the sex

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.The distinguishing peculiarity of male or female in both animals and plants; the physical difference between male and female; the assemblage of properties or qualities by which male is distinguished from female. [1913 Webster]

2.One of the two divisions of organic beings formed on the distinction of male and female. [1913 Webster]

3.(Bot.) (a) The capability in plants of fertilizing or of being fertilized; as, staminate and pistillate flowers are of opposite sexes. (b) One of the groups founded on this distinction. [1913 Webster]

The sex, the female sex; women, in general. [1913 Webster]