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.[2][3][4]
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 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 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.[5][6]
- ^ Stearn, William T. (17 August 1961). "The Male and Female Symbols of Biology". New Scientist. 11 (248): 412–413. LCCN 59030638.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Grzimek, Bernhard (2003). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Gale. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0-7876-5362-0. Archived from the original on 2024-05-10. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
During sexual reproduction, each parent animal must form specialized cells known as gametes...In virtually all animals that reproduce sexually, the gametes occur in two morphologically distinct forms corresponding to male and female. These distinctions in form and structure are related to the specific functions of each gamete. The differences become apparent during the latter stages of spermatogenesis (for male gametes) and oogenesis (for female gametes)....After oogenetic meiosis, the morphological transformation of the female gamete generally includes development of a large oocyte that does not move around....The ambiguous term "egg" is often applied to oocytes and other fertilizable stages of female gametes....Spermatogenesis and oogenesis most often occur in different individual animals known as males and females respectively.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Martin 2015was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Fusco, Giuseppe; Minelli, Alessandro (2019-10-10). The Biology of Reproduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 111–113. ISBN 978-1-108-49985-9. Archived from the original on 2024-05-10. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
- ^ Laura Palazzani, Gender in Philosophy and Law (2012), page v
- ^ "Definition of FEMALE". www.merriam-webster.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2023-03-07.