Woman

   

Image of a Woman on the Pioneer plaque sent to outer space
Image of a Woman on the Pioneer plaque sent to outer space

A woman is an adult female human being, as contrasted to an adult male, which is a man. The term woman (irregular plural: women) is used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions, or both. Womanhood is the period in a female's life after she has transitioned from a girl.

A girl is a female human child, as contrasted to a male child, which is a boy. The term girl is used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions, or both. After she matures, a girl becomes known as a woman, with certain colloquial exceptions (see terms, below).

Sex

In terms of sex, women have various sexual characteristics that differentiate them from men. In women, the sex organs are involved in the reproductive system, whereas the secondary sex characteristics are involved in attracting a mate or nurturing children.

Although fewer females than males are born (the ratio is around 1:1.05), women make up the majority of the adult population. This is because males of all ages have a slightly higher death rate (even in the womb) and women live, on average, five years longer than men. This is thought to be a result of a combination of factors: genetics (redundant and varied genes present on sex chromosomes in women); sociology (such as military service); health-impacting choices (such as use of cigarettes and alcohol); the presence of the female hormone estrogen, which has a cardioprotective effect in premenopausal women; and the effect of high levels of androgens in men.

After the onset of menarche, most women are able to become pregnant and bear children. The study of female reproduction and reproductive organs is called gynecology. Women generally reach menopause in their late 40s or early 50s, at which point they can no longer become pregnant.

In general, women suffer from the same illnesses as men; however there are some sex-related illnesses that are found more commonly or exclusively in women.

Biological factors are usually not the sole determinants of whether persons are considered (or considers themselves) woman or not; some women can have abnormal hormonal or chromosomal differences (such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia or other intersex conditions), and there are women without typical female physiology (transgendered or transsexual women). (See gender identity.)

Gender roles

Main article: gender role

Gender roles of women have changed greatly in history. Traditional gender roles for middle-class women typically involved domestic tasks emphasizing child care, and did not involve entering employment for wages. For poorer women, especially among the working classes, this often remained an ideal, for economic necessity has long compelled them to seek employment outside the home, although the occupations traditionally open to working-class women were lower in prestige and pay than those open to men. Eventually, restricting women from wage labor came to be a mark of wealth and prestige in a family, while the presence of working women came to mark a household as being lower-class. Through a combination of economic changes and the efforts of the feminist movement in recent decades, however, women in most societies now have access to careers beyond the traditional one of "homemaker". These changes are among the foci of the academic field of women's studies.

Terms

While the literal definition of the word girl is "female child," girl is also often used colloquially to refer to a young or unmarried woman. Since the early 1970s, feminists have challenged such usage, and today, using the word in the workplace (as in office girl) is typically considered inappropriate in the United States because it implies a view of women as infantile. The use remains commonplace in several other English-speaking countries.

Conversely, in certain non-Western cultures which link family honor with female virginity, the word girl is still used to refer to a never-married woman; in this sense it is used in a fashion roughly analogous to the obsolete English maid or maiden. Referring to an unmarried female as woman can, in such a culture, imply that she is sexually experienced, which would be an insult to her family.

In more informal settings, the use of girl to refer to an adult female is also common practice in certain usage (such as girls' night out), even among elderly women. In this sense, girl may be considered to be the analogue to guy or bloke for a man (the latter being rare in American English). Many regard non-parallel usages, such as men and girls, as offensive.

There are many slang terms to refer to women; these have existed throughout history, and change over time. Some of those common in contemporary usage are:

  • Bird: primarily a Britishism, some women understand it as demeaning.
  • Chick: literally a young chicken or (more broadly) a young bird of any kind, this term is mildly offensive to some women who understand it as infantalizing or objectifying; it is chiefly an Americanism.
  • Sister: a term which women use when addressing each other; it is associated with, although not exclusive to, African-American idiom. The same term is also used within some strands of feminism, and also in the transsexual community in referring to other transsexual women.

In some cultural groups, men use terms extremely offensive to many women (e.g., bitch or cunt) to refer to women in general. Many terms which refer to women's physical appearance (e.g., hottie, a sexually-attractive woman) see wide use, but some women consider them to imply sexual objectification. Several older, mildly pejorative terms which men formerly employed for women in general, such as broad or skirt, are now rarely encountered.

See also

External links

 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about Woman.


ca:Dona da:Kvinde de:Frau es:Mujer fr:Femme nl:Vrouw ja:女性 nds:Fru pl:Kobieta ru:Женщина fi:Nainen sv:Kvinna tokipona:meli zh:女性

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