The Ideological Battle Over Gendered Nouns in Contemporary Italian

After decades of feminist advocacy, gender equality in the Italian language has ostensibly been achieved, as academic titles, professional designations, and political roles can now be expressed in both masculine and feminine forms. Nevertheless, many women continue to employ masculine nouns to identify themselves, as they have historically done. This study examines the motivations underlying this choice and its perceived connection to patriarchy. Adopting a qualitative case study approach, the research draws on press articles, televised debates, and published interviews with those women, including politicians, who prefer to adopt masculine terms when referring to themselves, in order to assess whether the application of masculine nouns for women in professional and political contexts is both linguistically correct and socially accepted. The findings reveal that, in written and spoken Italian, employing the masculine form to designate women is not only grammatically valid but also remains the most widespread practice among speakers. However, women who adopt masculine terms for self-reference are frequently criticized by radical feminist groups, who portray them as misogynistic, patriarchal, or even aligned with fascist traditions. In contrast, this research demonstrates that such linguistic preferences often represent an autonomous and deliberate exercise of personal freedom, rather than submission to external pressures. The study concludes that enforcing the exclusive use of feminine nouns to describe women’s professional or political roles reflects an ideological position rather than a linguistic necessity, serving primarily as a tool for political confrontation.