Italys Ministry of Education banned gender-neutral symbols like the asterisk and schwa in schools on March 21, 2025.
The ministry calls them ungrammatical and unclear, reversing a brief trend pushed by progressive activists.Under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who took office in 2022, Italy shifts back to traditional norms after years of pressure from vocal inclusivity campaigns.Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, sets the toneshe opts for the masculine il before her title, presidente del consiglio, rejecting feminist tweaks.
Italian grammar defaults to masculine forms for mixed groups, a rule some challenged with neutral endings like car for dear.Yet, ministry data shows these symbols appear in less than 1% of school documents, signaling a minor but overhyped experiment now ending.
This move echoes a wider return to stability.In recent years, Italy faced growing calls from activists and academics to adopt gender-neutral language, mirroring trends in liberal pockets of the West.
Protests hit Rome on March 23, drawing 5,000mostly students and teachersbut thats a small fraction of Italys 60 million people.Most Italians, like much of the world, never embraced the shift.
Beyond Europes progressive cities, languages like Chinese, Arabic, or Russian show no sign of bending to such changes.Italy Reclaims Tradition with Ban on Gender-Neutral Symbols.
(Photo Internet reproduction)Other nations ditched similar experiments.
Argentinas Buenos Aires banned amigues in schools in 2022, prioritizing clear Spanish.
France rejected criture inclusive in official texts, and Germanys Saxony dropped gender stars in 2021.Italys Rollback on Gender-Neutral LanguageThese steps reflect a broader pattern: traditional grammar holds firm where progressive ideas briefly flared.
Swedens hen pronoun, adopted in 2014, stands out as an exception, not the rule.The push for neutral language came from a narrow groupactivists, educators, and urban elitesclaiming it aided inclusion.
A 2023 CEPR study in Israel linked neutral terms to better womens test scores, but such arguments gained little traction outside academic circles.In Italy, the ministry prioritizes clarity, aligning with the Accademia della Crusca, the nations language authority, which long opposed these novelties.Businesses see the shifts limits.
Western companies may tweak diversity policies, but global marketsfrom Asia to Africastick to conventional norms, unbothered by the debate.Italys ban signals a return to normalcy after a fleeting wave of woke influence, driven by a minority.
Most Italians, and the world, welcome the rollback, viewing it as a practical reset, not a cultural war.
The numbers tell the story: a tiny 1% fad fades, and tradition resumes its place.