Congress will no longer be “of the Deputies” and its regulations will be rewritten with inclusive language | Spain

The Congress will no longer be called “Deputies” and will simply remain “Congress”. It will be one of the most striking consequences of the rewriting of the House Regulations to adapt them to inclusive language, the first step of which was approved this Tuesday by the plenary session. The initiative presented by PSOE and Sumar received the support of the left-wing and peripheral nationalist groups that support the Government and the rejection of the two right-wing parties, PP and Vox. Some appealed to the commitment to inclusive language of international organizations such as the UN and the European Union. And others, to the rejection, in the name of philological criteria, expressed on several occasions, the last one last February, by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE).

Language, its social uses and its influence on the way we see the world have become one of the great topics of parliamentary debate in this eventful beginning of the legislature. And also in one more reason for friction between the opposing blocs in Congress, another spark to ignite cultural battles. At the beginning of the legislature, the president of Congress made the decision to allow the unrestricted use of co-official languages. Now, although with much less vehemence and without so much public dust, the so-called inclusive language to end the preeminence of masculine formulas.

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Already in February, the Congress Board issued recommendations on the use of inclusive language in the documents of the Lower House, then also with the support of the PP. This first step has already provoked a statement from the RAE, which, among other things, criticized that attempts to end the exclusive use of the generic masculine when referring to people of both sexes can “increase the distance with the real world” of the language. that is used in institutions.

But the two Government formations have continued with their plans and this Tuesday they presented their joint initiative to reform the Congressional Regulations in the same sense. After obtaining the green light from the plenary session, the normal legislative process will now follow since the Regulation has the status of law.

Wearing a dress with the legend “feminine power” clearly visible, socialist Susana Ros took the stand to defend an initiative that, she stressed, is not the product of “a passing fad, but a priority in the search for a more fair and democratic.” Ros, in an argument that other speakers would later repeat, noted that the use of the masculine generic reduces women “to a position of insignificance.” The representative of the PSOE had a memory for the 21 deputies and 6 senators who were part of the constituent Cortes.

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Esther Gil de Reboleño, from Sumar, also third vice president of the Chamber, outlined other data: women are 44% of the chamber and 60% of the 666 employees of the institution. After her, came the parade of Government allies supporting the initiative. Joseba Agirretxea, from the PNV, was very graphic when explaining that last week, in the vote on the amnesty law by calling one by one of the members of the Chamber, the first was a woman and was referred to as “deputy.” “The time has come to change these things,” he stressed. Ione Belarra, from Unidas Podemos, recalled the recent initiative of the Argentine president, Javier Milei, to prohibit inclusive language in his Administration. Bel Pozueta, from EH Bildu, and Néstor Rego, from the BNG, joined the shifts in favor.

The right united against the measure, with different tones in the interventions of the PP and Vox, and the recrimination of the latter group against the popular ones for having recently approved the recommendations that have received reproach from the RAE. The Academy’s objections were precisely one of the arguments most strongly invoked by the popular Marta González to justify her rejection of an initiative driven by a reason “more political than grammatical.” González compared the position contrary to the inclusive language of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, with its implementation in the Venezuelan Chavista Constitution. And she wondered if from now on the same adaptation will be made in the rest of the legislative body.

The harshest attack had come before with Ignacio Gil Lázaro, from Vox, always lavish in disqualifications and who did not fall short this time either: a “false”, “hypocritical” and “exclusive” proposal, a “patch” typical of carcundia of the left” which, according to him, will not have any impact on improving the condition of women. Gil Lázaro also maintained that the elimination of the tagline “of the deputies” to name Congress represents a covert reform of the Constitution, since it refers to the Legislative Chamber with the name that is now intended to be shortened.

The Congressional Board also made another decision this Tuesday to improve the symbolic presence of women in the Chamber. In the so-called Queen’s Vestibule, the room that is accessed after entering the Palace of Cortes through the Lions’ Gate, portraits of great recent politicians, all men, hang. The Board has given the groups until April 11 to present proposals from women and give greater plurality to the selection of relevant parliamentary figures that the newcomers encounter.

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