A Gender Crisis

The French are proudly finicky about French linguistic usage. At least they were; youth is indifferent to all the arcane complexities of the language. Not the women: they have a grievance about the masculine gender of titles. These should be different, like Monsieur and Madame. The problem has become acute now that women occupy many high posts. The two political leaders, President Chirac and Prime Minister Jospin, have both made speeches virtually ordering differentiation of all titles. After all, women have lots of votes. This will involve innumerable changes in dictionaries. The editors of the standard reference, Robert, grumpily said the changes must be in accord with French usage. The traditionalist French Academy will have the final say. The battle has begun. Forget Iraq and Kosovo. This is a serious matter.