
and verbal ;)
- plays a key role that cannot and must not be underestimated by those who deal or will deal with communication. Language, as also reported by the MIUR (Ministry of Education, University and Research) in Linee guida per l’uso del linguaggio amministrativo (2018), is a vehicle through which human beings represent reality, contributing either to consolidate it as it is or, instead, to modify it.
Adopting an inclusive and respectful language represents an act of responsibility; a powerful trigger for social change and transformation; a way to support and actively participate in the construction of a fairer present and future, promoting the dissemination of an inclusive and respectful culture of differences.
Starting from these assumptions, a research work was carried out to analyse institutional documents that deal with providing guidelines and 'rules' for inclusive and equal language in order to extrapolate, isolate, synthesise some relevant points of attention, in particular, for communication designers.
The aim is to provide suggestions and alternative forms to overcome the sexist bias perpetrated by iconic and verbal language, without breaking recognised linguistic and grammatical rules. Moving from the particular to the general, 10 principles were then identified and summarized, 10 fundamental requirements to which we believe a gender-sensitive iconic and verbal language should respond.
With this document, we call upon professors, students, scholars, researchers who move in the communicative dimension of society by assuming the role of image-makers within the media circuit, and all those specifically engaged in the field of communication design, because we believe that, as experts, we have a social responsibility and a decisive role.
Our aim is to foster a gender-sensitive language - iconic and verbal -, respectful of personal identities and choices, in the belief that communication design can be a tool for inclusion and a space in which to build forms of creative resistance.
Rationale
The society of the third millennium is still shaped by a worldview based on an androcentric heritage, which still perpetrates the gender power asymmetry, fostering stereotyping processes and hindering the slow advance towards an inclusive and equal society. Issues concerning gender inequalities are a priority today, as documented by numerous studies, researches and indicators, including the Global Gender Gap Report, annually edited by the World Economic Forum, which highlights Italy's backward position; and the UN 2030 Agenda, which sets the achievement of gender equality as one of its goals (goal 5). In this context, language - iconic and verbal - plays a key role that cannot and must not be underestimated by those who deal or will deal with communication. Language, as also reported by the MIUR (Ministry of Education, University and Research) in Linee guida per l’uso del linguaggio amministrativo (2018), is a vehicle through which human beings represent reality, contributing either to consolidate it as it is or, instead, to modify it.
Adopting an inclusive and respectful language represents an act of responsibility; a powerful trigger for social change and transformation; a way to support and actively participate in the construction of a fairer present and future, promoting the dissemination of an inclusive and respectful culture of differences.
Starting from these assumptions, a research work was carried out to analyse institutional documents that deal with providing guidelines and 'rules' for inclusive and equal language in order to extrapolate, isolate, synthesise some relevant points of attention, in particular, for communication designers.
The aim is to provide suggestions and alternative forms to overcome the sexist bias perpetrated by iconic and verbal language, without breaking recognised linguistic and grammatical rules. Moving from the particular to the general, 10 principles were then identified and summarized, 10 fundamental requirements to which we believe a gender-sensitive iconic and verbal language should respond.
With this document, we call upon professors, students, scholars, researchers who move in the communicative dimension of society by assuming the role of image-makers within the media circuit, and all those specifically engaged in the field of communication design, because we believe that, as experts, we have a social responsibility and a decisive role.
Our aim is to foster a gender-sensitive language - iconic and verbal -, respectful of personal identities and choices, in the belief that communication design can be a tool for inclusion and a space in which to build forms of creative resistance.
