Oxford University Press has changed the definition of the word woman. The change was made following an extensive review that was initiated by petitions filed last year criticising the inclusion of words 'bitch, bint, wench' and other offensive terms as synonyms for women.The updated definition in the Oxford Dictionary now acknowledges that a woman can be a person's wife, girlfriend, or female lover, rather than being all these things only to a man. The changes have been made to the definition of man also and now it includes similar gender-neutral terminology. Other terms that have been revised under the changes are related to sexual attractiveness and activity.
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. "According to The Guardian, the campaigners requesting the changes had argued that the examples the dictionary offered for man were much more exhaustive, than those for woman. They said that the dictionary presented women as a subordinate or an irritation.The petition also demanded that all the terms that stressed men's ownership over women or discriminated and patronised them, should be eliminated. Additionally, the definition of woman was to be enlarged to include examples representative of minorities such as transgender women and lesbian women. Women’s Aid and the Women’s Equality party had supported the campaign this year on International Women’s Day. They signed an open letter and demanded OUP to change the sexist definitions. "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," the letter read.