The Oxford University Press had been facing a lot of criticism for its sexist definition of the word woman. After the much-needed push, a change was made following an extensive review that was initiated by petitions filed last year,?which criticised the inclusion of words like, 'bitch, bint, wench' among other terms that would be considered offensive to describe women.?
Even though it is unfortunate that the sexist definition and synonyms made it so far, the change has now been made.
Now, the updated definition in the Oxford Dictionary acknowledges that a woman can be a 'person's' wife, girlfriend, or female lover, instead of being all these things only to a 'man'.
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Similar changes have been made to the definition of man to include gender-neutral terminology.
As unbelievable?as it may sound, words like bitch and bint were listed as synonyms for the word woman. However, thanks to the petitions, they have been removed.?
According to an Oxford University Press spokeswoman, the changes were implemented after an "extensive review of entries related to woman and many other related terms."
A report by The Guardian stated that people thought the dictionary presented women as subordinate or as an irritation.
Aside from changing the definitions and removing the offensive and derogatory synonyms, the petition also demanded that all the terms that implied men's ownership over women or discriminated and patronised them, should be eliminated.
Also, the definition of woman was to be enlarged to include examples representative of minorities such as transgender women and lesbian women.
An open letter was signed by the Women's Aid and the Women's Equality Party, which demanded the Oxford University Press to change the sexist definitions. The letter read, 'Bitch is not a synonym for woman. It is dehumanising to call a woman a bitch. It is but one sad, albeit extremely damaging, example of everyday sexism. And that should be explained clearly in the dictionary entry used to describe us'.
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The campaign was started by Maria Beatrice Giovanardi. The petition has reached 30,000 signatures and reportedly, Maria was "very happy" with the changes and felt the campaign had achieved 90 per cent of its aims. She called the inclusion of gender-neutral terminology "a huge step forward for the LGBTQI people." She added, "It is respecting their love and unions."
However, she remained disappointed by the fact that though the word bitch, that is defined as a "spiteful, unpleasant or disliked woman" was now labelled offensive in the dictionary, it still continues to be listed as a synonym.