Norway has adoped the gender neutral pronoun ‘hen’.
(Picture: REUTERS)The gender-neutral pronoun ‘hen’ will officially enter dictionaries in Norway following its popularity across the country.
“Hen” is an alternative to the feminine pronoun ‘hun’ and the masculine pronoun ‘han’.
The Language Council of Norway confirmed the term was likely to enter official Norwegian language within a year.
Daniel Ims, a representative for the council, said the use of hen had increased in the country and merited its place in the dictionary.
But the proposal was opposed by the Conservative Party, the Progress Party, the Christian Democrats and the Centre Party.
Jan Elisabeth Lindvik, leader of the Association for Transgender People, told the Swedish newspaper Dagen: “Only a few years ago, no one would have said we’d would have been able to determine our own legal sex either.
“That was also a maturation process, which took on rocket speed with the aid of Amnesty.”
The latest move by Norway comes nearly three years after “they” as a pronoun for non-binary people was added to other definitions of the word to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in the US.
Merriam-Webster added the new definition of “they” to its dictionary in September 2019 to reflect the non-binary gender identity.
Nick Adams, director of transgender representation for the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, said the move was a positive step but there was still “a long road ahead”.
He added: “There is a long road ahead before language, policy and culture are completely affirming and inclusive.”
Later that year, the American Psychological Association (APA) endorsed “they” as a singular third-person pronoun in its latest style guide for scholarly writing.
Jasper Simons, chief publishing officer for the APA, said: “We believe writers should try to use a person’s self-identified pronoun whenever feasible.”
