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A woman is an .

(2025). 9780323066044, Elsevier Health Sciences.
(2025). 9780803659407, F.A. Davis.
Before adulthood, a female or is referred to as a .

Typically, women are of the and inherit a pair of , one from each parent, and women with functional are capable of and giving from until . More generally, sex differentiation of the female is governed by the lack of a present, or functioning, gene on either one of the respective sex chromosomes.

(2025). 9783132414402, New York.
Female anatomy is distinguished from anatomy by the female reproductive system, which includes the , , , , and . An adult woman generally has a wider , broader , and larger than an adult . These characteristics facilitate childbirth and . Women typically have less facial and other body hair, have a higher composition, and are on average shorter and less muscular than men.

Throughout , traditional within patriarchal societies have often defined and limited women's activities and opportunities, resulting in gender inequality; many religious doctrines and legal systems stipulate certain rules for women. With restrictions loosening during the 20th century in many societies, women have gained wider access to careers and the ability to pursue higher education. Violence against women, whether within families or in communities, has a long history and is primarily committed by men. Some women are denied reproductive rights. The movements and ideologies of have a shared goal of achieving .

Some women are transgender, meaning they were , while some women are , meaning they have sex characteristics that do not fit typical notions of female biology.


Etymology
The spelling of woman in English has progressed over the past millennium from wīfmann"wīfmann": Bosworth & Toller, Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (Oxford, 1898–1921) p. 1219. The spelling "wifman" also occurs: C.T. Onions, Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (Oxford, 1966) p. 1011 to wīmmann to wumman, and finally, the modern spelling woman. Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, entry for "woman". In , mann had the gender-neutral meaning of , akin to the Modern or . The word for was wīf or wīfmann () whereas was wer or wǣpnedmann (from wǣpn ). However, following the , man began to mean , and by the late 13th century it had largely replaced wer. man – definition Dictionary.reference.com The consonants and in wīfmann coalesced into the modern woman, while wīf narrowed to specifically mean a married woman ().

It is a that the term "woman" is connected to "womb".

(2025). 9780486424910, Dover Publications. .
(Originally published in two volumes, 1895 and 1898, by The European Publishing Company.) "Womb" derives from the Old English word wamb meaning (cognate to the modern German colloquial term "Wamme" from Old High German wamba for ).


Terminology
The word woman can be used generally, to mean any female human, or specifically, to mean an adult female human as contrasted with girl. The word girl originally meant "young person of either sex" in English;Used in Middle English from c. 1300, meaning 'a child of either sex, a young person'. Its derivation is uncertain, perhaps from an Old English word which has not survived: another theory is that it developed from Old English 'gyrela', meaning 'dress, apparel': or was a diminutive form of a borrowing from another West Germanic Language. (Middle Low German has Gör, Göre, meaning 'girl or small child'.) "girl, n.". OED Online. September 2013. Oxford University Press. 13 September 2013 it was only around the beginning of the 16th century that it came to mean specifically a female child.By late 14th century a distinction was arising between female children, often called 'gay girls' – and male, or 'knave girls' -: a1375 William of Palerne (1867) l. 816 ' Whan þe gaye gerles were in-to þe gardin come, Faire floures þei founde.' ('When the gay girls came into the garden, Fair flowers they found.') By the 16th century, the unsupported word had begun to mean specifically a female: 1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. x. sig. D, 'The boy thy husbande, and thou the gyrle his wyfe.' The usage meaning 'child of either sex' survived much longer in . "girl, n.". OED Online. September 2013. Oxford University Press. 13 September 2013 The term girl is sometimes used colloquially to refer to a young or unmarried woman; however, during the early 1970s, feminists challenged such use because the use of the word to refer to a fully grown woman may cause offense. In particular, previously common terms such as office girl are no longer widely used. Conversely, in certain cultures which link family with female , the word girl (or its equivalent in other languages) is still used to refer to a never-married woman; in this sense it is used in a fashion roughly analogous to the more-or-less obsolete English maid or maiden.

