Women/language/feminization: A linguistic policy experience in France

After briefly reviewing the different treatment of women and men in languag e (differentiation and discrimination) through examples taken especially fr om the French, I deal with the difficulty of designation equality for women by tackling the problems of gender in French and of the various blocks aga inst the feminization of occupation names. These blocks are more ideologica l than linguistic, as shown not only by the years but also Terminology Femi nization changes in usage studied for over ten by the reactions against the Committee for the of Occupation Names, Titles and Functions, set up in Feb ruary 1984 by Yvette Roudy, Minister of the Rights of Women, and chaired by the writer Benoite Groult. I describe the work of this committee, its rece ption and the proposals that appeared in the Journal Officiel of March 16, 1986.