User:Gobonobo/feminine forms

For the Wikipedia article concerning this topic, see gender marking in job titles.

"Stop depicting me in a French maid's outfit."

This is a table documenting the incidence of the marked feminine form for various professions within Wikipedia. Incidences of gender-neutral or masculine form comparison terms are presented for context and contrast.

Gendered terms can be interpreted as sexist, particularly when the person's sex is beside the point. Through semantic derogation, words that refer to women have acquired belittling or sexual connotations. Linguist Dennis Baron has written that, in the English language, feminine nouns "tend to acquire negative connotations at a much faster rate than masculine or neuter ones, creating semantic imbalances in originally parallel masculine/feminine gender pairs." While most of the terms included here are constructed through suffixation (e.g. lawyer-ess), gender-marked forms may also be constructed through compounding (e.g. she-devil; lady-doctor). Compounds of this sort often have a negative or even contemptuous connotation.

Relevant guidelines for editors include:

• Wikipedia's Manual of Style says to "use gender-neutral language where this can be done with clarity and precision".
• Wikipedia:Gender-neutral language (WP:GNL) elucidates on the guideline
• Wikipedia:Use modern language (WP:MODLANG) gives further guidance

Table of feminine forms

Feminine form	April 2015α	compare to	April 2015α	Notes
actress	132025	actor	220350
administratrix	63	administrator	50858
adventuress	493	adventurer	9159	Adventuress is sometimes used pejoratively to indicate a woman who uses her sexuality for personal advancement (OED)
airwoman	30	airman	2588
ambassadress	107	ambassador	54320	Ambassadress can cause confusion as it may be used to refer to a woman ambassador or the wife of an ambassador.
authoress	122	author	316748	• According to the Oxford English Dictionary, authoress is "now used only when sex is purposely emphasized; otherwise, ...author is now used of both sexes."  • World Book Dictionary labels the term authoress "archaic".  • Collins English Dictionary gives authoress the caveat "Now usually disparaging", also old-fashioned; derogatory  • Wiktionary deems authoress "dated"  • Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English says authoress is "old-fashioned"  • the WordReference English-French Dictionary calls authoress "dated"  • the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary calls authoress "old-fashioned"  • whereas Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary deems authoress to be only "somewhat old-fashioned"  • The Columbia Guide to Standard American English refers to authoress as "archaic or even obsolete"
aviatrix	271	aviator	13016	• The Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language calls aviatrix "now rare"  • Language and the Sexes says aviatrix has a "clear trivializing effect"  • The SAGE Handbook of Sociolinguistics points out that aviatrix tends to "carry negative connotations having undergone processes of semantic slippage"  • The Columbia Guide to Standard American English refers to aviatrix as "archaic or even obsolete"
bachelorette	975	bachelor	73658
chanteuse	559
chorine	74			Primarily used in the U.S.  • The Columbia Guide to Standard American English refers to chorine as "archaic or even obsolete"
comedienne	2182	comedian	34133
concertmistress	21	concertmaster	1159
conductress	31	conductor	33046
creatrix	25	creator	56033
crewed	109627	manned	12471
danseuse	357	danseur	289	• The Columbia Guide to Standard American English refers to danseuse as "archaic or even obsolete"
directress	116	director	396088
doctoress	10	doctor	123624	According to OED, "Now only used when sex is emphasized; in which case also woman-doctor, lady-doctor, are more common".
doctress	19	doctor	123624
editress	5	editor	191001
equestrienne	86
executrix	207	executor	3398
giantess	346	giant	102484
heiress	8260	heir	35824
heroine	9640	hero	115402
hostess	4720	host	239819
huntress	958	hunter	85532
instructress	38	instructor	31417
Jewess	315	Jew	54544	World Book Dictionary notes "Formerly common, Jewess, and similar -ess compound forms, are now avoided, and perceived to be disparaging."
landlady	1887	landlord	10452
laundress	331	laundry worker	26
lawyeress	5	lawyer	94479
manageress	181	manager	198062	OED says manager "is now often preferred as not gender-specific."
mayoress	305	mayor	186889	Mayoress may be used to refer to a woman mayor or the wife of a mayor.
meter maid	68			Primarily used in the U.S.
millionairess	154	millionaire	12624
murderess	307	murderer	120880
narratrix	1	narrator	17629
paintress	13	painter	77154
patroness	1184	patron	47125
poetess	822	poet	108926	• OED notes that the "gender-neutral poet is now often preferred".  • Patrick H. Vincent notes that "the term poetess plays into the prescribed notion of a woman's poetry that is excessively emotional and lacking in structure."  • The SAGE Handbook of Sociolinguistics points out that poetess tends to "carry negative connotations having undergone processes of semantic slippage"  • The Columbia Guide to Standard American English refers to poetess as "archaic or even obsolete"  • In 1919, poet Marguerite Wilkinson wrote "... the word 'poetess,' with all its suggestion of tepid and insipid achievement, has gone out of fashion."
postmistress	321	postmaster	8950
prophetess	517	prophet	17692
proprietress	169	proprietor	9896
proprietrix	4
Quakeress	17
prosecutrix	5	prosecutor	18010
protectress	184	protector	11407
sculptress	217	sculptor	30481
seamstress	1451
songstress	730	singer	215886
starlet	2514
stewardess	1145	flight attendant	1461
tailoress	26	tailor	14116
testatrix	22	testator	337
uncrewed	83	unmanned	6667
usherette	114	usher	12208	• The Columbia Guide to Standard American English refers to usherette as "archaic or even obsolete"
waitress	5342	waiter	5545	The gender-neutral server is often used.
warrioress	17	warrior	64765

^α Data collected on 10 April 2015.

See also

On -ess

• Entry for -ess from the 4th edition American Heritage Dictionary (2000):

  Many critics have argued that there are sexist connotations in the use of the suffix -ess to indicate a female in words like sculptress, waitress, stewardess, and actress. The heart of the problem lies in the nonparallel use of terms to designate men and women. For example, the -or ending on sculptor seems neutral or unmarked. By comparison, sculptress seems to be marked for gender, implying that the task of sculpting differs as performed by women and men or even that the task should typically be performed by a man. For occupational titles, the use of -ess has been almost completely replaced by recently formed gender-neutral compounds such as flight attendant and letter carrier or by the -er/-or forms.

• Entry for -ess from the Random House Dictionary (2013):

  If the sex of the performer is not relevant to performance of the task or function, the neutral term in -er or -or is now widely used.

• Gender in English
• Gender marking in job titles
• Wikipedia:Writing about women
• Ships—sexist or sexy? An op-ed in The Signpost on the use of "she" to describe naval ships