TO THE PROBLEM OF GENDER INCLUSION IN THE FRENCH AND UKRAINIAN MASS MEDIA SPACE
Authors:   National Technical University of Ukraine ", Buts Zhanna ,   Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute",   , Ukraine, Kulykova Viktoriia ,   National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute", Ukraine
Published: December 2023

The study raises the problem of gender inclusiveness in the mass media as one of the ways of formation in the public consciousness of the idea about the parity of women, men and non-binary people in society. In particular, the purpose of the paper is to establish in a comparative aspect the methods of gender nomination and neutralization in modern French and Ukrainian mass media by performing a number of tasks: identifying the features of mass media discourse as an object of gender research; defining the concepts of gender, gender identity and inclusive communication; establishment of inclusive language and inclusive writing strategies; distinguishing gender-marked and gender-neutral vocabulary in modern mass media; comparison of features of the implementation of gender identity in French and Ukrainian mass media texts. Methodology of the study is based on general research methods of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, observation, description and abstraction, as well as comparative analysis. Mass media discourse, which reflects the current state of society, is a convenient field for gender research, for establishing the peculiarities of stereotypes of male and female speech behavior. The press forms the idea of the role of men and women in society in the public consciousness. It shaped the system of gender markers and language stereotypes, etc. So, this gender factor, which considers a person’s natural sex and social roles, is one of the essential characteristics of an individual. Exactly the gender in a certain way affects the awareness of one’s identity, as well as the identification of an individual by other members of society. The resultsof the study showed that the emergence of gender-marked and gender-neutral words is due to changes in society, which find their expression in language. Gender marking is interpreted as a set of features that allow identifying the linguistic unit’s belonging to a certain gender. Two types of gender-marked vocabulary were distinguished: lexical-semantic, and grammatical. In both languages male gender-marked vocabulary is more used than female. This fact actualized the existence of the problem of gender inequality to this day. In addition, during to this research we have singled out the spheres of activity with which men are most often associated. There are politics, sports, business and public activities. Whereas women who despite the dominance of their image in everyday life, in the family, begin to compete with oppositional gender in the political and public spheres, in professional activities, etc. As for gender neutrality, it should be noted that gender-neutral vocabulary is just beginning to become widely used in mass media discourse. That can be explained by still existing certain stereotypes in the cultures of both countries. Currently, in the mass media of both languages, in order to maintain political correctness, there is a tendency to increase the lexical units denoting a person in general, without taking into account his sexual characteristics. By this way we have observed namely words that are neutral by definition, collective concepts, plural nouns, full and shortened doublets, neutral pronouns, neologisms with epicene endings, etc. Value. Also, gender studies contribute to the formation of a tolerant attitude towards men, women and non-binary people. Gender-marked vocabulary, used to denote new female images in politics, public life, etc., shows a positive shift in society regarding women’s problems. On the other hand, there are so-called gender-inclusive words, certain grammatical constructions that allow non-binary people to feel comfortable in society.