She's a good dancer - c'est?

Question

I understand that things have a male/female gender in French, unlike English where things generally are neutral, but is it really so that you can use "c'est" about a person?

Answer

Hi Arndís,
I do believe that the English translations are misleading. 
"C'est la fille de Marie." Should be translated as "It's Martha's daughter." And not "She is Martha's daughter." Which would, in fact, be "Elle est la fille de Martha."
-- Chris.

Answer

I'm not sure this is right. According to the first part of this lesson:
If it/he/she is is followed by un/une/le/la... (any form of article / determinant) - it is a beautiful dress / she is a nice person - then you will use c'est.
So strictly speaking you shouldn't say "Elle est la fille de Martha."
Therefore "C'est" will be used in many cases where you would say "he/she is" in English and should be translated as "he/she".

Answer

That's not what I'm confused about. That sounds perfectly logical to me. 
I asked the question after doing a writing excercise where the correct translation of "she's a good dancer" started with c'est (I can't remember the exact sentence, but probably it was "c'est une bonne danseuse") and that makes no sense to me. Is that correct French?

Answer

Yes, it's correct French. I'm not sure what you're confused about, and what you think is logical. How do you think "she's a good dancer" should be translated into French, given that it can't be "elle est une bonne danseuse"?

Answer

"Elle est une bonne danseuse" sounds logical to me, and strange to talk about people as "it". Thank you for the confirmation, I'll just have to get used to it, then, haha! :)

Answer

I think they took the "general rule" too far in this case. French people say "Il est un" / "Elle est une" all the time, and as far as I know, there's nothing wrong with it...

https://diccionario.reverso.net/frances-espanol/elle+est+une+bonne

https://diccionario.reverso.net/frances-espanol/elle%20est%20une