Even in business settings, is it common to refer to women as בנות ?

Question

I heard this from my prof, wanted to see what people here thought. He said that even in really professional settings, women would be referred to as בנות, which apparently has a slight connotation of youth/naïvety, etc (literally means girls in English). Conversely, men are always referred to as גברים. So is בנות a slightly patronizing linguistic phenomenon that could create work tension btwn men and women? Would you be seem as a “crazy feminist” if you chose to reference women as גברות? או נשים? Curious to hear people’s thoughts.

Answer 1

Not sure he is correct, and even if he himself might say בנות when talking about women, that doesn't mean that the women would like it. It probably depends on the social class of the women and where they live.

Just as in the U.S. some women would say they went out with the girls, in Israel it is fairly common to use בנות to refer to grown women, though I think it's more something women call each other.