Stop using "lawyer", "mayor" and the like. A bill proposed by the League aims to ban "the female gender in public documents for neologisms applied to institutional titles of the State, to military ranks, to professional titles, to honours, and to positions identified by acts having the force of law".

The text, signed by Northern League senator Manfredi Potenti, is still a draft but is already very clear in its premises: « This law intends to preserve the integrity of the Italian language and in particular to avoid the improper modification of public titles , such as 'Mayor' , 'Prefect', 'Quaestor', 'Lawyer' from 'symbolic' attempts to adapt their definition to the different sensitivities of the time".

«We must avoid that the legitimate battle for gender equality, in order to achieve visibility and consensus in society, resorts to these excesses that do not respect the institutions », it explains. And, for this reason, it is believed that "a regulatory intervention is necessary which implies a containment of creativity in the use of the Italian language in institutional documents".

In article 3 on the use of the Italian language in public documents, the «ban on the discretionary use of feminine or overextended use or any linguistic experimentation is put in black and white. The use of the double form or the universal masculine is permitted, to be understood in a neutral sense and without any sexist connotation." The objective - as stated in article 1 - is to "preserve the public administration from literal deformations resulting from the need to affirm gender equality in public texts". Separate chapter on fines (article 5): «The violation of the obligations under this law entails the application of an administrative pecuniary sanction consisting in the payment of a sum of between 1,000 and 5,000 euros ».

(Unioneonline/D)

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