How should the new pronoun policy be applied to Spanish language?

Question

For Spanish speaking users is not so simple. We don't have "he" or "she", we have programadores y programadoras, arquitectos y arquitectas, ....

We finish by using only masculine terms, because if not, as complained in this text a member of Spanish Royal Language Academy, this is what happens (I cannot translate this on a engine, try it if you wish):

«El pleno está integrado por el presidente o presidenta, el vicepresidente o vicepresidenta y los vocales o las vocales.»

Ante ese párrafo pueden ocurrir dos cosas. Una es que parezca normal: de pura saturación terminas acostumbrándote a cualquier imbecilidad. La otra es que nos dé la risa floja. Al principio creí que era un texto chungo. Manipulado. Pero nada de eso: BOPV, ley 9/2004 de la Comisión Jurídica. «Se hace saber a los ciudadanos y ciudadanas», etcétera. Todo trufadito de perlas como ésta: «Un secretario o secretaria que se nombra por el presidente o presidenta (...) entre funcionarios y funcionarias». Y más adelante, con repetición exhaustiva de las titulares o los titulares, las vocales o los vocales, los presentes o las presentes, el secretario o la secretaria, el presidente o la presidenta, se detalla que en ausencia «de uno de los vocales o una de las vocales (...) se procederá al nombramiento de un suplente o una suplente (...). El nombramiento y cese del suplente o la suplente se realizará conforme a lo previsto (...). El tiempo que dure la suplencia se imputará al período de mandato de la vocal o el vocal suplido».

Imagino que las feministas galopantes estarán goteando agua de limón con el texto, pero creo que aún podríamos afinar un poquito más. Porque observo cierto déficit de concordancia. Puestos o puestas a ello, «la vocal o el vocal suplido» debería haberse escrito «la vocal o el vocal suplido o suplida», o bien «la vocal o el vocal suplidos o suplidas». Y puestos a hilar fino, lo de «el tiempo que dure la suplencia» también era mejorable escribiendo «el tiempo que dure la suplencia o el suplencio». Pero en fin. Cada maestrillo tiene su librillo.

Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Las miembras y los miembros. El Semanal

I think SE should clarify this new policy for non-English languages such as Spanish.

Answer 1

Super briefly, the "pronouns policy" is if someone asks for a specific pronoun to be used when someone talks to/about him/her/them we should use it, that's it.

There are two sites on the network where Spanish is allowed. If someone ask us to use "él/ella/ello/elle" when talk to/about "él/ella/ello/elle" basically we have two options

1. Use it
2. Walk away

The same applies to sustantives, adjectives and other words, is someone asks to refer to "él/ella/ello" as "programador/programadora",

1. Do it
2. Walk away

Actually, there is a third option, ignore the request, but then your account could be suspended or if you are ♦ moderator, the ♦ and the related privileges could be removed too.

By the way, if you have questions about how to inflect your adjectives in Spanish we could ask about that in https://spanish.stackexchange.com

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From answer by Cesar M one of the Community Managers, to What does the Code of Conduct say about pronouns?

What's this all about? - The Basics

This section is an explanation of singular third-person pronouns.

1. What's this business about "pronouns"?

It would be rude to refer to a man as "she" or a woman as "he". Some people are neither men nor women and might, for instance, ask to be referred to as "they". When someone indicates what pronouns should be used to refer to them, please use the pronouns they state as you would others.

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6. How does this apply to languages other than English?

While these specific requirements around pronoun usage apply only to the English language, the goal of being inclusive and respectful of all genders applies to all our communities. As we find best practices in other languages, we’ll work with those communities and update guidance for those languages.

PS: I don't think that this month the CM will discuss the best practices in other languages. Please be patient.

References

• https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elle_(pronombre_propuesto)

Answer 2

How should the new pronoun policy be applied to Spanish language?

With uncertainty, since that is the new state of affairs in Stack Exchange...

For Spanish speaking users is not so simple. We don't have "he" or "she", we have programadores y programadoras, arquitectos y arquitectas, ....

Not as if it is simple for english either as recent events reveal. We do have he->el and she->ella in spanish. But I agree, it can get even more complicated for us.
We also have gendered articles. Consider the gender-neutral phrase "An electrician did that".

• Male : "Un electricista hizo eso"
• Female : "Una electricista hizo eso"
• Non-binary, fluid or without gender : "?? electricista hizo eso."
• Gender-neutral as per RAE(*) : "Un electricista hizo eso."
• Gender-neutral promoted recently : "Un o una electricista hizo eso."

There is the non-academic Élle as a neo-pronoun for the 3rd case. But I have not found a spanish neo-article for the 3rd case.

I think SE should clarify this new policy for non-English languages such as Spanish.

I think there is no need for that. We've been fine without that clarification. Maybe the mods of the spanish site could clarify if they've ever had to deal with miss-gendering or non-inclusive issues. I've seen none and would rather not fix a community which is not broken.
Also, I have no confidence in the current management of SE. Even if there was a problem here to be solved I'd rather them not being the ones addressing it.

Let our mods deal with it.

(*) RAE means Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy). An academic institution widely but not universally accepted as the primary reference for spanish language. Their current stance is that in spanish masculine form serves both the functions of masculine and gender-neutral. RAE monitors and frequently incorporates evolutions in the language. It is fine to deviate from RAE's dictionary if you have a good reason, even academics do so.