Mercedes Bengoechea Bartolomé (born December 29, 1952) is a Spanish

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

sociolinguist Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies under ...

, professor of

English philology English studies (or simply, English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries. This is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is a distin ...

and a proponent for the defense of the use of

gender-neutral language Gender-neutral language or gender-inclusive language is language that avoids reference towards a particular sex or gender. In English, this includes use of nouns that are not gender-specific to refer to roles or professions, formation of phrases i ...

from an academic foundation. She has had a long career as an advisor to various entities, including the Institute of Women and the Instituto RTVE (IORTV). Since 1994, Bengoechea has been a member of the Comisión Asesora sobre Lenguaje del Instituto de la Mujer (Language Advisory Committee of the Institute of Women) (NOMBRA). She has been vocal at the Commission for the Modernization of Legal Language of the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, as well as coordinator of the first Annual Report of the National Observatory on Gender Violence. She defends the need to implement a non-sexist use of language, in the face of resistance from institutions such as the

Royal Spanish Academy The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanophon ...

(RAE). She has received various awards for her research and innovative work within her specialty.

Biography

She graduated in

Modern Languages A modern language is any human language that is currently in use as a native language. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead clas ...

from the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

(1978), and received her Ph.D. in 1991. She is a professor of sociolinguistics in the area of English Philology, attached to the Department of Modern Philology at the

University of Alcalá The University of Alcalá () is a public university located in Alcalá de Henares, a city 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Madrid in Spain and also the third-largest city of the region. It was founded in 1293 as a ''Studium Generale'' for t ...

, of whose Faculty of Philosophy and Letters she was dean between 2003 and 2008. Since 1994, Bengoechea has been a member of NOMBRA. Between 2005 and 2008, she was a member of the Expert Commission on Language and Childhood of the Instituto RTVE. In 2007, she was in charge of coordinating the first annual report of the National Observatory on

Gender Violence Gender-related violence or gender-based violence (GBV) refers to any kind of violence directed against people due to their gender or gender identification, culture may have a role to play, being lower in egalitarianism societies and higher, sexist ...

. Between 2010 and 2011, she was a member of the Commission for the Modernization of Legal Language of the Ministry of Justice, a period in which she was awarded the First Class Distinguished Cross of the

Order of Saint Raymond of Peñafort The Order of the Cross of St. Raymond of Peñafort () is a Spanish civil order of merit. Established 23 January 1944, the five classes recognize service to and contributions toward the development and perfection of the law and jurisprudence. The ...

, granted by this Ministry (June 24, 2011). Throughout her career she has also received different distinctions, including the María Isidra de Guzmán Research Award for her book ''

Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...

'' (1993), the Dones Progressistes Award, granted by the Federation of Progressist Women of the Valencian Community for her research work within the NOMBRA group of the Women's Institute on gender and language (2006). L'Associació de Dones Periodistes de Catalunya granted her work carried out jointly with José Simón, the Prize for Innovation in Non-Sexist Communication (Prize for Innovation in Non-Sexist Communication) in 2008.

Awards

* 1993, María Isidra de Guzmán Research Award for her book ''Adrienne Rich''. * 2006, Dones Progressistes Award, awarded by the Federation of Progressist Women of the Valencian Community for her research in Language and Gender. * 2008, Award for Innovation in Non-Sexist Communication from the Association of Female Journalists of Catalonia for ''Nombra.en.red'' written and developed by Mercedes Bengoechea and José Simón

Selected works

Books

* (2015) ''Lengua y género.'' Madrid. Síntesis. * (2009) ''Efectos de las políticas lingüistas anti-sexistas y feminización del lenguaje''.

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

: Instituto de la Mujer. * (2007) Coordinación'': Informe anual del Observatorio Estatal de Violencia sobre la Mujer» y Anexo: « Sistema de Indicadores y Variables sobre Violencia de Género sobre el que construir la base de datos del Observatorio Estatal de Violencia sobre la Mujer''. Madrid: Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social. ISBN: NIPO: 201 07 224 1 * (1998) Obra colectiva: ''Lo femenino y lo masculino en el Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.'' Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales. Instituto de la Mujer. 1998.