The social sciences' views on what it means to be a woman have changed significantly since the early 20th century as women gained more rights and greater representation in the workforce, with scholarship in the 1970s moving toward a focus on the sex–gender distinction and social construction of gender. There are various words used to refer to the quality of being a woman. The term "womanhood" merely means the state of being a woman; "" is used to refer to a set of typical female qualities associated with a certain attitude to ; "womanliness" is like "femininity", but is usually associated with a different view of gender roles.

Different countries have different laws, but age 18 is frequently considered the age of majority (the age at which a person is legally considered an adult). Menarche, the onset of , occurs on average at age 12–13. Many cultures have rites of passage to symbolize a girl's coming of age, such as confirmation in some branches of , in , or a custom of a special celebration for a certain (generally between 12 and 21), like the quinceañera of Latin America.


Biology
Male and female bodies have some differences. Some differences, such as the external , are visible, while other differences, such as internal anatomy and genetic characteristics, are not visible.


Genetic characteristics
Typically, the cells of female humans contain two X chromosomes, while the cells of male humans have an X and a Y chromosome. During early fetal development, all embryos have phenotypically female genitalia up until week 6 or 7, when a male embryo's gonads differentiate into testes due to the action of the on the Y chromosome. Sex differentiation proceeds in female humans in a way that is independent of gonadal hormones.
(2025). 9780309072816, National Academies Press (US).
Because humans inherit mitochondrial DNA only from the mother's ovum, genealogical researchers can trace far back in time.


Hormonal characteristics, menstruation and menopause
triggers bodily changes that enable sexual reproduction via fertilization. In response to chemical signals from the , the secrete hormones that stimulate maturation of the body, including increased height and weight, body hair growth, breast development and (the onset of menstruation).
(2025). 9781405178013, Wiley-Blackwell.

Most girls go through between ages 12–13, and are then capable of becoming and . Pregnancy generally requires of the eggs with , via either sexual intercourse or artificial insemination, though in vitro fertilization allows fertilization to occur outside the human body. Humans are similar to other large mammals in that they usually give birth to a single offspring per pregnancy, but are unusual in being altricial compared to most other large mammals, meaning young are undeveloped at time of birth and require the aid of their parents or guardians to fully mature. Sometimes humans have , most commonly .

Usually between ages 49–52, a woman reaches , the time when menstrual periods stop permanently, and they are no longer able to bear children. Unlike most other mammals, the human lifespan usually extends many years after menopause. Many women become and contribute to the care of grandchildren and other family members. Many biologists believe that the extended human lifespan is evolutionarily driven by , though other theories have also been proposed.

(2025). 9780470657225


Morphological and physiological characteristics
In terms of , the female are involved in the reproductive system, whereas the secondary sex characteristics are involved in children and attracting a mate.
(2025). 9780429061417
Humans are placental mammals, which means the mother carries the fetus in the uterus and the placenta facilitates the exchange of nutrients and waste between the mother and fetus.

The internal female genitalia consist of the , gonads that produce female gametes called , the , tubular structures that transport the egg cells, the , an organ with tissue to protect and nurture the developing fetus and its to expel it, the accessory glands (Bartholin's and Skene's), two pairs of glands that help lubricate during intercourse, and the , an organ used in copulating and birthing.

The (external female genitalia)

(1980). 9781468436587
consists of the , , and . The vestibule is where the vaginal and urethral openings are located.

The are hypothesized to have evolved from apocrine-like glands to produce milk, a nutritious secretion that is the most distinctive characteristic of mammals, along with live birth. In mature women, the is generally more prominent than in most other mammals; this prominence, not necessary for milk production, is thought to be at least partially the result of .

