The masculine article el, however, indicates that the person referred to is a male. On the other hand, many traditional professions that were performed in the past mostly by men did not take the a at the end to refer to female professional as in the attorney: el abogado, la abogado. In this case, the feminine sex of the professional was indicated by the feminine article la. Last century, the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language in Spain, which determines how language evolves, accepted to give the feminine desinence to many professions that became popular among women with the emancipation of women. Besides the emancipation movement petitions to change the desinence and transform the phrase la abogado into la abogada, aesthetics was a determining factor in the Academy’s decision for change. It is now correct to say la abogada to refer to a female attorney. But wouldn’t men want the Academy to accept a masculine desinence for those professions ending in a when referring to a male professional and, instead of el pianista, to say el pianisto? And one last question? Wouldn’t it be aesthetically preferable.
A Language Irony
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