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I have read both of these two good questions and answers and I got the answer of my question, that in the modern English "it" is used more than "her" while referring to a ship or country.

  1. Using 'her' vs. 'its' to refer to a country
  2. Is it a good practice to refer to countries, ships etc using the feminine form?

My question is not to use which of "she" or "it", but my question is why in the past "she" had been more prevalent than "he", specifically when you read history, you see that the people (of English-speaking countries) in the past had been more "masculinist" than now?

Laurel
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    I've heard points of comparison made between the typical behaviours of locomotives and members of one of the sexes by more than one (male) locomotive driver on TV, but they're possibly sexist. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 05 '21 at 16:43
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    Calling ships 'she' is a very old tradition. Perhaps the all-male crews thought of their ship as a mother figure? Likewise, the term 'motherland' for one's country is traditional in English (as opposed to the German 'fatherland'). – Kate Bunting Sep 05 '21 at 16:59
  • This seems as precise as you'll get https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_in_English#Metaphorical_gender – Stuart F Sep 05 '21 at 17:02
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    I’m voting to close this question because questions about the change of attitude in society are not language questions. – Greybeard Sep 05 '21 at 17:11
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    @Greybeard What if the society affects the way of speaking of a nation and their language? –  Sep 05 '21 at 17:29
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    @Greybeard I'm not sure I understand. The question is asking how the English language was used historically, and why, which seems completely on-topic to me. – cigien Sep 05 '21 at 17:35
  • Your question is about historic sexism, or men's view of women (and vice-versa.) This has varied throughout history influenced by custom, the law and religion. The explanation must include historical references to demonstrate the causes and the strength of feeling. I suggest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_women_in_the_United_Kingdom as a start. – Greybeard Sep 05 '21 at 18:51
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    @Greybeard - I didn't know we had stopped calling ships 'she'. – Michael Harvey Sep 05 '21 at 19:27
  • It seems that inanimate objects that acquire gender are always “she,” not “he.” An exception may be male statues. – Xanne Sep 05 '21 at 21:39
  • On the other hand, an animal whose sex is unknown is more likely to be “he”. – Xanne Sep 05 '21 at 21:44
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    @Xanne I think that depends on the animal. Dogs of unknown gender are usually called "he" but cats and cattle of unknown gender are usually called "she" in my experience. In contrast small wild animals like rats, mice and voles are normally called "it". – BoldBen Sep 05 '21 at 23:36
  • https://youtu.be/gRdfX7ut8gw?t=90 – Hot Licks Sep 06 '21 at 20:16
  • @BoldBen I saw A TV show this weekend where a character thought that rats are male and mice are female. Another character then asked them where they thought new rats came from. – Barmar Sep 07 '21 at 21:00
  • @Barmar It's obvious, they get voted into power at each election! – BoldBen Sep 09 '21 at 10:47

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