Masturbation by Gustav Klimt, drawing 1913.

Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious aspects of sex. Various aspects and dimensions of female sexuality, as a part of human sexuality, have also been addressed by principles of ethics, morality, and theology. In almost any historical era and culture, the arts, including literary and visual arts, as well as popular culture, present a substantial portion of a given society's views on human sexuality, which also include implicitly or explicitly female sexuality.

In most societies and legal jurisdictions, there are legal bounds on what sexual behavior is permitted. Sexuality varies across the cultures and regions of the world, and has continually changed throughout history, and this applies equally to female sexuality. Aspects of female sexuality include issues pertaining to biological sex, body image, self-esteem, personality, sexual orientation, values and attitudes, gender roles, relationships, activity options, and communication.

Physiological[link]

Orgasm[link]

Orgasm, or sexual climax, is the sudden discharge of accumulated sexual tension during the sexual response cycle, resulting in rhythmic muscular contractions in the pelvic region characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure.^[1][2] Women find it more difficult than men to experience orgasms due to the increased level and variety of stimulation needed to reach them.^[3][4] Additionally, some women may require more than one type of sexual stimulation in order to achieve orgasm.

Orgasm in women has been divided into two categories: clitoral and vaginal (or G-Spot) orgasms. Most women (70-80%) achieve orgasm only through direct clitoral stimulation,^[5][6][7][8] though indirect clitoral stimulation may also be sufficient.^[8][9][10] Clitoral orgasms are easier to achieve because the tip or glans of the clitoris alone has more than 8,000 sensory nerve endings,^[11] as much as or more than the human penis, as well as more than any other part of the human body.^[11][12] As the clitoris is homologous to the penis, it is the equivalent in its capacity to receive sexual stimulation.^[5][13]

Though vaginal orgasms are more difficult to achieve,^[12] the G-Spot may produce an orgasm if properly stimulated.^[14] The G-Spot's existence, and existence as a distinct structure, is still under dispute, as its location can vary from woman to woman and appears to be nonexistent in some women,^{[14][15][16][17]} and it is hypothesized to be an extension of the clitoris.^[9][10][17]

Multiple orgasms[link]

Women are able to experience multiple orgasms, of one of two varieties.^[18] 'Multiple' means more than one orgasm, experienced one immediately after another, while 'sequential' means orgasms occur one after another but are separated by a few minutes. Even though multiple orgasms are very rarely experienced, they are not impossible. Author Mark Levinson considers them to be the ultimate climax women can achieve.^[19] Sometimes, female multiple orgasms are accompanied by female ejaculation.

Women are able to achieve multiple orgasms due to the fact that, although they can have a refractory period, they do not require one like men do after the first orgasm.^[18] If stimulation is not interrupted, women can achieve multiple orgasms.^[18] However, achieving multiple orgasms is not as easy as it may be perceived, given that women generally reach orgasms with greater difficulty than men,^[3][4] and people have a variety of erogenous zones that can be stimulated.^[20]

During heterosexual intercourse, it is common that men stop the stimulation process in a woman (after experiencing orgasm themselves, and losing their erection),^[21] and this may be one of the reasons why many women do not actually achieve more than one orgasm. However, some women do not want to be pressured into another orgasm while others are eager for more, as the stimulation can be overwhelming or painful.^[22]

Biological and evolutionary function[link]

The biological function of a woman's orgasm is not completely understood, as some researchers suggest that it does not appear to serve an essential purpose to human survival.^[8] Dr Helen O'Connell said, "It boils down to rivalry between the sexes: the idea that one sex is sexual and the other reproductive. The truth is that both are sexual and both are reproductive."^[9] O'Connell used MRI technology to define the true size and shape of the clitoris, showing that it extends considerably inside the vagina. She describes typical textbook descriptions of the clitoris as lacking detail and including inaccuracies, saying that the work of Georg Ludwig Kobelt in the early 19th century provides a most comprehensive and accurate description of clitoral anatomy. O'Connell asserts that the bulbs appear to be part of the clitoris and that the distal urethra and vagina are intimately related structures, although they are not erectile in character, forming a tissue cluster with the clitoris. This cluster appears to be the locus of female sexual function and orgasm.^[9]

