Girls. Here, there and everywhere. They are even stepping out of 10 Downing Street, according to one paparazzi photographer.

I write of the moment education secretary Nicky Morgan and energy secretary Amber Rudd were met with a call of “Morning, girls!” from one snapper.

Morgan, who is also minister for women – that’s women – and equalities, was unimpressed, retorting: “Girls? Girls?!” The photographer then apologised.

Morgan is 42, Rudd 51. Neither of them are girls. So why do we continue to call women – aka adults – girls?



The term “girls” should really be limited to the under-13s. After that, add the prefix of “teenage”, and I’d say around the age of 16, shift to referring to “young women”. Then, at 18: women. It’s not difficult.

“Girls” screams of gender-segregated toys and the colour pink. It reads: childhood and vulnerability.

Sure, the incredibly popular American series from Lena Dunham is titled Girls – but this is a series which focuses on the tricky transition between college years and adulthood.

'Girls' screams gender-segregated toys and the colour pink

The characters are often presented as spoilt, immature and learning to deal with real life: paying bills, getting jobs, soldering relationships. The title is intentional.

Dunham’s memoir, Not That Kind of Girl, charts similar territory. Girl, Interrupted, the memoir of Susanna Kaysen, and later made into a film, also follows the transition to adulthood in the life of an 18-year-old.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lena Dunham in her television series, Girls. Photograph: HBO/Everett/Rex Shutterstock

As the playwright and commentator Bonnie Greer once put it: “A girl is someone who is not an adult, not a grownup, is not someone who takes responsibility for herself.”

Calling women “girls” is especially undermining and patronising in the workplace. People might say this is oversensitive (I am a woman after all), but in a world in which substantial pay inequality and glass ceilings still exist, language matters.

There’s a simple rule to test whether something is sexist: would the situation be the same if applied to a man and not a woman?

I cannot imagine a group of male senior executives referred to as “boys”, but it’s easy to conjure up “girls” in the reverse scenario.

England’s women’s football team – World Cup bronze medal winners no less – were frequently referred to as “girls” by pundits and commentators.

One might argue that male footballers are referred to as “lads” or “the boys”, which is true. But these terms are not so loaded.

The phrase “throw like a girl” for instance, is not common parlance. Men don’t constantly have to prove that they can play sport to a high standard. Men don’t get their arses commented upon as Olympic gold medal winners.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest England celebrate their third place win over Germany after the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2015 Photograph: Matthew Lewis - Fifa/Fifa via Getty

The flip-side to the term girls, when not used as the patronising verbal equivalent of pinching someone’s cheeks or a pat on the head, is sexual.

It’s a leer on the street: “All right, girls?” Or men talk about “pulling girls”. Or, as the otherwise fabulous Elvis would have it: “Girls, on the beaches / oh what peaches!”

It says a lot about the sexualisation of young women that the term “girls” refers to both pre-teens and women as sexual objects, but we won’t go into that here.

Then, there’s just “girl” as a lazy, impersonal address when a random man can’t be bothered to ask your name. Beyond rude.

Finally, I’m also not a fan of the “girls’ night out”. What exactly is a “girls’ night out”? Drinking through penis-shaped straws, while group hair-straightening? Let’s leave this phrase to bargain bin CD compilations featuring Atomic Kitten. It’s basically a marketing term.

What exactly is a 'girls' night out'?

It’s great that young women are feeling more confident about calling themselves feminists and standing up for principles of equality without having to hide behind “girl power”. Something that always felt a little bit of the comic strip.

I’ll be honest here and say I do think women calling other women girls get a free pass. I know people hate it when free passes exist, but it’s the way of things. I often swap a “girl, please” with a close female friend, or even a “gurl” as a sign of endearment, but it’s always said as a cheeky nod to solidarity. We know we’re women.

Ditto the ironic “Hey Girl” Ryan Gosling macro, which blossomed into the beautiful Feminist Ryan Gosling meme.

But for real, these things are very different from a male boss saying “good job, girls” to professional women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and upwards. Let’s not pretend otherwise.

Beyonce was almost right. But it’s not girls that run the world – although one day it may well be women.