In the ongoing debates about the feminization of professional titles and positions, one argument against it suggests that the "demand"; to feminize such titles, when attributed to women, is a recent phenomenon that contrasts with the thousand-year history of italian language. In reality, the feminization of professional titles follows a general rule of gender distinction in Italian. It has only been strongly challenged in recent decades and primarily with regard to professions associated with prestige or considered prestigious. For example, in the musical field, the legitimacy of direttrice d’orchestra as a feminine form is debated, whereas names like pianista, violinista, and clarinettista are not similarly contested. From a historical perspective, despite the limited evidence due to the underrepresentation of women in prestigious professions until recent times, feminization has been documented in some cases as early as the fourteenth century. An intriguing source that confirms the existence of feminine forms for a wide range of trades (and professions) that were historically male-dominated is the General Population Census of 1901. This contribution explores and discusses some of the feminine forms documented in texts of the past.
University of Padua, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-2483-7828
Titolo del capitolo
La femminilizzazione dei nomi di professione e di cariche. Un problema recente?
Autori
Michele Cortellazzo
Lingua
Italian
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0484-2.05
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2024
Copyright
© 2024 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Educazione all’uguaglianza di genere ed educazione linguistica
Curatori
Elisabetta Jafrancesco, Ivana Fratter, Ida Tucci
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
164
Anno di pubblicazione
2024
Copyright
© 2024 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0484-2
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0483-5
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0484-2
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-0485-9
Collana
Strumenti per la didattica e la ricerca
ISSN della collana
2704-6249
e-ISSN della collana
2704-5870