When this little star is inserted into words it makes it possible to address all genders at the same time in written German. An example: Renters in the normally male plural of Mieter can become the female plural of Mieter*innen.

On Tuesday, the so-called Anglicism Jury at Free University Berlin made their selection based on the increasingly widespread use of this asterisk “in public language,” they said.

They were also swayed by the central importance that the sign – and the word for it – have had in the debate “on the difficult and highly controversial issue of linguistic equality of different sexes,” said Anatol Stefanowitsch, chairman of the jury, on Tuesday in Berlin.

The Free University linguist is a proponent of gender-equitable language and welcomes the Gendersternchen in order to make gender visible beyond men and women when naming groups of people.

But it’s not only in liberal Berlin that you’re likely to spot the star when reading texts – be it a newspaper asking addressing its readers (liberal daily taz uses Leser*innen) or a landlord addressing tenants (for example, Mieter*innen).

Recently a lot of attention has been cast on Hanover because it has introduced a new “Recommendation for a Gender Equitable Administrative Language” urging institutions to also adapt gender neutral ways of representing word.

In 2018, there was also a discussion among the Council for German Spelling about a possible inclusion of the Gendersternchen in official bureaucratic spelling.

The Anglicism jury didn’t just praise the word for the concept of gender equality it represents. Being linguists, they were also, well, star struck that the word Gendersternchen shows how quickly German can use words or phrases borrowed from English to form new words – words that aren’t quite English nor German.

This texts contains two examples of the Gendersternchen, Einwohner*innen and Mitarbeiter*innen. Photo: DPA

Within just a few years, the so-called “Gender Star” had become a Gendersternchen. Ladies and gentlemen, we present you with the newest Denglisch term.

Since the turn of the millennium in Germany, the verb “gendern” has found itself in its technical meaning: “Realizing equality between men and women”. But thanks to the gender star it also can have the English meaning of gender, or Geschlecht in German.

With reporting by DPA

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