, which are primary female sex hormones, have a significant impact on a female's body shape. They are produced in both men and women, but their levels are significantly higher in women, especially in those of reproductive age. Besides other functions, estrogens promote the development of female secondary sexual characteristics, such as breasts and . As a result of estrogens, during , girls develop breasts and their hips widen. Working against estrogen, the presence of in a pubescent female inhibits breast development and promotes muscle and facial hair development.


Circulatory system
Women have lower (the volume percentage of red blood cells in blood) than men; this is due to lower testosterone, which stimulates the production of by the kidney. The normal hematocrit level for a woman is 36% to 48% (for men, 41% to 50%). The normal level of (an oxygen-transport found in red blood cells) for women is 12.0 to 15.5 g/dL (for men, 13.5 to 17.5 g/dL).

Women's have finer-grained textures in the muscle compared to men's hearts, and the 's overall shape and surface area also differs to men's when controlling for body size and age. In addition, women's hearts age more slowly compared to men's hearts.


Sex distribution
Girls are born slightly less frequently than boys (the ratio is around 1:1.05). Out of the total human population in 2015, there were 1018 men for every 1000 women.
(2025). 9789210511094, United Nations Publication. .


Intersex women
women have an intersex condition, usually defined as those born with . Most individuals with ambiguous genitalia are assigned female at birth, and most intersex women are . The medical practices to assign female to intersex youth is often controversial. Some intersex conditions are associated with typical rates of female , while others are associated with substantially higher rates of identifying as compared to the general population.


Sexuality and gender
'' (1486, ) is a classic representation of femininity painted by Sandro Botticelli. Manifestations of Venus: art and sexuality pg 93 By Katie Scott, Caroline Arscott pg 93-"...began its consideration of Venus by describing her as .... who presided over all feminine charms, for..." The Pacific muse pg 49 By Patty O'Brien "The young beautiful Venus wringing water from her tresses was a configuration of exotic femininity that was…

Venus was a principally associated with love, beauty and fertility.]]


Sexual orientation
Female sexuality and attraction are variable, and a woman's sexual behavior can be affected by many factors, including evolved predispositions, , , and . While most women are , significant minorities are or .

Most cultures use a by which women are of one of two genders, the others being ; other cultures have a .Kevin L. Nadal, The Sage Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender (2017, ), p. 401: "Most cultures currently construct their societies based on the understanding of gender binary—the two gender categorizations (male and female). Such societies divide their population based on biological sex assigned to individuals at birth to begin the process of gender socialization."

(2025). 9781337516068, Cengage Learning. .
(2025). 9780429647871, Routledge. .
(also called womanliness or girlishness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Although femininity is socially constructed,
(2025). 9781535861175, Gale, Cengage Learning. .
some behaviors considered feminine are biologically influenced.
(2025). 9781135604257, Routledge. .
(2025). 9781452900032, U of Minnesota Press. .
(2025). 9781405143431, John Wiley & Sons. .
The extent to which femininity is biologically or socially influenced is subject to debate. It is distinct from the definition of the biological female sex,Ferrante, Joan (January 2010). Sociology: A Global Perspective (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. pp. 269–272. . as both men and women can exhibit feminine traits.


Gender
Most women are , meaning their female sex assignment at birth corresponds with their female . Some women are , meaning they were assigned male at birth. may experience , the distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their sex assigned at birth. Gender dysphoria may be treated with gender-affirming care, which may include social or medical transition. Social transition may involve changes such as , hairstyle, clothing, and pronoun associated with the individual's affirmed female gender identity. A major component of medical transition for trans women is feminizing hormone therapy, which causes the development of female secondary sex characteristics (such as , redistribution of body fat, and lower waist–hip ratio). Medical transition may also involve gender-affirming surgery, and a trans woman may undergo one or more feminizing procedures which result in anatomy that is typically gendered female.
(2014). 9781118927915, Wiley. .
(2016). 9783319296234, Springer. .
Like cisgender women, trans women may have any sexual orientation.


