I've never been quite sure what to call female college students -- I've found myself using both "girls" and "women." So I try to make up for it by calling the males "boys." :)

Re: early vs. late work -- That depends on how much a length of time "shortly" is. If the incident happened within a year of changing genders, I'd say that's not a long enough time for someone to make significant strides in one's career.