121-595: A girl is a young female human , usually a child or an adolescent . While the term girl has other meanings, including young woman , daughter or girlfriend regardless of age, the first meaning is the most common one. The treatment and status of girls in any society is usually closely related to the status of women in that culture. In cultures where women have or had a low social position, girls may be unwanted by their parents, and society may invest less in girls. The difference in girls' and boys' upbringing ranges from slight to completely different. Mixing of
242-548: A servant or a bride . Another practice is that of selling girls in exchange for the bride price . The 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery defines "institutions and practices similar to slavery" to include: c) Any institution or practice whereby: (i) A woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of
363-426: A sexual system termed gynodioecy . In a few species, female individuals coexist with males and hermaphrodites ; this sexual system is called trioecy . In Thor manningi (a species of shrimp), females coexist with males and protandrous hermaphrodites . A distinguishing characteristic of the class Mammalia is the presence of mammary glands . Mammary glands are modified sweat glands that produce milk, which
484-459: A blessing ceremony. Nowadays, the occasion is also marked with a formal photo portrait. Many coming-of-age ceremonies are to acknowledge the passing of a girl through puberty, when she experiences menarche , or her first menstruation . The traditional Apache coming-of-age ceremony for girls is called the na'ii'ees (Sunrise Ceremony), and takes place over four days. The girls are painted with clay and pollen , which they must not wash off until
605-473: A coming-of-age ritual called Shichi-Go-San (七五三), which literally means "Seven-Five-Three". This is a traditional rite of passage and festival day in Japan for three- and seven-year-old girls and three- and five-year-old boys, held annually on November 15. It is generally observed on the nearest weekend. On this day, the girl will be dressed in a traditional kimono , and will be taken to a temple by her family for
726-468: A concern. Between 2005 and 2016, the proportion of students who received an honour in the general baccalaureate doubled. A European section is an option in French high schools to teach a subject through a European language other than French. It also gives pupils the opportunity of having more hours in the language studied. It is also an opportunity to learn more about the culture of the country of which
847-622: A consideration in money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any other person or group; or (ii) The husband of a woman, his family, or his clan, has the right to transfer her to another person for value received or otherwise; or (iii) A woman on the death of her husband is liable to be inherited by another person. Scholars are unclear and in dispute as to possible causes for variations in human sex ratios at birth. Countries which have sex ratios of 108 and above are usually presumed as engaging in sex selection. However, deviations in sex ratios at birth can occur for natural causes too. Nevertheless,
968-450: A fairly small demographic, they tend to be spread over a far larger area than would traditionally be expected of a normal lycée or secondary school. As a consequence, many of these students must commute long distances, with one-hour trips each way being fairly common. The long commutes, longer days, and increased workload that come with the OIB place great demands on students; many cannot handle
1089-546: A final exam. The word bac is also used to refer to one of the end-of-year exams that students must pass to get their baccalauréat diploma: the bac de philo , for example, is the philosophy exam, which all students must take, regardless of their field of study. Within France, there are three main types of baccalauréat obtained in different places, and which are completely different: For entrance to regular universities within France, however, there are some restrictions as to
1210-456: A girl "). However, girl can also be a professional designation for a woman employed as a model or other public feminine representative such as a showgirl , and in such cases is not generally considered derogatory. In a casual context, the word has positive uses, as evidenced by its use in titles of popular music. It has been used playfully for people acting in an energetic fashion (Canadian singer Nelly Furtado 's " Promiscuous Girl ") or as
1331-541: A girl's future well-being depended upon marrying her to a man who was economically self-sufficient, it was crucial to prepare her to meet whatever qualities or skills were popularly expected of wives. In cultures ranging from Ancient Greece to the twentieth-century United States, girls were taught essential domestic skills including sewing, cooking, gardening and basic hygiene, and medical care such as preparing balms and salves , and in some cases midwifery . These skills were passed orally from generation to generation, with
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#17327430629071452-455: A girl’s first bra is sometimes seen as an important next step in her life. Unlike many more traditional coming of age customs, the event has no set date in a girl’s life and can occur when she is a teenager and in other times can occur when she is a preteen. In many ancient societies, girls' upbringing had much to do with preparing them to be future wives. In many cultures, it was not the norm for women to be economically independent. Thus, where
1573-420: A leading cause of death among teenage girls in developing countries. Female genital mutilation (FGM) practiced in many parts of the world is another leading cause of ill health for girls. Gender influences the pattern of child labor. Girls tend to be asked by their families to perform more domestic work in their parental home than boys are, and often at younger ages than boys. Employment as a paid domestic worker
1694-495: A literature exam in terminale . Each baccalauréat stream has its own set of subjects that each carry a different weighting ( coefficient ). That allows some subjects to be more important than others. For example, in the ES stream, Economics & Social Sciences carries more weight than the natural sciences and so the former is more important than the latter. Students usually study more for exams that carry heavier weightings since
1815-584: A loss of about 1.5%, or 100,000 female births per year. Abnormal boy to girl ratio at birth is also seen in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, suggesting possible sex-selective abortions against girls. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons." It
1936-431: A male, while an X sperm and an X egg produce a female. The ZW sex-determination system , where females have ZW (as opposed to ZZ in males) sex chromosomes, is found in birds, reptiles and some insects and other organisms. The young of some species develop into one sex or the other depending on local environmental conditions, e.g. the sex of crocodilians is influenced by the temperature of their eggs. Other species (such as
