It only needs one man – or can mixed groups be described by feminine generics?

Past research has shown that gender equality can be promoted or hampered by language use. In many languages, such as Italian or French, the masculine form is used as a generic for mixed gender groups even when women are the majority. The alternative use of feminine generic plural forms, although promoting the cognitive inclusion of women, is generally perceived as grammatically unacceptable. This is the first research demonstrating that feminine generics are perceived as grammatically less acceptable the smaller the distance of the male target from the grammatical violation (proximity hypothesis). The alternative hypothesis, according to which violations are more disturbing when the male target is mentioned earlier (primacy hypothesis), received no support. Implications of these results are discussed with respect to the most recent debate about gender-fair language use in political communication in Italian and French.