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[pantryslut]

Gender Biases of Language I Would Like To See Eliminated, A Continuing Series:

"Female-headed household." Because what they really mean is "single-parent household."*

ETA: manomano points out in the comments that one sociological definition of "female-headed household" is a household where a female adult makes more money than a male adult. This is probably actually the definition used in the article that set me off. It's still problematic, but worth noting nevertheless. See the comments for more detail.

* In theory, all-women households with more than one adult could count under the term "female-headed household," even given patriarchal assumptions, but that's never what they actually mean either.

Comments

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

(As to your footnote: In theory, why couldn't any household with an adult woman in it count under the term "female-headed household"? Not just the all-women ones?)

Bingo!