The Forgotten History of Female Executioners

An executioneress is a woman who carries out executions, typically by beheading or hanging. The term is now largely obsolete and has been replaced by more gender-neutral terms such as "executor" or "prison official."

In the past, women were sometimes employed as executioners, particularly in cases where the condemned person was a woman. This was seen as a way of sparing the male executioners from having to carry out the execution of a woman. However, the use of female executioners was not without controversy, and it was eventually phased out in many countries.

Today, executions are typically carried out by trained professionals who are not gender-specific, and the term "executioner" is used to refer to anyone who carries out an execution, regardless of their gender.