Just to keep stirring: I agree that 'men' and 'mankind' includes women too, but I suspect that it was the males of the species that made the rule.

And if it is so all-inclusive, why don't we say 'boy' when we are speaking of children?

I have said many times that I think that we should teach ourselves to say 'woman' when we want to include every one- after all, 'man' is in woman (pun accepted!).

Frankly, I think the male of the species is more fragile than the female- and perhaps a contributing factor is their knowledge of past sins? LOL

Ebbie