At the 2002 conference for Canadian Society of Women in Philosophy, Dr. Nancy Tuana asserted that the clitoris is unnecessary in reproduction and therefore it has been "historically ignored," mainly because of "a fear of pleasure. It is pleasure separated from reproduction. That's the fear". She reasoned that this fear is the cause of the ignorance that veils female sexuality.^[23]

Other theories suggest that muscular contractions associated with orgasms pull sperm from the vagina to the cervix, where it is in a better position to reach the egg.^{[citation needed]}

Erogenous zones[link]

The female erogenous zones are areas with nerve endings that increase the sensitivity and their stimulation results in sexual response.^[24] The aim of exploring the female erogenous areas is to prepare the woman for sexual intercourse by increasing her level of arousal in order to enjoy the act and potentially reach an orgasm. The erogenous zones are different from woman to woman and it is also likely that the stimulation of the erogenous areas that some women find pleasant and exciting may be impossible to bear for others.

Historical conceptions of female sexuality[link]

Representations of female sexuality date back to prehistoric times; there is clear evidence of the depiction of female fecundity in ancient Venus figurines. Fertility goddesses are common in many ancient cultures. In many cultures there are also gods of love, marriage, and sex. In the ancient civilizations of India, Japan, and China, the subject of female sexuality was expressed in several writings and commentaries. For example, much of the Kama Sutra, an ancient treatise on sex and sexuality, deals with female sexuality.

Historically, female sexuality has been seen in many male-dominated cultures as subordinate to male sexuality, and as something to be controlled by society through restrictions on female behavior. One may say that within these cultures the most popular conceptions of female sexuality are seen through the male gaze, without counter self-conceptions through the female gaze, or gazes not female nor male.

Traditional cultural practices such as enforced modesty and chastity have historically tended to place restrictions principally on women, without imposing similar restrictions on men. Some controversial traditional cultural practices such as female genital cutting have been described as attempts at nullifying women's sexuality altogether. Many females are deprived of the ability to achieve orgasm through the act of Female Genital Mutilation which is practiced in many countries around the world. Against their will, young girls around the world undergo mutilation at a young age-at the age of 5 or 6. It is a procedure that involves the cutting of the clitoris, most often without the use of pain killers. There are many health risks. These risks include: severe pain, urine retention, infection to many parts of the female reproductive system, difficulties with childbirth.

Other cultural practices such as honor killings threaten unsanctioned female sexual behavior with death, often at the hands of the woman's own relatives. This combines with a "blame the victim" attitude which punishes women who accuse men of raping them; even if the rape is proved, the woman will be punished for the "crime" of fornication, regardless of her unwillingness to "participate". Oftentimes, after the killing takes place, the family attempts to forget and no longer mention the family member they just killed. Some honor killings are made to appear as accidents so measuring them can be difficult.

Modern studies of female sexuality[link]

In the modern age, psychologists and physiologists engaged in the task of exploring female sexuality. Sigmund Freud propounded the theory of two kinds of female orgasms, "the vaginal kind, and the clitoral orgasm." However, studies, such as those done by Masters and Johnson (1966) and Dr. Helen O'Connell (2005), reject this distinction.^[9][10][23]

Ernst Gräfenberg was famous for his studies of female genitalia and human female sexual physiology; he published, among other studies, the seminal The Role of Urethra in Female Orgasm (1950), which describes female ejaculation, as well as an erogenous zone where the urethra is closest to the vaginal wall. In 1981, sexologists John D. Perry and Beverly Whipple named that area the Gräfenberg Spot, or G-Spot, in his honor. While the medical community generally has not embraced the complete concept of the G-Spot,^{[14][15][16][17]} Dr. Sanger, Dr. Kinsey, and Drs. Masters and Johnson credit his extensive physiological work.

