1. Different sexes
This is pretty straightforward. The feminine noun denoting the female is either a different word (un monsieur/ une dame, un mouton/une brebis etc) or takes an ‘e’ or standard suffix ending in ‘e’ (caissier/caissière – cashier or checkout assistant, acteur/actrice etc).

But there is a particular category of words for which the only available feminine marker is the article; in other words, their masculine and feminine forms are the same:
un/une enfant (child), un/une élève (pupil), un/une adulte, un/une libraire (bookseller), un/une bibliothécaire (librarian: careful of the faux ami!), un/une artiste, un/une journaliste, un/une collègue (colleague), un/une locataire (tenant) etc.

2. Uncertain sex
Some words only have one grammatical gender, so we add an adjective (masculin/mâle, féminin/femelle) if we need to specify the person’s/animal’s sex: un nourrisson (baby, infant), un chiot (puppy), un caneton (duckling) etc.
Some feminine-only nouns can denote males. The obvious example is une personne, which is always feminine. Other examples include une star, une victime, une sentinelle, une idole.
Conversely, some masculine-only nouns can denote females: un ange, un témoin (witness), un peintre (painter), un monarque, un diplomate, un agresseur (assailant), un assassin, un escroc (swindler, crook), un tyran (tyrant), un faux-monnayeur (forger)… but I have to say, without wanting to seem invertedly sexist, that one would hardly associate the last five examples with women!

There are several ways of clearly marking the sex of the person if the noun itself is invariable in gender. As we saw earlier, the adjectives mâle/femelle (mainly for animals), or femme/homme used adjectively before the noun for people (une femme peintre), an adjective derived from the noun (une femme tyrannique – yes, they do exist, so I’m told), or a synonym if one exists (un assassin/une meurtrière).

3. Professions, titles
Many nouns denoting professions are only masculine, so we have to resort to une femme auteur (or… écrivain, magistrat, ingénieur etc) for women. Ministre was and still is a bone of contention between upholders of traditional grammar and advocates of ‘feminisation’, the former claiming we should say Madame le Ministre and the latter Madame la Ministre.

Strangely enough, ‘masculinising’ is much less of an issue: sage-femme for instance (un homme sage-femme – a male midwife) has officially been approved by the Assemblée nationale to refer to either sex without a murmur of protest from the men’s liberation movement! And is there a masculine equivalent of ‘feminist’? In either language?

Many French-speaking countries (pays francophones) have legislated on the subject of feminisation of such words in recent years, in the name of sexual equality – no bad thing in that it proves that French is a living language, not the preserve (chasse gardée) of the Académie française. But from an English point of view, the very fact that French-speaking countries feel the need for language legislation at all (whether by an illustrious institution like the Académie or by government) speaks volumes about (en dit long sur) the mindset (façon de penser/voir les choses) of French-speaking peoples and their constant need for order, formality and regulation. Be that as it may (quoi qu’il en soit), whether or not one agrees with the officially recommended terms, one cannot ignore the fact that (force est de constater que) numerous words such as une ministre, une chirurgienne, une préfète are now part of everyday usage.

But feminisation is fraught with pitfalls (embûches, pièges) and subtleties (nuances) that learners of French should be aware of:
• the feminine form can be ironic or derogatory (une femme écrivain is preferable to une écrivaine in France, although the latter is common in Quebec). Adding femelle to a masculine noun to denote a woman is particularly derogatory. To be on the safe side, only use femelle for animals; for people, use femme + noun or noun + féminin(e) (adj).
• the feminine form can mean something completely different (maîtresse for instance can mean lover or school-teacher, gourmette means a chain or bracelet, médecine is not the feminine of médecin, colonne is not a female colonist or settler (colon), and entraîneuse means a hostess in a bar, not a female sports trainer/coach.
And to end with a bit of political fiction, had Ségo been elected last May, would she have decreed that France’s motto be changed to ‘Liberté, égalité, sororité’?