Welcome to Gaia! ::

I come from Israel, and will live there this following school year, so I've been preparing myself through Hebrew textbooks to enter the school system. I have been constantly annoyed (from a much younger age) about the way these books are written. In Hebrew, most every verb (and adjective and so on) can be conjugated to either male or female (there is a female "write" and a male "write") and for some reason all the textbooks are written in the male form. Almost all forms and tests are written in that way as well, not to mention the way some women are treated on T.V. and in public.

What I am not able to understand is why, after nearly 60 years women are still left out even from textbooks. It is so angering to open up a book and have it direct you to write as if you were a male. The Ministry of Education is composed mostly of women and yet they continue to ignore it.

When I was in elementary school my mother contacted the Ministry in hopes of changing the the language, was first assured that the book I was using was not Ministry-approved, and then, after she sent them the book, told that the next printings would be different. They are not.

Furthermore, female teachers refer to themselves in the male. Not as in, "please write," but more "now I will write on the board."

Any input?

No, they do teach us the correct form, and women use it (just teachers forget themselves sometime), but the directions and explanations in text books are written for males. It's grammatically incorrect unless only males are addressed, because it is written in the singular "you (singular) write, talk, do". I would have less of a problem if it was plural.

There are a few ways to get around it, too, but the Ministry of Education either can't or won't.

That's all right. I'm tired too. whee
It's all textbooks. Yeah. I told some of my American friends and it took them a while to understand, because the English language just isn't structured that way. I don't feel I would get much support because it is such a small issue ("haven't you got something better to fight for?") but it angers me. A lot.

I don't know what books you're reading, but all of mine don't even have the apology. I'm not talking about writing it out like you did I'm talking about ראו, כתבו, סמנו


Or, you could do it by pink and blue slips, which is rather ridiculous, but it's possible. It's no use saying "let's stick to the status quo because that's all we know." That's a stupid way to go about doing things.

I haven't noticed "feminists making a fuss about it." The bagrooiot are still written in the singular male.

I think that it's bothersome because it's not only in school, but it's in all other areas of life as well. Most signs, talkshow hosts and even official government forms. I don't think that it's better to pick a gender and stick to it because that's discrimination. If I am not addressed in a book or in society, why am I expected to respond with respect?

I just finished buying all my books, many of them "new and updated", and they do have the singular male (especially Beni Goren books). And I did check the bagrooiot on the net, and they are written that way too.

I'm happy that the books your mother works with are written as they are, but it's not all the books, and I'd like it to be.

I wasn't suggesting that the best option is to make pink and blue slips, as I said, it's ridiculous, but if the Ministry of Education refuses to do anything about the plural, then they should make another copy in the feminine.

I guess it depends on the form. My main problem with all of this is not the actual books, but the fact that it blends into the language and women sart talking about themselves and other women purely in the male form.