I observe that the word *confidante* has _circa_ 3,200<sup>1</sup> hits on The New York Times. And I also observe that on the same newspaper the word *confidant* has _ca._ 7,800 hits. 

3,200 seems to me a remarkable number in comparison with 7,800. As is well known, *confidante* is used only for women, while *confidant* is used both for men and women. 

So the question is: Does this represent a persistent tendency to preserve sexism in language? Or are there cases in which *confidante* is preferable, for whatever reason&mdash;e.g., contexts in which these words are not interchangeable? 

<sup>1</sup>Searching from other countries could have different results.