2057-406: A person's sex or gender identity . The word can also refer to the shape of connectors and fasteners , such as screws, electrical pins, and technical equipment. Under this convention, sockets and receptacles are called female, and the corresponding plugs male . Females produce ova , the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system , while the smaller and usually motile gametes,
2178-432: A range of people without reference to age (e.g., girls ) or social status (e.g., lady ). As an adjective, female is still used in some contexts, particularly when the sex of the person is relevant, such as female athletes or to distinguish a male nurse from a female one. Biological sex is conceptually distinct from gender , although they are often used interchangeably. The adjective female can describe
2299-400: A revival. Some coming-of-age ceremonies are religious rituals to recognize a girl's maturity with respect to her understanding of religious beliefs, and her changing role in her religious community. Confirmation is a ceremony common to many Christian denominations for both boys and girls, usually taking place when the child is in their teen years. In Roman Catholic communities, Confirmation
2420-584: A serial number, with all personally identifying material stripped away and forbidden from appearing, thus curbing any favoritism based upon sex, religion, national origin, or ethnicity. Unlike the English GCSEs , Scottish Standard Grades and the American SAT , the French baccalauréat is not a completely standardised test. Since most answers, even for biology questions, are given in essay form,
2541-443: A set common to all : French , philosophy , history & geography , languages , sciences and sport . A large part of the tests is now in continuous control but the students also have a final oral test. The technological baccalaureate is one of the three tracks of the French baccalaureate. It is obtained in a Lycée technologique . The teaching of the lessons is based on inductive reasoning and experimentation. It allows
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#17327430629072662-431: A short translation section as well. The Mathematics and Earth & Life Sciences examinations may occasionally contain some multiple-choice questions ( choix multiples ), but this is rare and, when it occurs, does not constitute the majority of the exam. Students of the baccalauréat général also have to work on an oral research project ( travaux personnels encadrés or TPE). It focuses on their specialties, under
2783-441: A significant amount of required reading and homework attached as well) than the other general baccalaureate students, and many of them tend to go to foreign universities. University admissions tutors often consider reducing the entrance requirements for students taking the OIB compared with those taking the standard French baccalaureate to reflect the additional demands of the OIB. Since the students that attend these schools make up
2904-734: A small cross underneath, is commonly used to represent females. Joseph Justus Scaliger once speculated that the symbol was associated with Venus, goddess of beauty , because it resembles a bronze mirror with a handle, but modern scholars consider that fanciful, and the most established view is that the female and male symbols derive from contractions in Greek script of the Greek names of the planets Thouros (Mars) and Phosphoros (Venus). Baccalaur%C3%A9at The baccalauréat ( French pronunciation: [bakaloʁea] ; lit. ' baccalaureate ' ), often known in France colloquially as
3025-489: A small veil or wreath of flowers in their hair to their First Communion. The white dress symbolizes spiritual purity. A traditional coming-of-age ritual for daughters of college age (17 to 21 years old) from high society and well-connected upper-class and White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) families in North America and Europe has historically been their debut, known as "coming out," at a debutante ball , such as
3146-685: A successful monarch. By the eighteenth century, Europeans recognized the value of literacy, and schools were opened to educate the public in growing numbers. Education in the Age of Enlightenment in France led to up to a third of women becoming literate by the time of the French Revolution, contrasting with roughly half of men by that time. However, education was still not considered as important for girls as for boys, who were being trained for professions that remained closed to women, and girls were not admitted to secondary level schools in France until
3267-497: A thousand girls have a 47,XXX karyotype, and one in 2500 have a 45,X one. Girls typically have a female reproductive system . Some intersex children with ambiguous genitals may be classified as girls, while some Transgender youth have a gender identity as girls. Girls' bodies undergo gradual changes during puberty . Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child 's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction to enable fertilization . It
3388-646: A total of 65 low, middle income and transition countries fail to offer girls the same secondary school opportunities as boys, and in total, these countries are missing out on annual economic growth of an estimated $ 92 billion. Although the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has asserted "primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all" girls are slightly less likely to be enrolled as students in primary and secondary schools (70%:74% and 59%:65%). Worldwide efforts have been made to end this disparity (such as through
3509-453: A very strong son preference. In China, the one-child policy was largely responsible for an unbalanced sex ratio. Sex-selective abortion, as well as rejection of girl children is common. The Dying Rooms is a 1995 television documentary film about Chinese state orphanages, which documented how parents abandoned their newborn girls into orphanages , where the staff would leave the children in rooms to die of thirst, or starvation. In India,
3630-551: A way of unifying women of all ages on the basis of their once having been girls (American country singer Martina McBride 's " This One's for the Girls "). The status of girls throughout world history is closely related to the status of women in any culture. Where women enjoy a more equal status with men, girls benefit from greater attention to their needs. Girls' formal education has traditionally been considered far less important than that of boys. In Europe, exceptions were rare before
3751-421: Is pregnancy in an adolescent girl. A female can become pregnant from sexual intercourse after she has begun to ovulate . Pregnant teenagers face many of the same pregnancy related issues as other women. There are, however, additional concerns for young adolescents as they are less likely to be physically developed enough to sustain a healthy pregnancy or to give birth. In developed countries, teenage pregnancy
