A Systematic Review of the Effects of Gender-Fair Language in German as a Grammatical Gender Language

In grammatical gender languages, such as German, every noun has and expresses a (grammatical) gender. In many of these languages, the generic masculine form is a linguistic convention, in which the grammatical masculine form is used to refer to (groups of) individuals when gender is irrelevant, unknown or at least one male individual is present. In recent decades, it has been argued that the generic masculine form might lead to linguistic imbalances in favor of men, potentially discriminating women and non-cisgendered individuals. Thus, gender-fair language alternatives have been proposed though they are often critized. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the effects of gender-fair language alternatives on different outcomes in German as an exemplary grammatical gender language. The findings of 38 studies suggest that gender-fair language alternatives generally have no impeding or positive effects across various domains. Overall, they do not significantly impede comprehensibility, motivation, reading time, text aesthetics, or quality. In contrast, studies indicate that such alternatives positively affect the mental representation of women and non-binary individuals, motivational outcomes and perceptions of professions, job advertisements, and candidates—particularly benefiting women and girls. Future research should aim to corroborate these findings with more diverse samples. Practical implications for language policies and educational settings are discussed.