Book chapters

* (2014) "Gentyll online glossaries: Professional titles of women and men in a series of fields of activity". ''Investigating Lexis: Vocabulary Teaching, ESP, Lexicography and Lexical Innovation'' ():

Cambridge Scholars Publishing Cambridge Scholars Publishing (CSP) is an academic book publisher based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is not affiliated with the University of Cambridge or Cambridge University Press. It began as the hobby project of a Cambridge alumnus ...

. pp. 123-132. * (2014) "Las propuestas de la Comisión de Modernización del Lenguaje Jurídico: apuesta de democratización en la senda del Plain English Movement". ''Lingüística Forense: La Lingüística en el ámbito legal y policial'' (Editorial Euphonia) () Madrid. pp. 317-339. * (2014) "Neologismos, políticas lingüísticas feministas y tradición en los glosarios en línea Gentyll en el ámbito del deporte". ''La Néologie en la langue de spécialité. Détection, Implantation et Circulation des Nouveaux Termes'' ()

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

: CRTT (Centre de Recherche en Terminologie et Traduction), Presses Universitaires de Lyon. pp. 203-228. * (2013) "El feminismo ante la teoría y la práctica de la traducción". ''Mujeres, Ciencia y Academia'' ()

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

University of Málaga The University of Málaga (UMA, ''Universidad de Málaga'') is a public university ranked 23 among all Spanish universities and 683 in the world. It was established in 1972 and has, as of 2016, 30,203 Bachelor students and 2576 on a Master's pr ...

. pp. 55-82. * Y SIMÓN, José (2012) "El paisaje publicitario de 2007 tras veinte años de políticas lingüísticas anti-sexistas". ''Intersexion: languages romanes, langues et genres'' ()

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

: Lincom Europa. pp. 83-96. * (2010) "Gender identity in words for professional titles in textbooks". ''Gender perspectives on vocabulary in foreign/second language education'' ()

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...

. pp. 188-211. * (2010) "Si las miradas matasen... La perturbadora mirada del deseo en la poesía romántica". ''El sustrato cultural de la violencia de género'' () Madrid: Editorial Síntesis. pp. 71-115. * (2010) "(In)fidelidad al proyecto de A room of one's own en la asignación de sexo en las traducciones a español". ''Identita i genere in ambito ispanico'' ()

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

FrancoAngeli FrancoAngeli is one of the largest Italian publishing houses specialized in books and journals for university and post-university studies, as well as for professionals. Based in Milan and founded in 1955, it has one of the largest Italian catalog ...

. pp. 33-82 * (2011) “El proceso de nombrar el mundo en femenino y algunos efectos secundarios no buscados”. ''La igualdad: nuevas perspectivas de género en educación, lingüística y filosofía''. Málaga: Centro de Ediciones de la Diputación de Málaga (CEDMA), 2011, pp. 149-182. (). * (2009) "Sexismo (y economía lingüística) en el lenguaje de las noticias". ''Lengua y televisión'' () Madrid: Fragua de Publicaciones. pp. 32-62. * (2009) "El español no sexista en la redacción legislativa". ''Legislar Mejor'' () Madrid: Ministerio de Justicia. pp. 159-184. * (2009) "Spain and Portugal". ''Sociolinguistics around the world: A handbook'' ()

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

. pp. 341-358. * (2008) "Textualizacion de identidad genérica homogeneizada". ''Making Waves'' ()

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 71-91. * (2006) "El lenguaje y la forma textual de representación". ''Nuevos retos y perspectivas de investigación en la comunicación''. (): C.A. UNED. Biblioteca (

National University of Distance Education The National Distance Education University (, UNED) is a distance learning and research university founded in 1972 and is the only university run by the government of Spain. The headquarters is located in Madrid, with campuses in all Spanish aut ...

). pp. 299-318. * (2006) "La subordinación simbólica como fuente de la violencia: El lenguaje como vehículo de discriminación.". II Congreso sobre Violencia Doméstica y de Género. (): Madrid:

Consejo General del Poder Judicial Consejo is a village in the north of Corozal District, Belize. Consejo is located on a point of land where the bays of Corozal and Chetumal meet. Consejo is about 8 miles (12.9 km) from the district capital of Corozal Town, and across t ...

. pp. 77-90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bengoechea, Mercedes 1952 births Living people People from Madrid Sociolinguists Spanish philologists Spanish feminist writers Academic staff of the University of Alcalá Complutense University of Madrid alumni Spanish gender studies academics 21st-century non-fiction writers 21st-century Spanish women writers