Job titles in the feminine

The feminine form of a job comes about in three ways. -o becomes -a (il maestro, la maestra), -tore becomes -trice (il direttore, la direttrice; l'attore, l'attrice), and a small group takes -essa: il dottore, la dottoressa; lo studente, la studentessa.

A large group does not change at all and is recognised only by the article. That covers everything in -ista — il or la giornalista, dentista, farmacista — and many in -e: il or la cantante, il or la preside.

The two languages are moving in opposite directions, and that is worth knowing before the topic turns up in conversation. English has spent decades removing gender from job words: actress is receding in favour of actor, chairman has become chair, and a female doctor is a doctor. Italian is doing the reverse, actively forming feminines that did not exist a generation ago — la sindaca, l'avvocata, la ministra — precisely so that women in those posts are named rather than absorbed.

Some posts therefore have two forms in circulation. Beside l'avvocata you will hear l'avvocatessa; beside la sindaca, il sindaco is still used of a woman. Both are attested, and which one a person chooses for herself is her decision. Worth memorising separately: the plural of -ista — masculine i giornalisti, feminine le giornaliste. Identical in the singular, different in the plural.