Department of Gender & Diversity

Contact:
Raum 1.101

Gender & Diversity:
diversitaet@asta.uni-goettingen.de
Phone: 0551 39-34567
Office hours:
on request

Trans* Counselling
transberatung@asta.uni-goettingen.de
Office hours:
on request

As the AStA, issues of gender & diversity are of particular importance to us.

The department is intended to be a point of contact for all students at our university who feel threatened by sexism, racism or other forms of discrimination. Attacks on women and queer people, hate speech against migrants – these are not abstract problems and issues that we merely hear about in the media. They are part of everyday life for many students – including here at our university! Whether it is yet another professor behaving inappropriately towards female students, the under-representation of women in the appointment of professorships, or cuts to funding for social services and degree programmes that address these issues, such as gender studies. The government’s austerity policies of recent years are making themselves felt, as they create a climate in which hate speech and exclusion are on the rise, whilst support services are being cut to the bone.

Social cuts and a shift to the right are by no means stopping here – we feel these problems every day and will no longer tolerate them! We take a clear stand against sexism, racism, and homophobia and transphobia at our university and see it as our duty to combat them.

The Gender & Diversity Committee is led by Kayah Meyer-Abich. If you have any questions, you can contact us by email at any time.

Counselling services

Trans* counselling

Following the university’s closure of its counselling service for trans* students in December 2019, a self-organised, peer-to-peer trans* counselling service for students has been set up within the AStA. You can find more information here.

You can contact the trans* counselling service via the following email address: transberatung@asta.uni-goettingen.de


Domestic violence

For women, the home is and remains the most dangerous place when it comes to sexual, physical and verbal violence. This is confirmed by the recently published police crime statistics for 2025. Violence against women has been on the rise for years, whilst funding is being cut in areas where protection is supposed to be guaranteed, whether in women’s refuges or counselling centres. How can the protection of those affected be guaranteed, and where can you seek help if you are affected?

You can find information on this in this flyer: Help with domestic violence (german).

Our recommendations

Here is a list of resources to help you get started with topics such as the oppression of women, racism, etc.

Click here: List of resources (german).

Guidance on gender-neutral language

Why is it important to use gender-neutral language correctly?

In the German language, the generic masculine is widely used; in other words, the masculine form of a word is also the generic form. For example, ‘die Lehrer’ can refer to a group consisting exclusively of men, as well as to a group of people of mixed or unspecified gender. ‘Die Lehrerinnen’, however, is understood to mean a group consisting exclusively of women.

To address all people when all people are meant, we should use gender-neutral language in a way that does not potentially address only one specific gender. The generic masculine is therefore unsuitable, as it does not clearly indicate whether it really refers to all people or only to men. Furthermore, defining the masculine as the generic standard is problematic and ensures that people of other genders are overlooked and do not feel included.

What is the correct way to use gender-neutral language?

There are many alternative methods used to indicate gender, including: the ‘Binnen-I’ (“LehrerInnen”), the asterisk (“Lehrer*innen”), the colon (“Lehrer:innen”), or the underscore (“Lehrer_innen”).

The problem with special characters and the ‘Binnen-I’ is that screen readers do not necessarily recognise them as gender-neutral markers and therefore read them out incorrectly. This makes it difficult for people who rely on screen readers to read the text. The German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (DBSV) has also issued a statement on this: https://www.dbsv.org/gendern.html
The DBSV therefore recommends writing out the masculine and feminine forms of the word in full (e.g. ‘teachers and female teachers’). The only problem with this is that it does not necessarily include non-binary people. To include non-binary people, therefore, a different approach to gender-neutral language would be required, which may necessitate the use of a special character.

Ideally, a gender-neutral formulation should be used (e.g. ‘teachers’, ‘lecturers’). This ensures that everyone is included in the term and that it can be read without difficulty by all screen readers.
Phrases such as ‘people who teach’ can also be an alternative.

If that is not possible, an asterisk is the best solution. The asterisk has now become the most widely used special character in gender-neutral language. This means there is the highest probability that a screen reader will be able to handle it.

Nevertheless, you should check on a case-by-case basis which solution for gender-neutral language is best. For example, certain ways of using gender-neutral language could make it harder for people who already struggle to read or understand German texts (e.g. non-native speakers or people with certain disabilities) to comprehend the text!