Croatian occupational terminology: The 2000s’ escape from “A Man’s World”

Abstract

Abstract This paper is concerned with the forms of expression of occupational terms in contemporary Croatian institutional practice, typical of the changes in language policy and public language usage. Predominant in Croatian language was the androcentric practice of using masculine occupational terms as unmarked, gender-neutral. However, due to various reasons, it has changed in past years. The 2008 Amendments to the Croatian National Classification of Occupations marked the turning point in gender equality in terms of providing for gender-specific occupational nouns. For the first time, an official document codified both masculine and feminine occupational titles and stipulated their usage as a national classification standard, thus acknowledging a significant language change. However, the 2008 and 2010 Classifications both displayed certain asymmetries as well. The paper pinpoints these asymmetries, documents elements of linguistic sexism still remaining, as well as successful “escapes” from it, and tries to determine whether imbalances and barriers within the binary masculine-feminine concept are brought about by intralinguistic (lexical) or extralinguistic factors.