MILAN (Reuters) — Italy’s education ministry instructed schools on Friday to prohibit the growing use of gender-neutral symbols, citing their ambiguity and violation of Italian grammar rules.
The move could exacerbate tensions between the right-wing government, which portrays itself as a defender of traditional values, and LGBTQ and women’s rights activists.
“The use of non-compliant graphic signs, such as the asterisk (*) and the schwa (ə), is contrary to linguistic norms and risks compromising the clarity and uniformity of institutional communication” , according to a statement from the ministry.
When Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office in 2022, she sparked controversy by stating that she wanted her official title of prime minister “presidente del consiglio” to be preceded by the masculine article “il” rather than the feminine “la”.
Nouns and adjectives in Italian, like in other Latin-based languages, take a feminine or masculine form, with the masculine form taking precedence for plural nouns involving both genders.
Some see this as an expression of male dominance and advocate for the use of gender-neutral noun endings such as asterisks or the so-called “schwa,” which is an inverted ‘e’.
The Accademia della Crusca, an institution dedicated to the preservation of the Italian language, has previously suggested that gender-neutral symbols be avoided in official documents.
