What Does It Mean to Be a Cis Woman? (2025)

A cis woman is someone who identifies as a woman and whose assigned sex at birth was female. Cis women typically use the pronouns "she" and "her."

Cis stands for "cisgender." It describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to the sex they were assigned at birth. As with all gender identities, using the term "cis" can help an individual express themselves. It also aids others in communicating with a person more accurately and respectfully.

Cis Woman Identity

The term "cis woman" or "cis female" is used to describe a person who was assigned female at birth and identifies as such. (Similarly, a cis man is someone who was assigned male at birth and identifies as male.)

For a cis woman, this means that their gender aligns with not only their primary sex characteristics (such as the vagina and ovaries) but also their secondary sex characteristics like:

• Developed breasts
• Lighter musculature
• A wider pelvis
• A higher-pitched voice
  

A common mistake that many people make is using the term "cisgendered," which suggests an action rather than a state of being. In the same way that you would never refer to someone as being "gayed" or "transgendered," you should not call someone "cisgendered"—the correct term is cisgender.

What's the Difference Between Sex and Gender?

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, sex and gender are not the same. It's also possible for them to be aligned or different.

Sex

Sex is a biological and physiological designation. It refers to a person'ssex chromosomesand the characteristics assigned by those chromosomes. Sex encompasses the following:

• A person's genitals and sex organs (including thevagina,uterus,clitoris, andvulvadesignated by the XX chromosomes or thepenis,testes,prostate gland, andscrotumdesignated by the XY chromosomes)
• Secondary characteristics like breast size, bone structure, and facial hair
  

Gender

Gender refers to roles and behaviors that society assigns as being "masculine" or "feminine." It infers behaviors that are "accepted" or "appropriate" based on how a person acts, speaks, dresses, or even sits. Gender is often ascribed in:

• Titles: such as "sir," "ma'am," "mister," or "miss"
• Pronouns: "he/him" for males and "she/her" for females
• Roles: For example, society may expect a girl to play with dolls and want to be a princess. On the other hand, boys may be expected to enjoy sports and be aggressive.

Increasingly, gender is used to describe how someone sees themselves internally, irrespective of the social construct.

Gender Identities

In the past, gender was largely regarded as binary, meaning that a person was either a "woman" or a "man." Today, gender is largely viewed as a spectrum wherein someone might identify with one gender, multiple genders, or no gender.

Gender identity types include:

• Cisgender: Someone whose gender identity matches their assigned sex at birth
• Transgender: Someone whose gender identity does not match their assigned sex at birth
• Non-binary: Someone who feels their gender identity cannot be defined in the gender binary
• Demigender: Someone who feels a partial, but not full, connection to a particular gender
• Agender: Someone who feels neither "male" nor "female"
• Genderqueer: Similar to non-binary, but inferring a rejection of societal expectations
• Gender-neutral: Similar to non-binary, but focused on the abandonment of gender labels
• Gender fluid: Someone who experiences multiple genders or moves between genders
• Polygender: Someone experiences or expresses more than one gender at once
• Pangender: Someone who identifies with all genders
  

Cis Woman vs. "Normal" Woman

Although many people may identify as cisgender, a cis woman is neither "normal" nor has qualities or characteristics that inherently differentiate them from a person of other gender identities.

Being a cis woman may involve a concept known as cisnormativity, which is the assumption that everyone identifies as the gender they were assigned at birth. Inwardly, this may inform how a cis woman would be expected to dress and act.

In fact, cisnormative standards influence the appearance expectations of people of every gender. By doing so, they end up reinforcing gender stereotypes and further fueling cisnormativity.

Cisgender vs. Transgender

Cisgender is the antonym for transgender.

Transgender (sometimes referred to as "trans") refers to people whose gender identity, expression, and/or behavior differs from the sex they were assigned to at birth. A transgender woman identifies and lives as a woman, but her gender assigned at birth was male. (Likewise, a transgender man was assigned female at birth, but identifies as a male.)

In Latin, "cis" means "on this side," while "trans" means "on the other side." Some people argue that defining a cisgender person as being "aligned" suggests that a transgender person is "not aligned." Others contend that cisgender is used as a default category to assert that someone is "not transgender." As such, some activists have proposed using the term non-transgender instead.

Cisgender vs. Straight

Gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same things. This means that a cisgender person can be heterosexual or homosexual, bisexual, or asexual.

Summary

A cisgender (cis) woman is a person whose gender identity corresponds with the female sex designation they were assigned at birth. A cis woman uses the pronouns "she" and "her," and has female sex characteristics (such as a vagina and ovaries).

Cisgender is one of many different gender identities. A person may identify with one gender, multiple genders, or no gender.