Even in the 21st century, women still face oppression and subconscious sexism everywhere. Whether it be from mansplaining, hepeating, or manspreading, the battle for equality rages on.

Language is the basis of a civilised society and structures how we build social relations with one another. However, it has come to my attention that there is a plethora of words containing the word 'man'. For example:

emancipate

manacles

manager

mandate

manoeuvre

manicure

manual

manipulate

manufacture

manuscript

In a society where the patriarchy is the dominant culture, this is incredibly problematic. Women cannot escape the oppression of men, even from our very language and terminologies.

Therefore I propose we remove 'man' from the term 'woman', and referring those who identify as female as 'wo' from now on. This is the only way in which wo will be able to take back what is theirs, their identities, without the influence of men. If we first assess and reconstruct problematic language, wo will finally be able to become truly independent from men.

If this petition is received well, we should look at changing 'history' to 'xirstory'. But that is a battle for another day.