Some researchers challenge the notion that women only want sex for the physical closeness or cuddling, by identifying the characteristics of highly sexual women. These women characterized as "highly sexual" held more favorable attitudes toward casual sex, fantasized about sex often and enjoyed sex outside of a committed relationship. These findings support the view that the importance of sex or cuddling is not solely based on gender.^[25]

Feminist concepts[link]

The feminist movement, and the increasing social status of women in modern society, have led to women's sexuality being reassessed as a subject in its own right. During the 1970s and 1980s, in the wake of the sexual revolution, numerous feminist writers started to address the question of female sexuality from their own female perspective, rather than allowing female sexuality to be defined in terms of largely male studies. The first such popular non-fiction book was Nancy Friday's My Secret Garden. Other writers such as Germaine Greer, Simone de Beauvoir and Camille Paglia were particularly influential in this, although their views were not universally or placidly accepted. Toward the end of the twentieth century the most significant European contributions to understanding female sexuality came from psychoanalytical French feminism, with the work of Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva.

Lesbianism and female bisexuality also emerged as topics that could be talked about in public. A short-lived movement towards political lesbianism within the feminist movement led to temporary schisms within the feminist movement between heterosexual and lesbian women, then rapidly floundered in the face of the acceptance that most women's sexuality was not defined by politics, but by their own sexual preferences. Most modern feminist movements now accept all forms of female sexuality as equally valid.

Feminist attitudes to female sexuality have taken a few different directions. The first is that female sexuality should be accepted and women should be free to have sex when they like, with whomever they like, provided they are of legal age and are willing to participate. This view is supported by academic and philosopher Patricia Petersen. The other is that women should be empowered to refuse to have sex when they want to, or to have their sexuality respected in society. Confirming the theory that "a woman's body is a woman's right", Indian Feminist Author Sarojini Sahoo claimed the patriarchal society has held control over sexuality. In the case of a married woman, she encounters many restrictions with respect to sexuality whereas her male partner is free from these restrictions. Women are denied the right to express themselves as sexual beings. They are discouraged from taking an active role or even allowing themselves to experience the act as pleasurable. Women are taught that they should not be open to their sexual desires. Sahoo, however contends that to realize feminism, Eastern women need two types of liberation. One is from financial slavery and the other is from the restrictions imposed on female sexuality. Women are always victims; men are oppressors.^[26] A minority view within radical feminism states that even if it appears that women consent, heterosexual sex is inherently nonconsensual and women cannot ever be said to truly consent to it,^[27] because their decision is forged by the expectations and influences of growing up in a predominantly male-oriented society. This has led to different groups of feminists embracing and opposing pornography as sexually liberating and sexually oppressive respectively, both in the name of women's empowerment over their own sexuality.

Women as responsible for sexual safety[link]

Since the emergence of sexual independence, health officials have launched campaigns to bring awareness to the dangers of unprotected sexual intercourse. While the dangers of unprotected sex include unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (HIV/AIDS being the deadliest), the use of contraceptive devices, the most reliable being condoms, remain inconsistent.^[28] These campaigns place the greatest responsibility for safe sex on women and there are several social constructions and assumptions that are to be taken into account to understand the reasoning why.

The social constructions of masculinity and femininity play a lead role in understanding why it is women who are responsible for controlling their sexual encounters. Society has attributed many traits to masculinity including a high sex drive. This high sex drive asserts that men are constantly interested in sex and once they are sexually aroused must be satisfied through orgasm.^[29] This drive is intertwined with the male identity and consequently creates a momentum that once started is difficult to stop.^[30] Society has also attributed many traits to femininity including altruism. This trait has caused women’s sexual desires to be largely ignored and because men are seen as unable to control their sexuality, women become responsible for enforcing condom use instead of the "uncontrollable" male. However, others speculate that the responsibility for condom use falling on women is not so much societally imposed but is instead resultant of the possible consequences of unprotected sex being generally more serious for women than men (pregnancy, greater likelihood of STD transmission, etc.).

