JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<link rel="stylesheet" href="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/semantic-ui/0.10.0/css/semantic.min.css">
<script src="https://rawgithub.com/Semantic-Org/Semantic-UI/a4aad08a1bf9231a50faed20cc2e3921994e8a93/build/packaged/javascript/semantic.js"></script>
<div class="ui selection dropdown select-language">
    <input name="language" type="hidden" value="Alpha-Male">
    <div class="text">Gender</div>
    <i class="dropdown icon"></i>
    <div class="menu ui transition hidden">
        <div class="item" data-value="Alpha-Male">Male</div>
        <div class="item active" data-value="Alpha-Female">Female</div>
    </div>
</div>

JavaScript

$(".select-language").dropdown();

setTimeout(function () {
    $(".ui.selection")
      .data()
      .moduleDropdown
      .action
      .activate(undefined, "Alpha-Female")
    ;
}, 1000);