Health
Factors that specifically affect the health of women in comparison with men are most evident in those related to reproduction, but sex differences have been identified from the molecular to the behavioral scale. Some of these differences are subtle and difficult to explain, partly due to the fact that it is difficult to separate the health effects of inherent biological factors from the effects of the surrounding environment they exist in. and hormones, as well as sex-specific lifestyles, metabolism, immune system function, and sensitivity to environmental factors are believed to contribute to sex differences in health at the levels of physiology, perception, and cognition. Women can have distinct responses to drugs and thresholds for diagnostic parameters.
(2025). 9780309072816, National Academies Press (US). .

Some diseases primarily affect or are exclusively found in women, such as lupus, , , or . The medical practice dealing with female reproduction and reproductive organs is called ("science of women").

(2025). 9780521447959, Cambridge Univ. Press.


Maternal mortality
Maternal mortality or maternal death is defined by WHO as "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes." In 2008, noting that each year more than 500,000 women die of complications of pregnancy and childbirth and at least seven million experience serious health problems while 50 million more have adverse health consequences after childbirth, the World Health Organization urged midwife training to strengthen maternal and newborn health services. To support the upgrading of midwifery skills the WHO established a midwife training program, Action for Safe Motherhood.
(2025). 9786007257128, World Health Organization.

In 2017, 94% of maternal deaths occur in low and lower middle-income countries. Approximately 86% of maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and , with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for around 66% and Southern Asia accounting for around 20%. The main causes of maternal mortality include and , , pregnancy complications from and HIV/AIDS, and severe bleeding and infections following childbirth. Most European countries, Australia, Japan, and Singapore are very safe in regard to childbirth.


Life expectancy
The for women is generally longer than men's. This advantage begins from birth, with newborn girls more likely to survive the first year than boys. Worldwide, women live six to eight years longer than men. However, this varies by place and situation. For example, discrimination against women has lowered female life expectancy in some parts of Asia so that men there live longer than women.

The difference in life expectancy are believed to be partly due to biological advantages and partly due to gendered behavioral differences between men and women. For example, women are less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors like and , and consequently have fewer preventable premature deaths from such causes.

In some developed countries, the life expectancy is evening out. This is believed to caused both by worse health behaviors among women, especially an increased rate of smoking tobacco by women, and improved health among men, such as less cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) writes that it is "important to note that the extra years of life for women are not always lived in good health."


Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics has stated that:

... the human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. Equal relationships between women and men in matters of sexual relations and reproduction, including full respect for the integrity of the person, require mutual respect, consent and shared responsibility for sexual behavior and its consequences.

The World Health Organization reports that based on data from 2010 to 2014, 56 million induced abortions occurred worldwide each year (25% of all pregnancies). Of those, about 25 million were considered as . The WHO reports that in developed regions about 30 women die for every 100,000 unsafe abortions and that number rises to 220 deaths per 100,000 unsafe abortions in developing regions and 520 deaths per 100,000 unsafe abortions in sub-Saharan Africa. The WHO ascribes these deaths to:

  • restrictive laws
  • poor availability of services
  • high cost
  • stigma
  • conscientious objection of health-care providers
  • unnecessary requirements, such as mandatory waiting periods, mandatory counseling, provision of misleading information, third-party authorization, and medically unnecessary tests that delay care.


