Kerala govt passes law fully written using feminine pronouns in Malayalam

Thiruvananthapuram: In a first in the country, the Kerala government on Tuesday passed a law on public health that has been fully written using feminine gender pronouns in Malayalam.

The law titled, Public Health Law, 2023 was enacted after collecting the opinions of the public as well as people’s representatives, health experts and organisations.

”This is the first Bill that has completely used feminine pronouns. All the laws in the country have always used male pronouns till now,” Health Minister Veena George’s office said in a release.

Instead of using ‘udhyogasthan’ (pronoun to describe male officer), the new Law contains ‘udhyogastha’ (the feminine gender for officer in Malayalam).

The bill was introduced and passed by the legislature in view of the need to combat new viruses, pathogens, infectious diseases and epidemics emerging as part of climate change and human-animal interactions, as well as to prevent lifestyle diseases.

The bill was prepared keeping in mind the elderly, differently abled, bedridden patients, women, children, guest workers and others who need special treatment, the release said.