Member-only story
Woman vs. Female
Yes, it matters which term you use.
Back when we were just friends, my husband and I were speaking on the phone when I noticed he used the word females when he should have said, women.
I pointed this out to him and after explaining to him the difference — as well as why it personally bothers me — he decided that he would stop doing it.
That’s it. That was the conversation. He realized there was something he did that bothered me — something he doesn’t have to do — and he respected me enough to stop doing it. He even expressed his gratitude and explained that he likes the fact that we could learn these types of things from each other.
What I didn’t realize at the time, however, is that even though his reaction was ideal it was extremely atypical. There have been many a time where I or a friend have tried to make the same correction for someone else only to be met with unnecessary backlash.
In reality, there are valid reasons as to why ‘female’ should not be used in place of ‘woman’.
Fundamentally Wrong
On a grammatical level, it really doesn’t make sense to use ‘female’ in the place of ‘woman’. The term female refers to the sex of a species that is capable of producing offspring. Female is an adjective and can literally be used to describe any species.
In other words, it doesn’t even make grammatical sense to use ‘female’ as a replacement for ‘woman’ in your sentences. If the word ‘female’ is present, it should be used as a descriptor. Example:
“I saw this female the other day.”
A female what? Were you by a pond and saw a female duck? A female squirrel?
But let’s say you’re using the word ‘female’ to describe something. Maybe there’s an award ceremony that will nominate The Best Female Artist or there’s an article written about The Importance of Female Friendship. These examples are fine because we’re using the word ‘female’ as a description and not a noun.
The term ‘woman’, however, differentiates this. You’re no longer talking about the female species of any kind, now you’re talking about a human.
