SIR - I’m all for gender equality and I wonder if we will ever see that reflected in those languages, like French, where an adjective or past participle of a verb have to agree with its subject.
No problem when the subject is singular but when it is plural, and made up of both masculine and feminine subjects, the agreeing plural adjective or past participle always takes the masculine form, even if the majority portion of the subject is feminine.
Can that be equality? Will we ever see change?
As a former modern languages teacher, I’d be fascinated to hear what language experts and feminist activists have to say.
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