Word Warrior Series - because getting it right is a bit of a battle

“Woman” vs “female”, what’s going on there? 

Some people call women “females” - socially, at work and on the telly. But lots of women don’t like it and say it’s wrong. Why?

Men, women, nouns.

The words “men” and “women” are nouns that define whole people, specifically humans. But “male” and “female” are adjectives that define just sex and can be applied to any species at all (providing they are either “male” or “female”, obviously). So that’s the crux of it.

Hang on, “female” can be a noun too, right?

Yes. But it’s complicated. Generally speaking, by the turn of the 20th century, people agreed that the noun “female” made no differentiation between humans and animals and therefore shouldn’t be used to describe humans. But up until that point, it was actually preferred to “woman” or “lady”. So, although the primary usage of “female” today is as an adjective, it can still be used as a noun. 

So if it’s not grammatically wrong, why can’t I say “female” instead of “woman”?

Well…some women may well be fine with it because, you know, we’re all different etc. But if someone isn’t, it’s because you’re technically defining that person purely by their sex, which isn’t great. You are also diminishing the subject of that sentence. Consider “I used to work with a great female” vs “I used to work with a great female designer” - by adding a definitive noun and using “female” as an adjective, not a noun, you’re putting the human, and in this case the talent, back in.

So, “female” is an adjective, “woman” is a noun?

Right. BUT there’s more. “Woman” is now also sometimes being used as an adjective. I’ll explain…if we follow the argument that reducing a woman to her biological sex and making her a “female” is reductive, let’s add to the mix that not everyone who was born female is a woman and not every woman was born female. Substituting sex for gender is pretty tricky territory, so why go there? This is why “woman” is now sometimes being used as a gentler way of describing gender over biological sex - i.e. as an adjective, not a noun. Eg. woman lawyer, woman teacher. You with me?

In conclusion, you can call a woman a “female” if you like. But have you ever actually said “I met a great female yesterday”? I don’t think so. And as for a “room full of females” you couldn’t blame someone for answering back “female whats?” The main thing is, the word you are looking for already exists. It’s woman. Or women. Shall we just use that?

Come and have a chat about more things language, content and women-related - yesamberlee@gmail.com