Berlin’s new governing mayor Kai Wegner wants “the language of the administration to be understandable”. Gender-fair language (gender) makes it unnecessarily difficult for many people, says the CDU politician.
Berlin’s new governing mayor, Kai Wegner, has been in office for 24 days – and has now spoken in “Bild am Sonntag” about what he wants to do in the capital.
In addition to more security and cleanliness, increased action against the “climate glue” and the fight against so-called clan crime, the new boss in the Red City Hall also wants to address the communication of the Berlin administration – and possibly reduce gender-neutral language (genders) again.
Kai Wegner wants “understandable” language
“It is important to me that the language of the administration is understandable. Everyone can speak privately as they wish. But I would like to speak the German that I learned at school and that everyone understands,” said the CDU politician to the newspaper to the question of whether the Berlin administration had to change further. The 50-year-old did not answer clearly “yes” or “no”.
Among other things, he is concerned with migrants. “We also expect people who come to Germany to learn German, and the authorities in particular shouldn’t make it unnecessarily difficult for them.” Against this background, it is not known whether Wegner also wants to free administrative communication with citizens from official German and legal technical terms.
The suggestion of the ruler has apparently already arrived in the administration. While the women and equality department of the Senate Department for Labour, Social Affairs, Equality, Integration, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination has so far campaigned for the goal of gender-fair language and has changed it in many publications, it now says: “We are currently making adjustments to our website through to accommodate the current Senate reshuffles.”
The CDU had declared a fight against gender language
However: the Berlin authorities will not be able to do without gender-equitable language so easily. Paragraph two of the regulation of the joint rules of procedure for the Berlin administration stipulates: “Equal linguistic treatment of women and men must be observed.”
For example, in the future it would be conceivable to dispense with spellings such as “teachers”, “teachers” or “teachers” and to use the spellings “teachers”, “teachers” or “teachers”.
Kai Wegner clarified his statement from the “Bild am Sonntag” in the “Tagesspiegel”. “I’m not concerned with bans. There will also be no reversals in the Berlin administration,” he said. It’s more about his own communication.
The CDU Berlin had promised in its program for the parliamentary elections: “We will ensure that the Berlin administration does not use any artificial gender language.” The coalition agreement with the SPD makes no statement on the subject.
Editor’s note: Wegner’s statement in the “Tagesspiegel” was subsequently added.
Sources: , , “, , , DPA news agency
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