History
The earliest women whose names are known include:
  • (c. 3200 BCE), the wife of and the first queen of ancient Egypt.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. .J. Tyldesley, Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt, 2006, Thames & Hudson.
  • (c. 3000 BCE), and regent of ancient Egypt during the first dynasty. She may have been ruler of Egypt in her own right.
    (2025). 9780415260114, Routledge. .
    Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. p. 140. Thames & Hudson. .
  • (c. 2600 BCE), a in .Plinio Prioreschi, A History of Medicine, Horatius Press 1996, p. 334.Lois N. Magner, A History of Medicine, Marcel Dekker 1992, p. 28.
  • (c. 2600 BCE), or Shubad – queen of Ur whose tomb was discovered with many expensive artifacts. Other known pre-Sargonic queens of Ur (royal wives) include Ashusikildigir, Ninbanda, and Gansamannu.
    (2025). 9780826416285, Continuum International Publishing Group. .
  • ( circa 2,500 BCE), a taverness from Kish chosen by the priesthood to become hegemonic ruler of , and in later ages deified as "Kubaba".
  • (c. 2400 BCE), queen, wife of Sargon of Akkad and mother of Enheduanna.
    (2025). 9780826416285, Continuum International Publishing Group. .
    (1992). 9780867066814, Stonehenge Press. .
  • (c. 2384 BCE), prominent and influential queen of of . Other known pre-Sargonic queens of the first Lagash dynasty include Menbara-abzu, Ashume'eren, Ninkhilisug, Dimtur, and Shagshag, and the names of several princesses are also known.
  • (c. 2285 BCE), the high priestess of the temple of the Moon God in the city-state of Ur and possibly the first known poet and first named author of either gender.
    (2025). 9780061170911, Smithsonian Books & Collins (Harper Collins Publishers) Smithsonian Books. .
  • (c. 1775 BCE), king 's consort and queen of the Syrian city-state of Mari. During her husband's absence, she ruled as regent of Mari and enjoyed extensive administrative powers as queen.
    (2025). 9780826416285, Continuum International Publishing Group.

The glyph (♀) for the and Roman goddess Venus, or in Greek, is the used to represent the female sex.

(2025). 9781312078369, LuLu Press.
In ancient alchemy, the Venus symbol stood for and was associated with .


Culture and gender roles
In recent history, gender roles have changed greatly. At some earlier points in history, children's occupational aspirations starting at a young age differed according to gender.
(1976). 9780140219531, Penguin.
Traditionally, women were involved in domestic tasks emphasizing child care. For poorer women, economic necessity compelled them to seek employment outside the home even if individual poor women may have preferred domestic tasks. Many of the occupations that were available to them were lower in pay than those available to men. As changes in the labor market for women came about, availability of employment changed from only "dirty", long hour factory jobs to "cleaner", more respectable office jobs where more education was demanded. Married women's participation in the U.S. labor force rose from 5.6–6% in 1900 to 23.8% in 1923. These shifts in the labor force led to changes in the attitudes towards women at work, allowing for the revolution which resulted in women becoming career and education oriented.

In the 1970s, many female academics, including scientists, avoided having children. Throughout the 1980s, institutions tried to equalize conditions for men and women in the workplace. Even so, the inequalities at home hampered women's opportunities: professional women were still generally considered responsible for domestic labor and child care, which limited the time and energy they could devote to their careers. Until the early 20th century, U.S. women's colleges required their women faculty members to remain single, on the grounds that a woman could not carry on two full-time professions at once. According to Schiebinger, "Being a scientist and a wife and a mother is a burden in society that expects women more often than men to put family ahead of career." (p. 93).

Movements advocate equality of opportunity for both sexes and irrespective of gender. Through a combination of changes and the efforts of the feminist movement, in recent decades women in many societies have gained access to careers beyond the traditional . Despite these advances, modern women in Western society still face challenges in the workplace as well as with the topics of education, violence, health care, politics, and motherhood, and others. can be a main concern and barrier for women almost anywhere, though its forms, perception, and gravity vary between societies and social classes.

The Gender Parity Index in school enrollment varies by country. The gender gaps in mathematics and reading show girls tend to have higher reading skills. The gender pay gap varies between countries and age groups.


Religion
Particular religious doctrines have specific stipulations relating to , the spiritual authority of women, social and private interaction between the sexes, appropriate dressing attire for women, and various other issues affecting women and their position in society.

In many countries, these religious teachings influence the , or the of those jurisdictions (see , for example).

The relation between religion, law and gender equality has been discussed by international organizations.