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3872-406: Is also a hypothesis that female genital evolution is the result of pleiotropy , i.e. unrelated genes that are affected by environmental conditions like low food also affect genitals. This hypothesis is unlikely to apply to a significant number of species, but natural selection in general has some role in female genital evolution. The symbol ♀ ( Unicode : U+2640 Alt codes : Alt+12), a circle with
3993-564: Is also the European Baccalaureate , which students take at the end of the European School education. In France, there are three main types of baccalauréat , which are very different and obtained in different places: the baccalauréat général (general baccalaureate), the baccalauréat technologique (technological baccalaureate), and the baccalauréat professionnel (professional baccalaureate). Much like
4114-417: Is being outlawed by governments, and challenged by human rights groups and other concerned community members, who are working to end the practice. Girls have been used historically, and are still used in some parts of the world, in settlements of disputes between families, through practices such as baad , swara , or vani . In such situations, a girl from a criminal's family is given to the victim's family as
4235-465: Is common in many parts of the world, especially in Southeast Asia ( Thailand , Cambodia ), and many adults from wealthy countries travel to these regions to engage in child sex tourism . In many parts of the world, girls who are deemed to have tarnished the 'honor' of their families by refusing arranged marriages, having premarital sex , dressing in ways deemed inappropriate or even becoming
4356-435: Is considered a serious crime, but in many parts of the world there is a tacit tolerance of the practice. CSA can take many forms, one of which is child prostitution . Child prostitution is the commercial sexual exploitation of children in which a child performs the services of prostitution , for financial benefit. It is estimated that each year at least one million children, mostly girls, become prostitutes. Child prostitution
4477-433: Is considered one of seven sacraments that a Catholic may receive. In many countries, it is traditional for Catholics children to receive another sacrament, First Communion , at the age of seven. The sacrament is usually performed in a church once a year, with children who are of age receive a blessing from a bishop in a special ceremony. It is traditional in many countries for Catholic girls to wear white dresses and possibly
4598-513: Is controversial. Some critics contend that it is a violation of capabilities and human rights and can create economic inefficiencies and discrimination, while some supporters argue that it is central to certain religious laws and social and cultural histories and traditions. Purdah is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities in South Asia . It takes two forms: physical segregation of
4719-429: Is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads . In response to the signals, the gonads produce hormones that stimulate libido and the growth, function, and transformation of the brain , bones , muscle , blood , skin , hair , breasts , and sexual organs . Physical growth —height and weight—accelerates in the first half of puberty and is completed when the child has developed an adult body. Until
4840-488: Is no fossil record of its emergence. Numerous theories exist as to why anisogamy emerged. Many share a common thread, in that larger female gametes are more likely to survive, and that smaller male gametes are more likely to find other gametes because they can travel faster. Current models often fail to account for why isogamy remains in a few species. Anisogamy appears to have evolved multiple times from isogamy; for example female Volvocales (a type of green algae) evolved from
4961-555: Is not limited to animals; egg cells are produced by chytrids , diatoms , water moulds and land plants , among others. In land plants, female and male designate not only the egg- and sperm-producing organisms and structures, but also the structures of the sporophytes that give rise to male and female plants . Species that are divided into females and males are classified as gonochoric in animals, as dioecious in seed plants and as dioicous in cryptogams . In some species, female and hermaphrodite individuals may coexist,
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5082-522: Is now in continuous control. Most examinations are given in essay form. The student is given a substantial block of time (depending on the exam, that is from two to five hours) to complete a multiple-page, well-argued paper. The number of pages varies from exam to exam but is usually substantial considering all answers have to be written down, explained and justified. Mathematics and science exams are problem sets but some science questions also require an essay-type answer. Foreign-language exams often have
5203-526: Is obtained in a Lycée général . Before 2021, students who would sit for the baccalauréat général chose one of three streams (termed séries ) in their penultimate lycée year (S for Sciences; ES for Economics and Social sciences; and L for Literature). Each stream assigned different weights ( coefficients ) to each subject and resulted in a specialization. The streams of the Baccalauréat général before 2021 were as follows: Another terminology
5324-399: Is obtained in a Lycée professionnel . The professional baccalaureate includes nearly 100 specialties like : leather crafts; building technician; maintenance of industrial equipment; cook; road freight transport driver; butcher; etc. The baccalauréat général examination takes place in the two last years of the lycée : première and terminale . From 2021 a large part of the tests
5445-487: Is practiced mainly in 28 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, particularly Egypt and Ethiopia, and in parts of Southeast Asia and the Middle East. FGM is most often carried out on girls aged between infancy and 15 years. Child marriages, where girls are married at young ages (often forced and often to much older husbands) remain common in many parts of the world. They are fairly widespread in parts of
5566-570: Is sometimes used that pertains to the curriculum before 1994, which further divided two of the séries . Until then, it was possible to sit for a bac C or D (which comprise the current S), a bac B (currently ES), or a bac A1 , A2 or A3 (which comprise the current L). People who passed the baccalauréat before the reform still use that terminology in referring their diploma. The baccalauréat permits students to sit exams in over forty languages, including French regional languages such as Alsatian , Breton , Catalan or Norman . Students in
