There are claims of certain words being too masculine and needing feminization. For example, there is only the male form président (head of state) & no word as présidente for a female head of state. But the government of France in a bid to be more gender-inclusive considers the female form too as a part of the French language and breaks gender-specific job stereotypes.
But some left egalitarian activists have an extreme viewpoint that traditional French words mostly in the case of mixed settings are too masculine and need feminization via a language writing overhaul.
A group of friends with nine women and one man would nevertheless be termed with the masculine " amis " therefore, gender-inclusive activists and speakers advocate for putting an ‘e’ - symbolizing femininity - before the end of the word and a midpoint, to make the word gender-neutral- " ami.e.s " - a so-called " midpoint ". (ami is a male friend, amie a female friend in French)
The French government considers this way of writing as dangerous, harmful, which makes learning difficult for foreigners & specially-abled children with learning difficulties, and can be a death knell to the language itself. It sent a decree to schools across France, which aims to end the use of midpoints that designate both masculine and feminine endings to a word.
The English translation of decree reads:
“So-called ‘inclusive’ writing should be avoided, which notably uses the midpoint to simultaneously reveal the feminine and masculine forms of a word used in the masculine when it is used in one sense. In addition, this writing, which results in the fragmentation of words and agreements, constitutes an obstacle to reading and understanding the written word. The impossibility of verbally transcribing texts using this type of writing hampers reading aloud as well as pronunciation, and consequently learning, especially for the youngest. "
However, this decree excludes cases of gender stereotypical jobs as stated earlier in the case of words like the president. But the French teacher’s union, SUD Education Union an extreme left organization disagrees with the decree and states that the government is trying to impose backwardness on the educational community. The union asks the teachers to continue using the " breakpoint " words with freedom and not take any instructions from the decree.
Earlier this year, French President Emanuel Macron warned that left-wing “social science theories entirely imported from the United States,” referring to “cancel culture” and leftist ideas about race and gender is a threat to French society.