Violence against women
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women defines "violence against women" as:

It identifies three forms of such violence: that which occurs in the family, that which occurs within the general community, and that which is perpetrated or condoned by the State. It also states that "violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women".

Violence against women remains a widespread problem, fueled, especially outside the West, by patriarchal social values, lack of adequate laws, and lack of enforcement of existing laws. Social norms that exist in many parts of the world hinder progress towards protecting women from violence. For example, according to surveys by , the percentage of women aged 15–49 who think that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife under certain circumstances is as high as 90% in and , 87% in , 86% in and , 81% in , and 80% in the Central African Republic. A 2010 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that as a punishment for was supported by 82% of respondents in and , 70% in , 56% , and 42% in .

Specific forms of violence that affect women include female genital mutilation, , forced prostitution, , , sexual harassment, , , and . Laws and policies on violence against women vary by jurisdiction. In the , sexual harassment and human trafficking are subject to directives.Directive 2002/73/EC – equal treatment of 23 September 2002 amending Council Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions [4] Governments can be complicit in violence against women, such as when stoning is used as a legal punishment, mostly for women accused of adultery.

There have also been many forms of violence against women which have been prevalent historically, notably the , the sacrifice of (such as sati) and . The prosecution of women accused of has a long tradition; for example, during the early modern period (between the 15th and 18th centuries), witch trials were common in Europe and in the European colonies in North America. Today, there remain regions of the world (such as parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, rural North India, and Papua New Guinea) where belief in witchcraft is held by many people, and women accused of being witches are subjected to serious violence. In addition, there are also countries which have criminal legislation against the practice of witchcraft. In , witchcraft remains a crime punishable by death, and in 2011 the country beheaded a woman for 'witchcraft and sorcery'.

It is also the case that certain forms of violence against women have been recognized as criminal offences only during recent decades, and are not universally prohibited, in that many countries continue to allow them. This is especially the case with .In 2006, the UN Secretary-General's In-depth study on all forms of violence against women found that (p. 113): "Marital rape may be prosecuted in at least 104 States. Of these, 32 have made marital rape a specific criminal offence, while the remaining 74 do not exempt marital rape from general rape provisions. Marital rape is not a prosecutable offence in at least 53 States. Four States criminalize marital rape only when the spouses are judicially separated. Four States are considering legislation that would allow marital rape to be prosecuted."[5]In England and Wales, marital rape was made illegal in 1991. The views of Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th-century jurist, published in The History of the Pleas of the Crown (1736), stated that a husband cannot be guilty of the rape of his wife because the wife " hath given up herself in this kind to her husband, which she cannot retract"; in England and Wales this would remain law for more than 250 years, until it was abolished by the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, in the case of R v R in 1991. In the Western World, there has been a trend towards ensuring within and prosecuting domestic violence, but in many parts of the world women still lose significant legal rights when entering a marriage.For example, in , marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission.[7] In husbands have a legal right to "punish" their wives. The criminal code states at Paragraph 41 that there is no crime if an act is committed while exercising a legal right; examples of legal rights include: "The punishment of a wife by her husband, the disciplining by parents and teachers of children under their authority within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom". In the Democratic Republic of Congo the Family Code states that the husband is the head of the household; the wife owes her obedience to her husband; a wife has to live with her husband wherever he chooses to live; and wives must have their husbands' authorization to bring a case in court or to initiate other legal proceedings.[8]

Sexual violence against women greatly increases during times of and , during military occupation, or ; most often in the form of and . Contemporary examples of sexual violence during war include rape during the Armenian Genocide, rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War, rape in the Bosnian War, rape during the Rwandan genocide, and rape during Second Congo War. In Colombia, the armed conflict has also resulted in increased sexual violence against women. The most recent case was the done by where 5000–7000 Yazidi and Christian girls and children were sold into sexual slavery during the genocide and rape of Yazidi and Christian women, some of whom jumped to their death from , as described in a witness statement.


