Lady vs Woman

[Written from the perspective of a person who organizes job fairs]

                At the job fair last week, we have about ten different stations set up in the conference room. Each of these stations had large posters and signs that gave a brief description of what type of employee would fit the job. Many posters had only single words. For example, words such as: tough, intelligent, college educated, nature, and many more. These booths applied to all types of people.

 At the end of the fair, I read over all the evaluations of people who signed up at the individual stations. Something very interesting caught my attention. There were two booths whose posters I thought would attract the exact same person. The first booth read “Woman” and the second booth read “Lady.” Seems similar, right? The evaluations proved different. 

The first booth brought in a very large crowd. Women of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, backgrounds, and qualifications signed up. These women wore anything from jeans and a t-shirt to turbans and sandals. Reading further into the evaluation, I realized that literally every woman in the fair signed up. 

The second booth proved to be very different. The amount of women to sign up was much smaller. Not only was the group smaller, but the type of women were very particular. Their clothing may have varied, but they all dressed very attractively. Their clothes were more than presentable. On top of that, they were all polite and well spoken. The evaluation even claimed that they seemed to be more “refined.” 

After reading the evaluations, I came to a revelation. “Lady” and “woman” are drastically different. “Woman” refers strictly to the female half of humanity. All women are “women.” In comparison, “lady” refers to a very specific type of woman. A lady is refined, polite, and presentable.  Apparently connotation and denotation are powerful things!