Queen’s University professor Adele Mercier is available to comment on the Austrian government’s decision to make their national anthem gender neutral.

The Canadian government says they will not follow suit but the Queen’s expert in sexist and racist language thinks Canada should be open to change.

"No tradition is sacred (witness the change of our national anthem from the gender neutral to the masculine as a recruitment measure during the First World War),” Dr. Mercier said. “One measure of a country's moral progress is its willingness to question its own traditions and adapt itself to better ones."

Dr. Mercier is only available for phone interviews.

To arrange an interview, please contact communication officers Anne Craig at 613-533-2877 or anne.craig@queensu.ca or Michael Onesi at 613.533.6000 ext. 77513 or michael.onesi@queensu.at Queen’s University News and Media Services Department in Kingston, Ont., Canada.

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