More than 30,000 people have backed a petition calling for the removal of “sexist” definitions of the word “woman” from dictionaries and the addition of transgender and lesbian terms.
Maria Beatrice Giovanardi launched the petition against Oxford University Press this summer.
She wrote, “Have you ever searched online for the definition of a woman? B****, besom, piece, bit, mare, baggage, wench, petticoat, frail, bird, bint, biddy, filly’ – these are the words which the Oxford’s English Dictionary online tells us mean the same as ‘woman’.
This sexist dictionary must change.”
The petition has three goal, with the first hoping to “eliminate” phrases that are discriminatory or patronising to women.
It also aims to enlarge the entry for woman and to include representative of minorities, such as a transgender woman.