5687-400: Is the most common form of child labor for girls. In some places, such as East and Southeast Asia , parents often see work as a domestic servant as a good preparation for marriage. Domestic service, however, is among the least regulated of all professions, and exposes workers to serious risks, such as violence, exploitation and abuse by the employers, because the workers are often isolated from
5808-494: Is used to feed the young for some time after birth. Only mammals produce milk . Mammary glands are obvious in humans , because the female human body stores large amounts of fatty tissue near the nipples, resulting in prominent breasts . Mammary glands are present in all mammals, although they are normally redundant in males of the species. Most mammalian females have two copies of the X chromosome , while males have only one X and one smaller Y chromosome ; some mammals, such as
5929-552: Is usually associated with social issues , including lower educational levels, poverty , and other negative life outcomes; and often carries a social stigma . By contrast, teenage girls in developing countries are often married, and their pregnancies welcomed by family and society. However, in these societies, child marriage and early pregnancy often combine with malnutrition and poor health care and create medical problems. Girls' equal access to education has been achieved in some countries, but there are significant disparities in
6050-485: Is viewed with concern for a girl's chastity. In some communities, there is a traditional belief that female genital mutilation is a necessity to prevent a girl from becoming sexually promiscuous. The practice is dangerous, however, and leads to long-term health problems for women who have undergone it. The practice has been a custom in 28 countries of Africa, and persists mainly in rural areas. This coming-of-age custom, sometimes incorrectly described as "female circumcision",
6171-434: The bac , is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the lycée ) by meeting certain requirements. Though it has only existed in its present form as a school-leaving examination since Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte 's implementation on March 17, 1808, its origins date back to the first medieval French universities. According to French law,
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#17327430629076292-672: The International Debutante Ball in New York City. Traditionally, debutantes wear couture white gowns and gloves symbolising purity and wealth. Across Latin America, the fiesta de quince años is a celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday. The girl celebrating the birthday is called a Quinceañera . This birthday is celebrated differently from any other birthday, as it marks the transition from childhood to womanhood . While completely secular in nature,
6413-503: The Millennium Development Goals ) and the gap has closed since 1990. According to Kim Wallen, expectations will nonetheless play a role in how girls perform academically. For example, if females skilled in math are told a test is "gender neutral" they achieve high scores, but if they are told males outperformed females in the past, the females will do much worse. "What's strange is," Wallen observed, "according to
6534-835: The Population Research Institute in Washington, D.C., has said: "Twenty-five million men in China currently can't find brides because there is a shortage of women [...] young men emigrate overseas to find brides." The gender imbalance in these regions is also blamed for spurring growth in the commercial sex trade; the UN's 2005 report states that up to 800,000 people being trafficked across borders each year, and as many as 80 percent are women and girls. Embryos that inherit two X chromosomes (XX), one from each parent, are generally identified as girls when born. About one in
6655-601: The SAT verbal test was 4 points lower than boys. In math, the average for girls was 492, which was 35 points lower than boys. "When girls take the exact same courses," commented Wayne Camara, a research scientist with the College Board, "that 35-point gap dissipates quite a bit." At the time Leslie R. Wolfe , president of the Center for Women Policy Studies said girls scored differently on the math tests because they tend to work
6776-545: The Southern Tang kingdom in Nanjing (937–975), the custom of foot binding was associated with upper-class women who were worthy of a life of leisure, and husbands who could afford to spare them the necessity of work (which would require the ability to be mobile and spend the day on their feet). Because of this belief, parents hoping to ensure a good marriage for their daughters would begin binding their feet from about
6897-407: The bac upon completion of secondary school (or did not manage to pass it) and would like to attend university, or feel that the bac would help them accomplish professional aspirations, may exercise that option. The main purpose of the general baccalaureate is to access universities and grandes écoles to pursue higher academic education. It attests to an advanced level in general skills. It
7018-701: The biological female sex , as both males and females can exhibit feminine traits. Traits traditionally cited as feminine include gentleness , empathy , and sensitivity , though traits associated with femininity vary depending on location and context, and are influenced by a variety of social and cultural factors. Gender neutrality describes the idea that policies, language, and other social institutions should avoid distinguishing roles according to people's sex or gender, in order to avoid discrimination arising from rigid gender roles. Unisex refers to things that are considered appropriate for any sex. Campaigns for unisex toys include Let Toys Be Toys . Teenage pregnancy
7139-433: The goby ) can transform, as adults, from one sex to the other in response to local reproductive conditions (such as a brief shortage of males). The question of how females evolved is mainly a question of why males evolved. The first organisms reproduced asexually, usually via binary fission , wherein a cell splits itself in half. From a strict numbers perspective, a species that is half males/half females can produce half
7260-425: The grande école examinations, are decided months before the examination. French educators seldom use the entire grading scale. The same applies when marking the baccalauréat . Therefore, students are very unlikely to get a 20 out of 20 or more (it is actually possible to get more than 20 because of options like Arts, Music, Latin, etc.). It is also very rare to see scores lower than 5. Grade inflation has become
7381-449: The platypus , have different combinations. One of the female's X chromosomes is randomly inactivated in each cell of placental mammals while the paternally derived X is inactivated in marsupials. In birds and some reptiles, by contrast, it is the female which is heterozygous and carries a Z and a W chromosome while the male carries two Z chromosomes. In mammals, females can have XXX or X . Mammalian females bear live young , with
