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(Project) Gendered Terms in German Language File
Page Overview
[Hide]This is a project page that bundles several feature wiki pages which belong to a larger development activity for the ILIAS component Language Handling.
1 Aim of Project
- At the Development Conference 2012 the gendered language was discussed.
- No non-gendered, gender-neutral oder gender equal terms could be agreed-upon.
- The decision was taken to at least streamline the labels and as a first step use the generic masculine.
- A SIG Geschlechtergerechte Sprache compiled a list of contested terms and approaches to systematically revising them as well as specific suggestions) .
- The community never arrived at an agreement.
2 Involved Authorities and Stakeholders
- Mela, Alix [ILIAS_LM]: Initiator and contributor
- Kunkel, Matthias [mkunkel]: Authority for sign off on conceptual changes
- Potter, Chris [ChrisPotter]: Authority for sign off on code changes
- Grotz, Kendra [kgrotz]: A11y and gender expert
3 Status
Mela, Alix [ILIAS_LM] extracted all gender-binary lines of ilias_de.lang for ILIAS 5.4., ILIAS 6 and ILIAS 7 and listed the binary gendered nouns. It's been added to the page in case someone has to adapt the own file soon.
- Absender
- Actor
- Akteur
- Administrator, Admin, Administration
- Anbieter
- Angemeldete, Angemeldeter
- Angestellter
- Antwortende, Antwortender, Antworter
- Anwender
- Autor
- Benutzer
- Beschäftigter
- Besitzer
- Besucher
- Betreiber
- Betreuer
- Designer
- Dozent
- Drittanbieter
- Eigentümer
- Empfänger
- Ersteller
- Experte
- Geber
- Herausgeber
- Inhaber
- Initiator
- Konsument (vermutlich kein Mensch)
- Lehrer, Lehrperson
- Leitung
- Lerner, Lernende
- Manager
- (Member)
- Mitarbeiter
- Mitwirkende, Mitwirkender (teils pseudo-neutral verwendet)
- Moderator
- Nehmer
- Nutzer
- Partner
- Provider (vermutlich kein Mensch)
- Peer
- Prüfer
- Redakteur
- Sender
- Teilnehmer, Teilgenommene, Teilnehmende (teils pseudo-neutral verwendet)
- Texter
- Trainer
- Tutor
- Urheber
- User
- Validator
- Verfasser
- Verleger
- Vorgesetzter, Vorgesetzte
- Werbetexter
- Zensor
A lot of the terms are used in combination with other nouns, are plural, in sentences, etc. and can't be replaced in a whole-sale fashion.
Suggested Approach
- Requirements for a concept of adress needs to be gathered and an approach agreed-upon.
- The terms need to be looked at in their context of use. Gender mainstreaming and accessibility issues should be adressed simultaneously. The approach of the editorial team to work objekt type by object type should be considered as amodel.
4 Implementation
Changes were made thanks to a project regarding gendermainstreaming the German language file:
The project is still ongoing in 2025 for ILIAS 11.
5 General Discussion
Please discuss specific questions of feature requests on the related feature wiki pages. This discussion section is only for a general discussion of the project and its realisation.
Last edited: 21. May 2026, 08:27, Kunkel, Matthias [mkunkel]