New Words and Gender Equality in Serbian – Does Discrimination Exist?

Abstract We examined the general attitude to new feminine titles, as it formed in the media in 2021, and the overall image of social feminine titles currently prevalent in the Serbian media, all by way of ascertaining the reasons for acceptance or non-acceptance of new social feminine titles that were articulated in the media. Having defined the necessary terms (discrimination, gender equality, social feminine title and so on) and after a brief review of the social context that made social feminine titles a hot topic in the Serbian media in 2021, we analysed the relevant media texts that present the various positions on social feminine titles. The method of qualitative content analysis was applied, as it was deemed the most fitting methodological procedure for extracting both the arguments put forward in favour of, and those against social feminine title use. The research corpus consisted of media texts and official announcements by Serbian linguistic institutions on the subject of social feminine titles, collected from January to September of 2021. The basic assumption was that the dominant attitude in the media texts would be against new feminine title use, but also that both supporters and opponents of new social feminine titles would feel discriminated against, whether the discrimination came via opposition to or, conversely, via obligatory and consistent use of these terms.