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#17327430629077502-466: The second groupe ), a supplemental oral examination is given in two subjects of the student's choice. A student who does well enough in those examinations to raise the overall weighted grade to a 10 gets the baccalauréat . A student who does poorly in the orals and receives below a 10 may choose to repeat the final year of lycée ( terminale ). Students may not redo the entire examination in September;
7623-484: The spermatozoa , are produced by males. Generally, a female cannot reproduce sexually without access to the gametes of a male, and vice versa, but in some species females can reproduce by themselves asexually , for example via parthenogenesis . Patterns of sexual reproduction include: Other than the defining difference in the type of gamete produced, differences between males and females in one lineage cannot always be predicted by differences in another. The concept
7744-483: The "French international baccalaureate", it is unrelated to the International Baccalaureate (IB). The OIB adds additional subjects to the French national exam. Students choose one of the L, ES or S streams. It differs, as students take a two-year syllabus in literature, history, and geography in a foreign language. That syllabus and the way that it is examined is modelled on the national exam of
7865-414: The ' nature versus nurture ' question is not meaningful, because it treats them as independent factors, whereas in fact everything is nature and nurture." Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Femininity is socially constructed, but made up of both socially-defined and biologically created factors. This makes it distinct from the definition of
7986-526: The Child (1988) and Millennium Development Goals (2000) promoted better access to education for all girls and boys and to eliminate gender disparities at both primary and secondary level. Worldwide school enrolment and literacy rates for girls have improved continuously. In 2005, global primary net enrolment rates were 85 percent for girls, up from 78 percent 15 years earlier; at the secondary level, girls' enrolment increased 10 percentage points to 57 percent over
8107-531: The European Matura or English A levels , the baccalauréat allows French and international students to obtain a standardised qualification, typically at the age of 18 (end of the lycée ). It qualifies holders to work in certain areas, go on to tertiary education ( universités ), or acquire some other professional qualification or training. Even though it is not legally required, the vast majority of students in their final year of secondary school take
8228-584: The L stream prepare for careers in education , linguistics , literature , philosophy , public service , politics , sociology , management , business administration , law , and economics . They also have interests in the arts . The most important subjects in the literary stream are Philosophy , French language , Literature , Arts and other Languages , usually English, German and Spanish. (same school curricula as ES stream) Only points above 10 out of 20 (50%) are taken into consideration. Multiplied by two for first subject (except Latin and Greek, where
8349-478: The age of 5–8 to achieve the ideal appearance. The tinier the feet, the better the social rank of a future husband. The practice started seriously to decline in the early years of the twentieth century, and was all but extinct by 1950. China has had many customs relating to girls and their roles as future wives and mothers. Traditionally an unmarried girl would wear her hair in two pigtails , and once married, in one. In some cultures, girls' passing through puberty
8470-682: The baccalaureate is the first academic degree, though it grants the completion of secondary education. Historically, the baccalaureate is administratively supervised by full professors at universities. Similar academic qualifications exist elsewhere in Europe, variously known as Abitur in Germany , maturità in Italy , bachillerato in Spain , maturita in Slovakia and Czech Republic . There
8591-539: The children's peer group . In England , studies by the National Literacy Trust have shown girls score consistently higher than boys in all scholastic areas from the ages of 7 through 16, with the most striking differences noted in reading and writing skills. In the United States , historically, girls lagged on standardized tests. In 1996 the average score of 503 for US girls from all races on
8712-567: The community; violence on the way to school, or in and around schools; long distances to schools; vulnerability to the HIV epidemic; school fees, which often lead to parents sending only their sons to school; lack of gender sensitive approaches and materials in classrooms. Sex segregation is the physical, legal, and cultural separation of people according to their biological sex . It is practiced in many societies, especially starting when children attain puberty . In certain circumstances, sex segregation
8833-502: The course of an organism's life. The sex of most mammals, including humans, is genetically determined by the XY sex-determination system where females have XX (as opposed to XY in males) sex chromosomes . It is also possible in a variety of species, including humans, to have other karyotypes . During reproduction , the male contributes either an X sperm or a Y sperm, while the female always contributes an X egg. A Y sperm and an X egg produce
8954-521: The end of terminale , OIB students have extra exams in Literature and History/Geography, with a written and oral component to both exams, and since 2024 an oral on a free project linked to the country of the section, known as Connaissance du monde . These exams have a high weighting in the final mark of the baccalaureate and do not give extra points to OIB students. Overall, these students work more (up to an additional 10 hours per week of classes, with
9075-528: The end of the rituals, which involve dancing and rituals that challenge physical strength. Girls are taught aspects of sexuality, confidence, and healing ability. The girls pray in the direction of the east at dawn, and in the four cardinal directions, which represent the four stages of life. This ceremony was banned by the U.S. government for many decades; after being decriminalized by the Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978, it has seen
9196-437: The examination sheet(s). That way, anonymity is respected. The papers are usually marked by a member of the teaching staff in the same district or, at a larger scale, in the same académie . To avoid conflicts of interest, a teacher who has lectured to a student or group of students cannot grade that exam. Also, to ensure greater objectivity on the part of the examiners, the test is anonymous. The grader sees only an exam paper with
9317-428: The exams are unsealed by a high-ranking school officer (usually a principal or vice-principal) in front of the examinees only a few minutes prior to the start of the examination. The procedure is the same for each subject, in each stream. Students usually have an identification number and an assigned seat. The number is written on all exam material and the name is hidden by folding and sealing the upper right-hand corner of