Another commonly believed social idea of sexuality is the coital imperative. The coital imperative is the idea that for sex to be "real" there must be penis-vagina intercourse. For many women, this imposes limitations to the sexual possibilities^[10][9][5] and a condom is seen as a symbol of the end. It is easy to assess how these two ideas, male sex drive and coital imperative, paired with the social construction of femininity can easily lead to an imbalance of the power to make the decision to use a condom.^[31]

See also[link]

Sexuality portal

• Human male sexuality
• Human sexuality
• Femininity
• Feminism
• Feminist theory
• French feminism
• Women's erotica
• Erotic plasticity

Popular literature[link]

• Maggie Wittlin, "Girls Gone Wild...For Monkeys", Seed Magazine" (10/14/2005)
• Peter Hercules, Liberating the Caged Human Female Animal's Sexuality
• Sally Lehrman, The Virtues of Promiscuity
• Jennifer Armstrong, "Slut" is Not A Four Letter Word

References[link]

Woman

Left to right from top: Sappho  • Venus  • Joan of Arc  • Eva Perón  • Marie Curie  • Indira Gandhi  • Venus of Willendorf  • Wangari Maathai  • Mother Teresa  • Grace Hopper  • Mamechiho, a Geisha  • a Tibetian farmer  • Marilyn Monroe  • Oprah Winfrey  • Aung San Suu Kyi  • Mata Hari  • Isis  • the Queen of Sheba  • Elizabeth I  • Florence Owens Thompson

A woman (/ˈwʊmən/), pl: women (/ˈwɪmɨn/) is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights". Unlike men, women are typically capable of giving birth.

Etymology[link]

The Old English wifman meant "female human" (werman meant "male human". Man or mann had a gender neutral meaning of "human", corresponding to Modern English "one" or "someone". However in around 1000AD "man" started to be used more to refer to "male human", and in the late 1200s began to inevitably displace and eradicate the original word "werman").^[1] The medial labial consonants coalesced to create the modern form "woman"; the initial element, which meant "female," underwent semantic narrowing to the sense of a married woman ("wife").

Symbol of the planet and Roman goddess Venus, also used to indicate the female sex.

A very common Indo-European root for woman, *g^wen-, is the source of English queen (Old English cwēn primarily meant woman, highborn or not; this is still the case in Danish, with the modern spelling kvinde, as well as in Swedish kvinna), as well as gynaecology (from Greek γυνή gynē), banshee fairy woman (from Irish bean woman, sí fairy) and zenana (from Persian زن zan). The Latin fēmina, whence female, is likely from the root in fellāre (to suck), referring to breastfeeding.^[2][3]

The symbol for the planet Venus is the sign also used in biology for the female sex. It is a stylized representation of the goddess Venus's hand mirror or an abstract symbol for the goddess: a circle with a small equilateral cross underneath (Unicode: ♀). The Venus symbol also represented femininity, and in ancient alchemy stood for copper. Alchemists constructed the symbol from a circle (representing spirit) above an equilateral cross (representing matter).

Terminology[link]

Aphrodite, a classical image of youthful female beauty in Western art.

Womanhood is the period in a female's life after she has passed through childhood and adolescence, generally age 18. Puberty generally begins at about age 10, followed by menarche at age 12 to 13. Many cultures have rites of passage to symbolize a girl's coming of age, such as confirmation in some branches of Christianity, bat mitzvah in Judaism, or even just the custom of a special celebration for a certain birthday (generally between 12 and 21), like the Quinceañera of Latin America.

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;^{[citation needed]} it was only around the beginning of the 16th century that it came to mean specifically a female child. 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 offence. In particular, previously common terms such as office girl are no longer used. Conversely, in certain cultures which link family honor with female virginity, the word girl is still used to refer to a never-married woman; in this sense it is used in a fashion roughly analogous to the obsolete English maid or maiden. Referring to an unmarried female as a woman may, in such a culture, imply that she is sexually experienced, which would be an insult to her family.

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, having passed the menarche; "femininity" is used to refer to a set of supposedly typical female qualities associated with a certain attitude to gender roles; "womanliness" is like "femininity", but is usually associated with a different view of gender roles; "femaleness" is a general term, but is often used as shorthand for "human femaleness"; "distaff" is an archaic adjective derived from women's conventional role as a spinner, now used only as a deliberate archaism; "muliebrity" is a neologism (derived from the Latin) meant to provide a female counterpart of "virility", but used very loosely, sometimes to mean merely "womanhood", sometimes "femininity" and sometimes even as a collective term for women.

