ma'am vs woman

ma'am and woman both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
ma'am	Yes	No	No	No
woman	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, woman is a hypernym of ma'am; that is, woman is a word with a broader meaning than ma'am:

Other hypernyms of ma'am include adult female.

ma'am (noun)	woman (noun)
a woman of refinement	women as a class
	an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
	a female person who plays a significant role (wife or mistress or girlfriend) in the life of a particular man