9438-459: The exception of monotreme females, which lay eggs. Some non-mammalian species, such as guppies , have analogous reproductive structures; and some other non-mammals, such as some sharks , also bear live young. In sex determination for mammals, female is the default sex, while in the poplar genus Populus the default is male. The sex of a particular organism may be determined by genetic or environmental factors, or may naturally change during
9559-410: The general baccalaureate underwent a reformation. Since November 2017, an initiative spearheaded by minister Jean-Michel Blanquer has united numerous actors from the field of education to reinvent this system to have less exams (now only four) in conjunction with a large oral examination. The old streams (S, ES and L) equally disappeared and, rather than being entirely decided by final examinations, 40% of
9680-516: The grades may vary from grader to grader, especially in subjects like philosophy and French literature . Students generally take the French Language & Literature exam at the end of première since that subject is not taught in terminale , where it is replaced with Philosophy. It also has an oral examination component, along with the written part. The oral exam covers works studied throughout première . However, in L, students do have
9801-433: The grades that they obtain in these exams have a bigger impact on their overall grade. Whether or not one passes the bac and/or receives eventual honours is determined by the calculation of that overall grade. The general baccalaureate offers several additional variants. The best-known subset is the baccalauréat français international (named option internationale du baccalauréat , OIB, until 2022). Sometimes translated as
9922-485: The knowledge passed down orally from mother to daughter. A well-known reference to these important women's skills is in the folk tale Rumpelstiltskin , which dates back to medieval Germany and was collected in written form by the folklorists the Brothers Grimm . The miller's daughter is valued as a potential wife because of her reputation for being able to spin straw into gold. In some parts of China, beginning in
10043-573: The language is being spoken. For example, if learning History in Spanish, the history of Spain and that of Central and South America would be emphasized. Teachers present their lessons in English , German , Italian or Spanish . At the end, students can receive a "European section" mention on their baccalaureat . To have that mention, they need to get at least 12/20 on their language examination and at least 10/20 at an additional oral examination on
10164-484: The late 14th century the English spelling was altered to parallel that of male . It has been used as both noun and adjective since the 14th century. Originally, from its first appearance in the 1300s, female exclusively referred to humans and always indicated that the speaker spoke of a woman or a girl. A century later, the meaning was expanded to include non-human female organisms. For several centuries, using
10285-443: The late 19th century. Girls were not entitled to receive a Baccalaureate diploma in France until the reforms of 1924 under education minister Léon Bérard . Schools were segregated in France until the end of World War II. Since then, compulsory education laws have raised the education of girls and young women throughout Europe. In many European countries, girls' education was restricted until the 1970s, especially at higher levels. This
10406-714: The majority. There are gaps in access between different regions and countries and even within countries. Girls account for 60 percent of children out of school in Arab countries and 66 percent of non-attendees in South and West Asia; however, more girls than boys attend schools in many countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe. Research has measured the economic cost of this inequality to developing countries: Plan International 's analysis shows that
10527-409: The maturation of their reproductive capabilities, the pre-pubertal, physical differences between boys and girls are the genitalia . Puberty is a process that usually takes place between 10 and 16 years, but these ages differ from person to person. The major landmark of female puberty is menarche , the onset of menstruation , which occurs on average between 12 and 13. According to a 2010 Canadian study,
10648-458: The multiplier is 3) and by one for the second subject. Students of the ES stream prepare for careers in politics , sociology , management , business administration , law , and economics . The main and important subjects of this stream are Economics & Social Sciences , History & Geography , and Mathematics . From 2021, the S, ES and L streams of the general baccalaureate have been replaced by three specialty streams, taken during
10769-837: The multiplier is three) and by one for the second subject. The S stream prepares students for work in scientific fields such as medicine , engineering and the natural sciences . Science students must specialise in Mathematics , Physics & Chemistry , Computer Science or Earth & Life Sciences . Students in this stream must generally have a good result in Physics & Chemistry , Mathematics , Earth & Life Sciences and, if available, Engineering Sciences and Computer Science . Added to general subject above, except for Computer Science. Only points above 10 out of 20 (50%) are taken into consideration. Multiplied by two for first subject (except Latin & Greek, where
10890-400: The offspring an asexual population can, because only the females are having offspring. Being male can also carry significant costs, such as in flashy sexual displays in animals (such as big antlers or colorful feathers), or needing to produce an outsized amount of pollen as a plant in order to get a chance to fertilize a female. Yet despite the costs of being male, there must be some advantage to
11011-454: The outside world. Child labor has a very negative effect on education. Girls either stop their education, or, when they continue it, they are often subjected to a double burden, or a triple burden of work outside the home, housework in the parental home, and schoolwork. This situation is common in places such as parts of Asia and Latin America . The United Nations Convention on the Rights of
11132-473: The penultimate year (Première), only two of which are kept in the final year (Terminale). There are 12 subjects specific to the three spécialités (majors, litt. "specialities") : arts , ecology , history , geography & geopolitics , humanities , languages , literature , mathematics , computer science , physics & chemistry , economic & social sciences , engineering sciences , and biology & geology . These subjects are added to