Clothing, fashion and dress codes
Women in different parts of the world dress in different ways, with their choices of clothing being influenced by local culture, religious tenets, traditions, social norms, and fashion trends, among other factors. Different societies have different ideas about .

In many jurisdictions, laws limit what women may or may not wear. This is especially the case in regard to Islamic dress. While certain jurisdictions legally mandate such clothing (the wearing of the headscarf), other countries forbid or restrict the wearing of certain attire (such as /covering the face) in public places (one such country is – see French ban on face covering). These laws – both those mandating and those prohibiting certain articles of dress – are highly controversial.


Fertility and family life
The total fertility rate (TFR) – the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime – differs significantly between different regions of the world. In 2016, the highest estimated TFR was in (6.62 children born per woman) and the lowest in (0.82 children/woman). While most Sub-Saharan African countries have a high TFR, which creates problems due to lack of resources and contributes to , most Western countries currently experience a sub replacement fertility rate which may lead to population ageing and population decline.

In many parts of the world, there has been a change in family structure over the past few decades. For instance, in the West, there has been a trend of moving away from living arrangements that include the to those which only consist of the . There has also been a trend to move from marital fertility to non-marital fertility. Children born outside marriage may be born to or to . While births outside marriage are common and fully accepted in some parts of the world, in other places they are highly stigmatized, with unmarried mothers facing ostracism, including violence from family members, and in extreme cases even . In addition, sex outside marriage remains illegal in many countries (such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Oman, Mauritania, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, and Yemen).

The social role of the differs between cultures. In many parts of the world, women with dependent children are expected to stay at home and dedicate all their energy to child raising, while in other places mothers most often return to paid work (see and ).


Education
Single-sex education has traditionally been dominant and is still highly relevant. Universal education, meaning state-provided primary and secondary education independent of gender, is not yet a global norm, even if it is assumed in most developed countries. In some Western countries, women have surpassed men at many levels of education. For example, in the United States in 2005/2006, women earned 62% of associate degrees, 58% of bachelor's degrees, 60% of master's degrees, and 50% of doctorates.

In 2020, 87% of the world's women were literate, compared to 90% of men; at the same time, only 59% of women in sub-Saharan Africa were literate. The educational in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries has been reduced over the last 30 years. Younger women today are far more likely to have completed a tertiary qualification: in 19 of the 30 OECD countries, more than twice as many women aged 25 to 34 have completed tertiary education than have women aged 55 to 64. In 21 of 27 OECD countries with comparable data, the number of women graduating from university-level programmes is equal to or exceeds that of men. 15-year-old girls tend to show much higher expectations for their careers than boys of the same age. Education Levels Rising in OECD Countries but Low Attainment Still Hampers Some, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Publication Date: 14 September 2004. Retrieved December 2006. While women account for more than half of university graduates in several OECD countries, they receive only 30% of tertiary degrees granted in science and engineering fields, and women account for only 25% to 35% of researchers in most OECD countries. Women in Scientific Careers: Unleashing the Potential, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , , 2006. Retrieved December 2006.

Research shows that while women are studying at prestigious universities at the same rate as men they are not being given the same chance to join the faculty. Sociologist Harriet Zuckerman has observed that the more prestigious an institute is, the more difficult and time-consuming it will be for women to obtain a faculty position there. In 1989, Harvard University tenured its first woman in chemistry, Cynthia Friend, and in 1992 its first woman in physics, Melissa Franklin. She also observed that women were more likely to hold their first positions as instructors and lecturers while men are more likely to work first in tenure positions. According to Smith and Tang, as of 1989, 65% of men and only 40% of women held tenured positions and only 29% of all scientists and engineers employed as assistant professors in four-year colleges and universities were women. In the Soviet Union, 40% of chemistry PhDs went to women in the 1960s.

