The Zurich city population votes for the “Bye Gender Star” initiative! away. It is probably the world’s first referendum on gender language.
Today, Zurich city administration staff are required to use gender-neutral wording in official texts.
Sascha Steinach / Imago
Hardly any other character has ever stirred up the population as much as the gender star. The people of Zurich can now even express their opinion at the ballot box. The reason for this is the “Bye Gender Star!” initiative, which was launched by the Zurich SVP cantonal councilor Susanne Brunner together with a non-partisan committee.
The initiative wants to ban the gender star and other special characters from the official texts of the city of Zurich. This should be recorded in the municipal regulations.
The initiative was submitted in 2022 after the city revised its regulations for linguistic equality. Since then, staff have been explicitly required to use gender-neutral wording and salutations or the gender star. At the same time, the use of the Binnen-I – as in “politicians” – was prohibited. The administrative employees therefore have to use phrases such as “teachers” or “walkers”. Or the gender star: “Police officers”.
The city justified this change with the goal of equal linguistic treatment for all genders. Women, men, non-binary and trans people should feel addressed equally.
The left also appears to be divided
The use of the gender star is a thorn in the side of Brunner and her colleagues. They want to defend themselves against the “language dictate” imposed from above. The initiators demand that the administration should use clear, understandable and readable language. In official texts, the administration must refrain from using special characters within individual words. If the initiative is accepted, it would not be permissible to use a colon instead of a star.
The result of the vote is eagerly awaited. Civic initiatives, especially the SVP, generally have a hard time with the left-wing majority in the city. However, when it comes to the gender star, opinions also differ among left-wing voters. In addition to representatives from the SVP, FDP and Center, the initiative committee also includes an old cantonal councilor from the SP: Hartmuth Attenhofer.
A representative weighted survey by the research institute GfS Bern on behalf of the NZZ also showed that the gender star has a difficult time among the population. At the end of 2022, the researchers asked over 2,500 Zurich residents what they thought of gender in public documents.
More than two thirds of those surveyed said that they “strongly disagree” or “somewhat disagree” with the use of gender stars and other special characters. Even in large agglomerations and cities, only 28 percent supported the gender star.
Even within the SP supporters, almost half rejected the gender star. Of course, only AL and Green sympathizers spoke in favor of this in the survey.
