Unlike other Francophone countries, the feminisation of language has encountered a great deal of resistance in France. The move to feminise nouns referring to professions and occupations has proceeded at a "snall's pace" (Fleischman, 1997). In fact, France seems to be quite slow to reflect social changes in language compared to other French-speaking countries. According to Gervais-Le Garff (2002:2) there are three main factors for this: 1) the unwillingness of change which is presented as a morphological obstacle in itself; 2) the social resistance to linguistic change on the part of the language community, and 3) the deliberate obstruction on the part of regulatory bodies like the Acedemie Prenceise. Two opposing views have emerged regarding the feminisation of job titles in France: one is that changing the language alone cannot lead to equality between men and women; the other is that the feminisation of the language is a necessary means to achieve equality between the sexes.