Who perceives gender-fair language to be too difficult?
Investigating the role of literacy and sexism on readers’ evaluation of gender-fair language

I am very grateful to the EASP for making it possible for me to visit Professor Sarah Martiny at the Department of Psychology at the Arctic University of Tromsø!

I know Sarah from collaborating on a larger research project on the linguistic framing of social inequality and also from her being the second supervisor of my dissertation. Building on this great collaboration, I always had the big wish to visit her for an extended research stay at her lab in Norway. I have never been so far north before and I was impressed by the beautiful nature and white landscape by which UIT was surrounded at the time of my visit. Sarah and her colleagues gave me an incredibly warm welcome and on my second day in Norway, I was immediately invited to accompany the group to the so-called Lønningspils – the one day in the month on which Norwegians get their salary and go out for a drink, or two…or three. There I learned that a glass of wine in Tromsø costs as much as a whole box of wine in Landau. In addition to the social activities, which I was able to enjoy, I had the opportunity to work with Sarah on a small research project on the acceptance of gender fair language. More precisely, we have planned a sequence of studies in which we examine how people's reading literacy affects their acceptance of gender fair language. Some promising first findings indicate that gender fair language is most strongly accepted by people with high reading literacy and low sexism. Sarah also gave me the opportunity to present prior research at the department colloquium, where I received valuable feedback.

I was extremely quickly and warmly integrated in the department and I also experienced the whole UIT as very supportive. Through the UIT, I had a nearby room in a shared flat, where I also made the experience of living together with another visiting PhD student, Irene Julian, from the University of Zaragoza, Spain. This developed into a great friendship that I also feel very grateful about! Besides these wonderful personal experiences, it was also very informative and interesting for me to get to know a new culture. Norway is a welfare state with a high median income, low unemployment rate, low social division and also with a very small gender gap compared to other countries. As a person who perceives her environment very precisely, I have been able to see and experience how much these structural conditions affect people's well-being, including my own.

After two months that I spent in Tromsø, I left the university, my new friends and colleagues, with a teary eye. For me, the research stay was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life so far and I am incredibly grateful to EASP for supporting this experience. There are so many people I want to thank for making my stay so great and enjoyable, especially Sarah, Dana, Irene, Marte, Marie, Susana, Linda, Maria, and Patty!