The French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, has clamped down on attempts to make the French language more female-friendly, issuing a ban on “inclusive writing” in official texts.

Moves to end the linguistic dominance of the masculine over the feminine have sparked impassioned debate in France, coming as a flurry of revelations about sexual harassment and assault continue to dominate global headlines.

At the centre of the row is the growing use of formulations to embrace both genders in the plural form, which requires middots – which look like floating full stops – being inserted in words, to the horror of purists.

For example, the word for a mixed-gender group of readers is usually written as lecteurs, even if the women outnumber the men, rather than with the feminine plural, lectrices. Using inclusive writing, the word would be written as lecteur·rice·s.

In a memo to his ministers on Tuesday, Philippe said: “The masculine [form] is a neutral form which should be used for terms liable to apply to women.”

Stressing the need to use formal language in legally binding texts, he demanded government ministries avoid inclusive writing, “notably for reasons of intelligibility and clarity”.

The ministers were also instructed to ensure the traditional form be used in all public services under their authority.

The prime minister’s office said the memo was intended to “end the controversy” but the government was still “resolutely committed to strengthening equality between women and men”.

The debate appeared set to rumble on, however, with defenseur·e·s of inclusive writing saying the French language must keep up with changing times.

Several ministries, universities and trade unions have been using the gender-neutral form, but it largely escaped public notice until it turned up in an elementary school history textbook recently. The book refers to farmers as agriculteur·rice·s and shop owners as commercant·e·s.

An appalled Académie Française – gatekeeper of the French language – went on the offensive, warning that the punctuated “aberration” would make French too complex, putting it “in mortal danger”.

The education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, also weighed in, saying French “should not be exploited for fighting battles, no matter how legitimate they are”.

This is not the first drive to make French more balanced – moves that have routinely been resisted by the members of the Académie Française, known as The Immortals.

In 2015, France’s High Council for Equality Between Women and Men issued a guide urging public bodies to avoid sexual stereotypes by, for example, using feminine forms for “firefighter” and “author” where applicable.

Some critics, such as the philosopher Raphaël Enthoven, have objected to what they see as a prescriptive approach to the language spoken by 275 million people worldwide. The language usage should be allowed to evolve naturally over time, they say.