A field 田 above, a plow 力 below: the one who works the field — a man. The character is a job description from the Bronze Age, when the farming kingdom divided its labor. You now read 男 and 女 the way ancient scribes wrote them: with a story inside.
A piece of culture
Reading doors Here is the most practical reward so far: on doors all over the Chinese-speaking world you will meet exactly two characters — 男 and 女. Restrooms, changing rooms, hospital wards. Millions of travelers stand puzzled in front of those doors every year; you never will. And you know their stories too: the field-worker, and the kneeling figure whose character lives inside 好, "good".