Is the honorific postfix -氏{し} usually used towards men?

Question

Is using the honorific postfix -氏{し} usaged biased towards men or is it equally appropriate to be used for women as well?

Building from this excellent answer about honorifics: What does 氏 mean after a name, how is it different from さん or 様?

Answer 1

There used to be a clear bias toward men, but today you can safely use 氏 for women as well. If you read articles written in the Meiji or Taisho period, you'll probably see 氏 used for men and 女史 for women with a high social status. I found an example here. Note that horizontal sentences were written from right to left in those days.

Today, 女史 has almost fallen out of use, and 氏 has become almost completely gender-neutral.

That said, 氏 tends to be preferred for a person with a higher social status. You may find a recent interview article where 氏 is used for a male CEO and さん is used for his wife and daughters.

Here's a relevant explanation on Wikipedia (From 敬称):

氏（し）

肩書きを別にして紹介する時に使用し、一般的に話し言葉ではあまり使われず、書き言葉または報告や報道といった改まった場面で用いる。主として男性に用いることが多かったが、現在では女性に対して用いることも多い。

女史（じょし）

社会的な地位が高い女性に対して用いる（本来は男性に用いる「氏」に対応した女性用の敬称だったが、男性と対等な女性とは、かつてはすべて社会的に高い地位を獲得した女性だけだった）。現在では古風な表現。場合によってはやや揶揄的に用いられる。