Calling women ‘girls’ is “outdated and insensitive”, according to actress Mayim Bialik.

The Big Bang Theory star has spelt out why she finds the term so offensive on her YouTube channel, which has more than 150,000 subscribers.

She said: “I was recently in a bar with two guy friends who are about 40 and one of them said to the other ‘oh my god dude, look at that girl sitting at the bar… she’s beautiful’.

“I started to look around wondering why they would let a child into the bar. Then I realised that when he said girl, he meant woman, but since she’s of that super narrow age range between five-years-old and 55-years-old we just don’t know what to call her so we call her a girl.”

The video is also posted on Ms Bialik’s website, GrokNation. She calls on men and women alike to “change this narrative” and gives several pointers on how to distinguish a woman from a girl.

“Decide if the human being in front of you is in fact a girl. Indications that she may in fact be a woman are a high school diploma, a job, a car she pays insurance on, a home she calls her own…

“Girls tend to be under the age of 18 and typically live with their parents. Being a mum is usually a strong indication that someone is in fact a woman.”