Bachelor and Spinster - Pejoration with a touch of sexism 02

I remember learning in my English classes in primary school the different nouns for male and female of the same jobs or status; actor - actress, duke - duchess, master - mistress, bachelor - spinster, etc.

Later, I learnt that after your undergraduate studies, you get your bachelor's degree, and your graduate studies, your master's; and both degrees happen to be called by nouns which also refer to male status.

In my very naiive innocent mind, I wondered why when woman finishes her undergraduate or graduate studies, she is not awarded spinster's or mistress' degree. Forgive me, I was only 9 or 10.

Looking up the word 'bachelor' in the dictionary of etymology, there are definitions as follows:
1. (a 1300) a young knight, a young man
2. (a 1300) an unmarried man
3. (a 1376) a degree, a person who has been awarded a degree by a college or a university.
4. (1418 - 1809) a young member of the guild

I looked up the female equivalent, spinster.
1. (a 1376) a woman who spins wool
2. (1380) an unmarried woman
3. (1636) a spider
4. (1719) an unmarried woman who has passed the age of marrying and is unlikely to get married. Old maid.

Clearly, 'spinster' had undergone pejoration. The Oxford American Dictionary admits in its definition that it is derogatory.

First the word referred to a job, a person who spins. Long before the Industrial Revolution, spinning wool was a common job for an unmarried woman, so the job also denoted a single young woman. It was used in legal documents too. However, around late 18th century, the definition started o include older unmarried women or women who chose not o marry, and today only the most lately added meaning survives.

The word 'spinster' does not carry the neutral sense anymore...

Bachelor party sounds all wonderful and exciting, but how about 'spinster party'? What would you imagine from here? Moans, cries, grudges...

Language sexism...