History[link]

The earliest women whose names are known were:

• Enheduanna,^[4][5] born c. 2285 BCE, was the high priestess of the temple of the Moon God in the Sumerian city-state of Ur and possibly the first poet and first named author of either gender.^[6]
• Tashlultum, late 24th-early 23rd centuries BCEfl. late 24th-early 23rd centuries BCE, Akkadian queen, wife of Sargon of Akkad, and mother of Enheduanna.^[7][8]
• Kubaba, Puabi - Pre-Sargonic queens in Sumer
• Peseshet, c. 2600 BCE, was a physician in ancient Egypt.^[9][10]
• Merit-Ptah, c. 2700 BCE, also lived in Egypt and is the earliest known female physician and scientist.^[11]
• Merneith, c. 3000 BCE was a consort and a regent of ancient Egypt during the first dynasty. She may have been ruler of Egypt in her own right.^[12][13]
• Neithhotep, c. 3200 BCE, was the wife of Narmer and the first queen of ancient Egypt.^[14][15]

Biology and gender[link]

The human female reproductive system.

Spectral karyotype of a human female.

Woman nursing her infant

In terms of biology, the female sex organs are involved in the reproductive system, whereas the secondary sex characteristics are involved in nurturing children or, in some cultures, attracting a mate. The ovaries, in addition to their regulatory function producing hormones, produce female gametes called eggs which, when fertilized by male gametes (sperm), form new genetic individuals. The uterus is an organ with tissue to protect and nurture the developing fetus and muscle to expel it when giving birth. The vagina is used in copulation and birthing (although the word vagina is often colloquially and incorrectly used for the vulva or external female genitalia, which also includes the labia, the clitoris, and the female urethra). The breast evolved from the sweat gland to produce milk, a nutritious secretion that is the most distinctive characteristic of mammals, along with live birth. In mature women, the breast is generally more prominent than in most other mammals; this prominence, not necessary for milk production, is probably at least partially the result of sexual selection. (For other ways in which men commonly differ physically from women, see Man.)

An imbalance of maternal hormonal levels and some chemicals (or drugs) may alter the secondary sexual characteristics of fetuses. Most women have the karyotype 46,XX, but around one in a thousand will be 47,XXX, and one in 2500 will be 45,X. This contrasts with the typical male karotype of 46,XY; thus, the X and Y chromosomes are known as female and male, respectively. Because humans inherit mitochondrial DNA only from the mother's ovum, genetic studies of the female line tend to focus on mitochondrial DNA.

Biological factors are not sufficient determinants of whether a person considers herself a woman or is considered a woman. Intersex individuals, who have mixed physical and/or genetic features, may use other criteria in making a clear determination. There are also transgender or transsexual women, who were born or physically assigned as male at birth, but identify as women; there are varying social, legal and individual definitions with regard to these issues. (See trans woman.)

Although fewer females than males are born (the ratio is around 1:1.05), due to a longer life expectancy there are only 81 men aged 60 or over for every 100 women of the same age. Women typically have a longer life expectancy than men.^[16] This is due to a combination of factors: genetics (redundant and varied genes present on sex chromosomes in women); sociology (such as not being expected in most countries to perform military service); health-impacting choices (such as suicide or the use of cigarettes, and alcohol); the presence of the female hormone estrogen, which has a cardioprotective effect in premenopausal women; and the effect of high levels of androgens in men. Out of the total human population, there are 101.3 men for every 100 women (source: 2001 World Almanac).

Most women go through menarche and are then able to become pregnant and bear children.^[17] This generally requires internal fertilization of her eggs with the sperm of a man through sexual intercourse, though artificial insemination or the surgical implantation of an existing embryo is also possible (see reproductive technology). The study of female reproduction and reproductive organs is called gynaecology.

There are some diseases that primarily affect women, such as lupus. Also, there are some sex-related illnesses that are found more frequently or exclusively in women, e.g., breast cancer, cervical cancer, or ovarian cancer. Women and men may have different symptoms of an illness and may also respond differently to medical treatment. This area of medical research is studied by gender-based medicine.

