What does (m/w) mean on German job adverts?

Question

I see a lot of German job adverts with "(m/w)" after the title:

Web Developer (m/w)

Please could someone tell me what it means?

And also what "(m/f)" means in the same context.

Answer 1

m stands for männlich (= male), w stands for weiblich (= female).

Exceptions aside, job advertisements have to be formulated in a ‎gender-neutral way. There are three common ways how to do this:

• Use a term that is gender-neutral (the English term "Web Developer" would work, but the German translation "Webentwickler" not, as it could refer to male web developers only).
• Use the female and the male term (e.g., "Webentwickler / Webentwicklerin").
• Append "(m/w)" to a term that can be understood in a gender-specific way, which then denotes that it refers to both genders (e.g., "Webentwickler (m/w)").

I think "(m/f)" is the English translation for "(m/w)" (i.e., male/female).