Norwegian dictionary includes genderneutral ‘hen’

On Friday, language director Åse Wetås announced on Twitter that the term now appears in the online version of the dictionary Bokmålsordboka. There, it is defined as a pronoun that is "used to refer to a person when gender is unknown, insignificant or kept hidden", Vart Land reports.

According to the section manager of the Language Council, Daniel Ims, the word's usage has increased over time. "It has been used more in newspaper texts, but also in other contexts, such as at school", he said, adding that he has no idea how often the term is used in spoken language.

"Misgendering because of language now unnecessary"

During a consultation round in April, the Language Council received many reactions both in favour and opposed. For example, the spokesperson of Fri, the association for LGBT rights, says to be happy that the term is included. "The fact that we have added it as a personal pronoun in the dictionary is an acknowledgement that it is a common word that is in use in the language."

Also, the Ombud for Equality and Anti-Discrimination says to support the decision of the Language Council. "Those involved do not have to be misgendered anymore because of the language."

"Gender words lose their meaning"

Ims says that opponents of the inclusion of 'hen' in the dictionary referred to the debate on the third sex. Some thought it was too early to include the term in the leading dictionary for the Norwegian language already, he adds.

Ole Christian Vedvik, a Norwegian teacher, is afraid that new "gender words" lead to confusion and diminish the meaning of existing words, such as "woman" and "mother." He writes in Vart Land that these terms are no longer reserved for people who are biologically born as women. "For example, can a human who has fertilised an egg with his sperm claim to be a mother?"

Gender words lose their meaning as there is nothing objective that can be defined, says Vedvik. If gender and the biological origin of the concept are detached, these words have no specific meaning anymore. "Woman. Man. Girl. Boy. It does not matter, objectively speaking."

Therefore, Vedvik pleads for a language that preserves the meaning of words that are about gender. "So we are not left in the emperor's new language costume with meaningless gender words."