11253-928: The plus mating type . Although sexual evolution emerged at least 1.2 billion years ago, the lack of anisogamous fossil records make it hard to pinpoint when females evolved. Female sex organs (genitalia, in animals) have an extreme range of variation among species and even within species. The evolution of female genitalia remains poorly understood compared to male genitalia, reflecting a now-outdated belief that female genitalia are less varied than male genitalia, and thus less useful to study. The difficulty of reaching female genitalia has also complicated their study. New 3D technology has made female genital study simpler. Genitalia evolve very quickly. There are three main hypotheses as to what impacts female genital evolution: lock-and-key (genitals must fit together), cryptic female choice (females affect whether males can fertilize them), and sexual conflict (a sort of sexual arms race). There
11374-697: The practice of dowry is partly responsible for a strong son preference. Another manifestation of son preference is the violence inflicted against mothers who give birth to girls. In India, by 2011, there were 91 girls younger than 6 for every 100 boys. Its 2011 census showed that the ratio of girls to boys under the age of 6 years old has dropped even during the past decade, from 927 girls for every 1000 boys in 2001 to 918 girls for every 1000 boys in 2011. In China, scholars report 794 baby girls for every 1000 baby boys in rural regions. In Azerbaijan , last 20 years of birth data suggests 862 girls were born for every 1000 boys, on average every year. Steven Mosher, president of
11495-485: The practice of bias against girls, through sex-selective abortion , female infanticide , female abandonment , as well as favouring sons with regard to allocating of family resources is well documented in parts of South Asia , East Asia , and the Caucasus . Such practices are a major concern in China, India and Pakistan. In these cultures, the low status of women creates a bias against females. China and India have
11616-468: The printing press and the Reformation made literacy more widespread. One notable exception to the general neglect of girls' literacy is Queen Elizabeth I . In her case, as a child, she was in a precarious position as a possible heir to the throne, and her life was endangered by the political scheming of other powerful members of the court. Following the execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn , Elizabeth
11737-418: The problems out while boys use "test-taking tricks" such as immediately checking the answers already given in multiple-choice questions. Wolfe said girls are steady and thorough while "boys play this test like a pin-ball machine." Wolfe also said although girls had lower SAT scores they consistently get higher grades than boys across all courses in their first year in college. By 2006 girls were outscoring boys on
11858-459: The process. The advantages are explained by the evolution of anisogamy , which led to the evolution of male and female function. Before the evolution of anisogamy, mating types in a species were isogamous : the same size and both could move, catalogued only as "+" or "-" types. In anisogamy, the mating cells are called gametes. The female gamete is larger than the male gamete, and usually immotile. Anisogamy remains poorly understood, as there
11979-574: The regional languages Basque , Breton , Catalan , Corsican , Auvergnat , Gascon , Languedoc , Limousin , Niçard , Provençal , Vivaro-Alpine , regional languages of Alsace , regional languages of Moselle , Tahitian , Albanian , Amharic , Melanesian languages , Bambara , Berber , Bulgarian , Cambodian , Korean , Croatian , Hausa , Hindi , Hungarian , Indonesian , Malaysian , Laotian , Lithuanian , Macedonian , Malagasy , Persian , Fulani , Romanian , Serbian , Slovak , Slovenian , Swedish , Swahili , Tamil , Czech . In 2021,
12100-512: The reproductive system , as with mammary glands in mammals. In humans, the word female can also be used to refer to gender in the social sense of gender role or gender identity . The word female comes from the Latin femella , the diminutive form of femina , meaning " woman ", by way of the Old French femelle . It is not etymologically related to the word male , but in
12221-408: The research, all one apparently has to do is tell a woman who has a lifetime of socialization of being poor in math that a math test is gender neutral, and all effects of that socialization go away." Author Judith Harris has said that aside from their genetic contribution, the nurturing provided by parents likely has less long-term influence over their offspring than other environmental aspects such as
12342-426: The same period. Female An organism 's sex is female ( symbol : ♀ ) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction . A female has larger gametes than a male . Females and males are results of the anisogamous reproduction system , wherein gametes are of different sizes (unlike isogamy where they are
12463-471: The same size). The exact mechanism of female gamete evolution remains unknown. In species that have males and females, sex-determination may be based on either sex chromosomes , or environmental conditions. Most female mammals , including female humans , have two X chromosomes . Characteristics of organisms with a female sex vary between different species, having different female reproductive systems , with some species showing characteristics secondary to
12584-566: The sexes and the requirement that women cover almost entirely their bodies. The ages from which this practice is enforced vary by community. Such practices are most common in cultures where the concept of family honor is very strong. In cultures where sex segregation is common, the predominant form of education in single sex education . In many parts of the world, girls are at risk of specific forms of violence and abuse, such as sex-selective abortion , female genital mutilation , child marriage , child sexual abuse , honor killings . In parts of
12705-532: The sexes may vary by age, and from totally mixed to total sex segregation . The English word girl first appeared during the Middle Ages between 1250 and 1300 CE and came from the Anglo-Saxon word gerle (also spelled girle or gurle ). The Anglo-Saxon word gerela meaning dress or clothing item also seems to have been used as a metonym in some sense. Until the late 1400s,
12826-707: The student to work or to pursue short and technical studies (laboratory, design and applied arts, hotel and restaurant management, etc.). It currently has eight sections : STMG (Sciences and Technologies of Management), ST2S (Sciences and Technologies of Healthcare), STI2D (Sciences and Technologies of Industry and Sustainable Development), STD2A (Sciences and Technologies of Design and Applied Art), STHR (Hospitality Industry and Business), STL (Science and Technologies of Laboratory), STAV (Science and Technologies of Agronomy and Living Organisms), S2TMD (Science and Technologies of Theatre, Music and Dance). The professional baccalaureate allows rapid integration into working life. It