During early fetal development, embryos of both sexes appear gender-neutral; the release of hormones is what changes physical appearance male or female. As in cases without two sexes, such as species that reproduce asexually, the gender-neutral appearance is closer to female than to male.

Culture and gender roles[link]

A woman weaving. Textile work has historically been a female occupation in many cultures.

In many prehistoric cultures, women assumed a particular cultural role. In gatherer-hunter societies, women were generally the gatherers of plant foods, small animal foods and fish, while men hunted meat from large animals.

In more recent history, the gender roles of women have changed greatly. Traditionally, middle class women were involved in domestic tasks emphasizing child care. For poorer women, especially working class women, although this often remained an ideal,^[specify] economic necessity compelled them to seek employment outside the home. The occupations that were available to them were, however, 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, women's participation in the U.S. labor force rose from 6% in 1900 to 23% in 1923. These shifts in the labor force led to changes in the attitudes of women at work, allowing for the revolution which resulted in women becoming career and education oriented.

Movements advocate equality of opportunity for both sexes and equal rights irrespective of gender. Through a combination of economic changes and the efforts of the feminist movement,^[specify] in recent decades women in most societies now have access to careers beyond the traditional homemaker.

Although a greater number of women are seeking higher education, salaries are often claimed to be less than those of men. CBS News claims that in the United States women who are ages 30 to 44 and hold a university degree make only 62 percent of what similarly qualified men do, a lower rate than in all but three of the 19 countries for which numbers are available. The nations with greater inequity in pay are Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland.^[18] However, "A study of the gender wage gap conducted by economist June O' Neill, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, found that women earn 98 percent of what men do when controlled for experience, education, and number of years on the job."^[19] A later CBS News article quoted a U.S. Department of Labor study which stated "This study leads to the unambiguous conclusion that the differences in the compensation of men and women are the result of a multitude of factors and that the raw wage gap should not be used as the basis to justify corrective action. Indeed, there may be nothing to correct. The differences in raw wages may be almost entirely the result of the individual choices being made by both male and female workers."^[20] In 2011, A Wall Street Journal article by Carrie Lukas stated that: "A study of single, childless urban workers between the ages of 22 and 30 found that women earned 8% more than men."^[21]

Education[link]

OECD countries[link]

Education[link]

A female biologist weighs a desert tortoise before release.

The educational gender gap in Organisation for Economic Cooperation 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.^[22]

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.^[23]

See also[link]

	Gender studies portal
	Feminism portal

• Lady
• Sex assignment
• Trans woman
• Lists of women

Medical:

• Childbirth
• Feminine psychology
• Gender differences
• Obstetrics

Dynamics:

• Femininity
• Feminization (sociology)
• Matriarchy
• Misogyny
• Mitochondrial Eve
• Sexism
• Women in science
• Women in religion

Political:

• Feminism
• Gender studies
• Womyn

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Chafe, William H., "The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, And Political Roles, 1920–1970", Oxford University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-19-501785-4
• Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003 3rd edition) ISBN 0-618-25414-5
• McWhorter, John. 'The Uses of Ugliness', The New Republic Online, January 31, 2002. Retrieved May 11, 2005 ["bitch" as an affectionate term]
• McWhorter, John. Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority (New York: Gotham, 2003) ISBN 1-59240-001-9 [casual use of "bitch" in ebonics]
• Routledge international encyclopedia of women, 4 vls., ed. by Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender, Routledge 2000
• Women in world history : a biographical encyclopedia, 17 vls., ed. by Anne Commire, Waterford, Conn. [etc.] : Yorkin Publ. [etc.], 1999–2002

External links[link]

Look up muliebrity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up Wikisaurus:woman in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Women

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Women

Look up woman in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

History

• Women's History in America
• A History of Women’s Entrance into Medicine in France studies and digitized texts by the BIUM (Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de médecine et d'odontologie, Paris) see its digital library Medic@.

Religion

• Women and Christianity: representations and practices
• Women in Islam