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Is using the honorific postfix -氏{し} usaged biased towards men or is it
equally appropriate to be used for women as well?

Building from this excellent answer about honorifics: [What does 氏 mean after
a name, how is it different from さん or
様?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2482/what-
does-%E6%B0%8F-mean-after-a-name-how-is-it-different-
from-%E3%81%95%E3%82%93-or-%E6%A7%98)
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2017-07-05T06:08:10.257
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2017-07-05T12:48:56.313
1805
question
honorifics
Is the honorific postfix -氏{し} usually used towards men?
There used to be a clear bias toward men, but today you can safely use 氏 for
women as well. If you read articles written in the Meiji or Taisho period,
you'll probably see 氏 used for men and 女史 for women with a high social status.
I found an example
[here](http://blog.goo.ne.jp/1971913/e/d2591fe836716e927a85162415a23315). Note
that horizontal sentences were written from right to left in those days.

Today, 女史 has almost fallen out of use, and 氏 has become almost completely
gender-neutral.

That said, 氏 tends to be preferred for a person with a higher social status.
You may find a recent interview article where 氏 is used for a male CEO and さん
is used for his wife and daughters.

Here's a relevant explanation on Wikipedia (From
[敬称](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%95%AC%E7%A7%B0)):

> ### 氏（し）
>
> 肩書きを別にして紹介する時に使用し、一般的に話し言葉ではあまり使われず、書き言葉または報告や報道といった改まった場面で用いる。
> **主として男性に用いることが多かったが、現在では女性に対して用いることも多い** 。
>
> ### 女史（じょし）
>
>
> 社会的な地位が高い女性に対して用いる（本来は男性に用いる「氏」に対応した女性用の敬称だったが、男性と対等な女性とは、かつてはすべて社会的に高い地位を獲得した女性だけだった）。現在では古風な表現。場合によってはやや揶揄的に用いられる。
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2017-07-05T06:27:57.600
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2017-07-05T12:48:56.313
2017-07-05T12:48:56.313
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answer