12947-413: The student's final grade will consist of demonstrated success over the course of the school year. The pass mark is 10 out of 20. The 2014 success rate for the baccalauréat in mainland France was 87.9%. For the baccalauréat , four levels of honours are given: Honours are prestigious but not crucial, as admissions to the classes préparatoires (preparatory classes), which prepare students for
13068-432: The subject in the language. For example, those who choose History in Spanish as an additional subject would take their Spanish examination like the rest of their classmates, who do not have History in Spanish, and get at least 12/20. They then have to pass an oral examination on history in Spanish and get at least 10/20. A student who averages between 8 and 10 is permitted to sit for the épreuve de rattrapage (also called
13189-407: The supervision of a faculty member. The oral examination takes place in front of a jury of teachers. There are also several oral exams in languages; practical work in science or arts; or physical evaluation in sport. When taken in mainland France, the baccalauréat material is the same for all students in a given stream. The secrecy surrounding the material is very tight, and the envelopes containing
13310-615: The target nation. For instance, the British Section (administered by the University of Cambridge ) models the programmes on A-levels in English, History, and Geography. It is therefore necessary to be fully bilingual to complete this qualification. To date there are 16 different sections supporting 14 different languages: American, Arabic, British, (mainland) Chinese, Danish, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. At
13431-414: The type of baccalauréat that can be presented. In some cases, it may be possible to enter a French university without the bac by taking a special exam, the "diploma for entrance to higher education". Though most students take the bac at the end of secondary school, it is also possible to enter as a candidat libre (literally, "free candidate") without affiliation to a school. Students who did not take
13552-421: The variation of age in which menstruation begins had a "statistically significant" relation to where the child was living, household income, and family type. Biological sex interacts with environment in ways not fully understood. Identical twin girls separated at birth and reunited decades later have shown both startling similarities and differences. In 2005, professor Kim Wallen of Emory University noted, "I think
13673-517: The verbal portion of the United States' nationwide SAT exam by 11 points. A 2005 University of Chicago study showed that a majority presence of girls in the classroom tends to enhance the academic performance of boys. In many parts of the world, girls face significant obstacles to accessing proper education. These obstacles include: early and forced marriages ; early pregnancy ; prejudice based on gender stereotypes at home, at school and in
13794-500: The victims of rape , are at risk of honor killing by their families. Girls' health suffers in cultures where girls are valued less than boys, and families allocate most resources to boys. A major threat to girls' health is early marriage, which often leads to early pregnancy . Girls forced into child marriage often become pregnant quickly after marriage, increasing their risk of complications and maternal mortality . Such complications resulting from pregnancy and birth at young ages are
13915-573: The word female as a noun was considered more respectful than calling her a woman or a lady and was preferred for that reason; however, by 1895, the linguistic fashion had changed, and female was often considered disparaging, usually on the grounds that it grouped humans with other animals. In the 21st century, the noun female is primarily used to describe non-human animals, to refer to biologically female humans in an impersonal technical context (e.g., "Females were more likely than males to develop an autoimmune disease"), or to impartially include
14036-522: The word meant a child of either sex; it has meant 'female child' since about the late 15th century CE. The word girl is sometimes used to refer to an adult female, usually a younger one. This usage may be considered derogatory or disrespectful in professional or other formal contexts, just as the term boy can be considered disparaging when applied to an adult man . Hence, this usage is often deprecative . It can also be used depreciatively when used to discriminate against children (e.g., " you're just
14157-608: The workload and transfer to schools offering the standard French baccalaureate. Thus, many consider the OIB qualification to be highly challenging and a sign, not only of academic prowess, but also of tenacity and hard work. To test their foreign or regional language students can choose among these different languages (though not at all schools): the foreign languages English , German , Arabic , Armenian , Cambodian , Chinese , Danish , Spanish , Finnish , Modern Greek , Hebrew , Italian , Japanese , Dutch , Norwegian , Polish , Portuguese , Russian , Turkish , Vietnamese ; and
14278-542: The world, especially in East Asia , South Asia and some Western countries' girls are sometimes seen as unwanted; in some cases, girls are selectively aborted, abused, mistreated or abandoned by their parents or relatives. In China, boys exceed girls by more than 30 million, suggesting over a million excess boys are born every year than expected for normal human sex ratio at birth. In India, scholars estimate from boy to girl ratio at birth that sex-selective abortions cause
14399-501: The world, especially in Africa, South Asia, Southeast and East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Oceania. The ten countries with the highest rates of child marriage are: Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Bangladesh, Guinea, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, and Malawi. Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. In Western countries CSA
14520-556: Was considered illegitimate. Her education was for the most part ignored by Henry VIII . Henry VIII 's widow, Catherine Parr , took an interest in the high intelligence of Elizabeth, and supported the decision to provide her with an impressive education after Henry's death, starting when Elizabeth was 9. Elizabeth received an education equal to that of a prominent male aristocrat; she was educated in Latin, Greek, Spanish, French, philosophy, history, mathematics and music. It has been argued that Elizabeth's education helped her grow up to become
14641-512: Was often done by teaching different subjects to each sex, especially since tertiary education was considered primarily for males, particularly with regard to technical education. For example, prestigious engineering schools, such as École Polytechnique , did not allow women until the 1970s. Many cultures have traditional customs to mark the " coming of age " of a girl or boy , to recognize their transition to adulthood, or to mark other milestones of their journey to maturity as children. Japan has
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