Gender issues in the translation of scientific texts on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)

When translating scientific articles on assisted reproduction from Italian into Spanish, the translator must maintain a focus on gender that is entirely absent from the original text. Italian students are often unaware of Spanish sensitivity regarding gender issues, and considerable work in the classroom is required to make students respect the current cultural parameters of our language. In this article, we want to comment on the cultural differences regarding gender that emerge when reading and comparing scientific articles published in specialized journals and written in Italian and Spanish. We will focus on one sector, Assisted Reproductive Technology, where the recipient of therapy is quite often female. We will end the comparison with raising the awareness of students of scientific and technical translation, who think often about Information and Communication Technologies but think rarely about becoming culturally knowledgeable.