The League distances itself from Senator Potenti's pdl: forbidden to write mayor or lawyer
The League dissociates itself from Senator Potenti's bill to ban the use of female terms such as mayor or lawyer in public acts
3' min read
3' min read
No more 'lawyer', but also 'mayor'. The controversy over a bill proposed by the Lega Nord senator Manfredi Potenti, who wants to prohibit in public acts 'the female gender for neologisms applied to the institutional titles of the State, military ranks, professional titles, honours, and offices identified by acts having the force of law', lasted only a few hours. In fact, the party immediately distanced itself from the bill.
Lega: pdl on female names not shared, to be withdrawn
"The League specifies that Senator Manfredi Potenti's bill is an entirely personal initiative. The party leaders, starting with the group leader in the Senate, Massimiliano Romeo, do not agree with the contents of Potenti's bill, the text of which does not in any way reflect the line of the League, which has already requested its immediate withdrawal'. Thus League sources on the proposal aimed at prohibiting in public acts 'the female gender for neologisms applied to institutional titles' such as 'mayor' or 'lawyer'.
The contents of the text
.But here is what the bill says: 'This law intends to preserve the integrity of the Italian language and, in particular, to avoid the improper modification of public titles such as 'Sindaco', 'Prefetto', 'Questore', 'Avvocato' by 'symbolic' attempts to adapt their definition to the different sensitivities of the times'.
Oppositions to the attack
.Oppositions rise up. 'The misogyny of the Lega Nord is boundless. And also ridiculous, the expression of a sub-culture lacking in thought and attention even to what the Accademia della Crusca recommends,' comments the AVS group leader in the Chamber, Luana Zanella. For her party colleague, Aurora Floridia, this initiative 'represents a serious step backwards in the long and arduous struggle for gender equality'. But even from the PD the reactions are not slow in coming: 'According to the League, in the name of the Italian language we should sanction those who speak Italian correctly. The troglodytes who would do anything to remove respect for the female gender should read the Treccani,' said the Dem Michela Di Biase . And Senator Cristina Tajani, to substantiate her arguments, dusts off a prayer: '...O our advocate, turn your merciful eyes on us' ... Who knows whether Senator Potenti, who proposes to ban the use of the professional feminine, will also want to fine the faithful who recite the Salve Regina'.
What the promoter of the law says
Leghista Potenti, for his part, explains that 'it is necessary to prevent that the legitimate battle for gender equality, in order to achieve visibility and consensus in society, resorts to such excesses that are disrespectful of the institutions' and, for this reason, he believes 'a regulatory intervention is necessary that implies a containment of creativity in the use of the Italian language in the documents of the institutions'. In Article 3 of the pdl, on the use of the Italian language in public acts, the 'prohibition of the discretionary use of the feminine or over-extended or any linguistic experimentation is put in black and white. The use of the double form or the universal masculine is allowed, to be understood in a neutral sense and without any sexist connotation'. The aim - as stated in Article 1 - is 'to preserve the public administration from literal distortions resulting from the need to affirm gender equality in public texts'.
