"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.[1] 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."[2] 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:

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."[3]
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
Data collected on 10 April 2015.

See also

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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.

Notes

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  1. ^ "Semantic derogation." Language, Society and Power: An Introduction (2010)
  2. ^ Chapter 7: Marked Women, Grammar and Gender (1986)
  3. ^ Wilkinson, Marguerite (1919). New Voices: An Introduction to Contemporary Poetry. New York: Macmillan Company. p. 277.