Davvero “le professioni hanno un nome preciso” e non vengono declinate per genere?

Osservazioni di storia della lingua italiana

Abstract

This paper takes into account two objections often raised to those who foster the use of the feminine form of job titles when they are referred to women. The first objection is that the majority of job titles can only be in the unmarked masculine form and are not connected to the gender of the person referred to; the second objection is that feminist movements have only recently called for the use of feminine job titles, and this claim is unprecedented in the history of the Italian language.

The study of some feminine job titles (avvocata, architetta, sindaca, ministra, deputata, direttrice, studentessa, dottoressa e professoressa) shows that they have always been present – albeit more or less frequently – during the whole history of the Italian language. In particular, the use of feminine forms was quite common between the end of the 1800s and the early 1900s, while they were replaced by unmarked masculine forms mostly in the second half of the 20th century.