dirigeantes

Dirigeantes is the feminine plural form of the French noun dirigeant. A dirigeant is a person who directs, leads, or governs an organization or undertaking; thus dirigeantes refers specifically to women who hold such leadership positions. The masculine plural is dirigeants, and the feminine singular is dirigeante; the masculine singular is dirigeant. The term derives from the verb diriger and has roots in the Latin dirigere.

In use, dirigeantes appears in contexts such as business, government, and civil society when the gender of the leader is female. It is commonly found in discussions of leadership, governance, and gender representation. In many texts, writers use inclusive forms to acknowledge both men and women, for example dirigeants et dirigeantes, or the neutral formulation dirigeant·e·s.

Some debates around inclusive writing touch on readability and clarity, but the feminine plural form remains a standard grammatical option for identifying female leaders in French.

See also: Dirigeant, Leadership, Governance, Gender parity.