One inference: -- that the sons aren't so great any more?
Another: -- The daughters weren't so great, so they didn't mention them?
Lastly: --Equality might actually mean mediocrity ? :-)

Perhaps the sons lived at home because they were unemployed; the daughters had jobs, but lost them and had to move back home with the sons. [Cue: sibling bickering over laundry duties]
The National Anthem says nothing of the Parents' opinion of this.

It could have sounded better with "children" instead of "daughters and sons". Then there wouldn't've been extra words

Love it when this happens. I don't get why people complain about it by arguing that references to sons is supposed to be a shorthand for all people. Even if that were true (which it's not, it's just a really shitty post-hoc excuse; oh yeah, sons is "symbolically" gender neutral, sure, funny how no one uses the word like that outside of national anthems that were coincidentally written before gender equality), the only thing the change does is make the "intended" meaning more explicit—you should be happy.

Actually, it's not correct.
The new line is:
Heimat großer Töchter und Söhne,
Which translated to:
Home to great daughters and sons
If not trying to be an extreme asshole, the "great" is interpreted as refering to daughters and sons alike. So, the "great" is still in there, they only added daughters to it. If you are interested, here is the original line:
Heimat bist du großer Söhne
translated:
You are the home of great sons.

@Kezarim Oh, I thought the new line was "Heimat bist du Töchter und Söhne" and the "und" is somehow skipped, so "Heimat bist du Töchter Söhne" is sung...
At least that's what I noticed by listening to the hymn.

@Kezarim "Home to great daughters and sons" is so much better than "home of daughters and sons"

I mean....I should fucking hope so. If it weren't home to daughters *and* sons, you're going to have a population crisis really quickly.

@Kezarim Thanks for that.

The same goes for Canada too - they changed part of its national anthem from "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command."

@LtD False: they pretend the words have changed, but no one sings the new lyrics, because it's stupid and pandering.

@Brynjolfr Bill was passed to change it. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/anthem-bill-passes-senate-1.4513317

@amypisces I still choose to sing it the old way,not sure about anyone else.

@Brynjolfr it doesn't even sound that different from the previous. Why do people always complain about "pandering"?

Hah. My Language doesnt use gender words. Yes you can say girl or boy or man or woman, but you cant say she or he, only hän. You germans (Not germany but german languages) Should learn that.
Edit: Point is that we can just say lapsiemme Which Means our childs.

@Mixu I wish they could do that in english

@Mixu kun opetelin lapsena englantia ja ruotsia, ihmettelin miksi pitää olla kaksi "hän"-sanaa, kun yksikin riittäisi

Not something that would go over too well here in the States.

Yay for gender equality and neutrality!

That's.... I'm happy... I feel so happy right now. This World is turning better. Maybe there is hope for humanity?

@EUcomicartist #9734082
I don't know whether you should be happy.
I didn't mention that every single Austrian I've talked to about this, including myself, disapproves of this change.

@IsaIna Well, that's not good.

@EUcomicartist But you'd probably not like it either.
It doesn't even fit into the melody properly.

@EUcomicartist They changed one word in the national anthem of a country, what a fucking time to be alive

awwww

...now in Germany too...

I.m.h.o. the changes are ok...
...but o.t.o.h. aren't there more serios topics...?
(e.g. 'Dieselgate' / Brexit / Terrorism / Syria... etc.)

A more 'gender-neutral' antheam might be nice 2 have,
but i.m.o. it's not THAT high on our priority-list...!
We have more important problems...!

Good to know, thank you.

Wauw this is so interesting! Thanks for posting (and thanks for the comment on Canada as well)

And yet the world is still not sure what Conchita Wurst actually is...

@Wolfenbuehl A talented Austrian. 'nuff said.

Seems legit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_der_Berge,_Land_am_Strome

@Karen It's legit, and it caused quite a stir. "We've always done it like this, who are you to tell us to do it differently" is basically the single most quintessentially austrian line imaginable. Austria still has quite a few surviving concepts and institutions from the imperial days even after a century, which should tell you something about how popular ANY kind of change is around here.

@MattStriker

I bet it did cause a stir in the nation famous for Hitler and Fritzl.

But it good you're getting attention for more positivt things - like this and Conchita. :-)