MILAN, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Giorgia Meloni is Italy's first woman prime minister, but she is choosing to refer to herself using the masculine form of her new title - sparking a debate on the issues of female empowerment and political correctness.
Under RAI's corporate gender policy, the feminine form should be used whenever it exists, and "no colleague can therefore be obliged to use the masculine" to refer to Meloni, Usigrai said in a statement.
"The first female prime minister goes by the masculine name ... Is using the feminine form too much for the leader of FdI, a party that already omits Sisters from its name?"
The Accademia della Crusca, a guardian of the Italian language, has said using the feminine for positions held by women is the grammatically correct choice.
However, anyone who prefers to use the traditional masculine form, for ideological or generational reasons, has every right to do so, its president Claudio Marazzini told Italian news agency Adnkronos.