I am not a native English speaker and I have sometimes referred to people as male and female (as that is what I have been taught) but I have received some backlash in some cases, especially for the word “female”, is there some negative thought in the word which I am unaware of?
I don’t know if this is the best place to ask, if it’s not appropriate I have no problem to delete it ^^
The biggest rule of thumb is to be consistent between the genders.
So if you say “men’s and boys’ leagues”, then say “women’s and girls’ leagues”, not “females’ leagues”.
The problem is the “Men and females” phenomenon (even when implied), not the word itself.
Yes, it would be weird to use that combination. I can’t think of why anyone would other than overt sexism. That doesn’t answer the question of what term would work for across ages for either gender though.
It is also weird to see bathrooms labeled as men and ladies instead of men and women. Another example of inconsistency in how society sees women compared to men.
I think the important part is to be consistent. “Female sports leagues don’t get the same attention as male sports leagues”. Of course, that particular sentence sounds weird, but I’m sure it could be made to work. Personally, I’d use “women’s and men’s” and hope that it’s implied that the same is true to girls’ and boys’ leagues.
As for bathrooms, now that I think about it, most are only marked with the signs/images. No words. But “men/women” and “ladies/gents” seems common for places that bother putting words.
Of course, the most common bathroom I see is “CUSTOMERS ONLY” (or sometimes COSTUMERS, lol).