Europe facing the freedom to choose its gender

Europe facing the freedom to choose its gender

Since January 1, Switzerland has joined the list of European countries in which you can change the sex of your marital status on simple declaration when you are over 16 years old. As in Ireland, Belgium, Portugal or Norway, this new law allows people who wish to change their civil status to do so without hormone therapy, without medical diagnosis or bureaucratic steps. The explanations of Jérémie Lanche in Geneva.

Another aspect of this social debate is the question of the “neutral” gender for all people who do not wish to be assigned a male or female gender. In France, the introduction at the end of the year of the pronoun “iel” – a contraction of the words he and she – in the Robert on-line dictionary thus provoked an outcry. In our British neighbor, none of that. In England, the employment of ‘They’ as a gender neutral is already common and even encouraged by the authorities. Marie Billon in London.

In Spain, where Education is a regional competence, it is up to each local government to give the green light to the content of textbooks. However, some regions, led by right-wing or even far-right governments, have already warned that they would oppose theintroduction in textbooks of inclusive language as recommended by a national education law. While the regions of Rioja, Valencia or the Canary Archipelago virulently defend inclusive writing both in administration and in education, others have declared war on this linguistic transformation, Diane Cambon.

And in Turkey, the year starts with gloomy economic prospects and a collapsing currency. In one year, the pound has lost almost 90% of its value against the dollar. Consequence: galloping inflation which penalizes the vast majority of Turks. This is the case of farmers, faced with endless increases in their production costs. Many are now thinking of giving up the profession. The report by Anne Andlauer.

In Russia, until recently the word cheese referred to either a tasteless industrial paste or a luxury product imported from France or Italy. But since 2014 everything has changed: after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the EU is implementing economic sanctions. Moscow responded with a food embargo: overnight, all imports of fresh European products to Russia were banned. French cheese then disappears from the shelves. But in recent years, we have again found quality cheeses in Russia, this time produced by Russian cheesemakers. Le Grand Laitier is one of them: this small brand created by French expatriates in the Kalouga region, southwest of Moscow, has great cheese ambitions. The report of Jean Cassey

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