In 1992, women earned 9% of the PhDs awarded in , but only one percent of those women became professors. In 1995, 11% of professors in science and engineering were women. In relation, only 311 deans of engineering schools were women, which is less than 1% of the total. Even in , a degree in which women earn the majority of PhDs, they hold a significant amount of fewer tenured positions, roughly 19% in 1994.

(1999). 9780674381131, Harvard University Press.


Government and politics
are underrepresented in government in most countries. In January 2019, the global average of women in national assemblies was 24.3%. is the civil right to vote, and women's suffrage movements have a long historic timeline. For example, women's suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually, first at state and local levels in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, then in 1920 when women in the US received universal suffrage with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Some Western countries were slow to allow women to vote, notably Switzerland, where women gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1971, and in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden women were granted the right to vote on local issues only in 1991, when the canton was forced to do so by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland; and , in 1984, through a women's suffrage referendum.


Science, literature and art

Science and medicine
was the first woman to be awarded a .]]One area where women have been permitted most access historically was that of and (prior to the 18th century, caring for pregnant women in Europe was undertaken by women; from the mid-18th century onwards, medical monitoring of pregnant women started to require rigorous formal education, to which women did not generally have access, and thus the practice was largely transferred to men).Gelis, Jacues. History of Childbirth. Boston: Northern University Press, 1991: 96–98Bynum, W.F., & Porter, Roy, eds. Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine. London and New York: Routledge, 1993: 1051–1052.


Literature
Writing was generally also considered acceptable for upper-class women, although achieving success as a female writer in a male-dominated world could be very difficult; as a result of several women writers adopted a male (e.g. , ).


Music
Women have been , , , , , , , / and other musical professions. There are music movements, events and genres related to women, women's issues and . In the 2010s, while women comprise a significant proportion of and singers, and a significant proportion of songwriters (many of them being singer-songwriters), there are few women , and rock instrumentalists. Although there have been a huge number of women composers in classical music, from the Medieval period to the present day, women composers are significantly underrepresented in the , music history textbooks and music encyclopedias; for example, in the Concise Oxford History of Music, is one of the only female composers who is mentioned.

Women comprise a significant proportion of instrumental soloists in classical music and the percentage of women in orchestras is increasing. A 2015 article on concerto soloists in major Canadian orchestras, however, indicated that 84% of the soloists with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra were men. In 2012, women still made up just 6% of the top-ranked Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. Women are less common as instrumental players in popular music genres such as rock and heavy metal, although there have been a number of notable female instrumentalists and . Women are particularly underrepresented in genres.Julian Schaap and Pauwke Berkers. "Grunting Alone? Online Gender Inequality in Extreme Metal Music" in IASPM Journal. Vol. 4, no. 1 (2014) p. 103 Women are also underrepresented in orchestral conducting, music criticism/music journalism, , and sound engineering. While women were discouraged from composing in the 19th century, and there are few women , women became involved in "... to such a degree that women dominated this during the later half of the 19th century and well into the 20th century." According to , a music writer for London's , women musicians in classical music are "... too often judged for their appearances, rather than their talent" and they face pressure "... to look sexy onstage and in photos." Duchen states that while "there are women musicians who refuse to play on their looks, ... the ones who do tend to be more materially successful."

According to the UK's Radio 3 editor, Edwina Wolstencroft, the classical music industry has long been open to having women in performance or entertainment roles, but women are much less likely to have positions of authority, such as being the . In popular music, while there are many women singers recording songs, there are very few women behind the acting as , the individuals who direct and manage the recording process.


See also

Notes

Further reading
  • Chafe, William H. , The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, And Political Roles, 1920–1970, Oxford University Press, 1972.
  • (1996). 9780807067833, Beacon Press. .
  • Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, 4 vls., ed. by Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender, Routledge 2000
  • , 17 vls., ed. by , Waterford, Conn. etc. : Yorkin Publ. etc., 1999–2002
  • Woman In all ages and in all countries in 10 volumes. Illustrated edition deluxe limited to 1,000 numbered copies with an index by Rénald Lévesque


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