womanismn.
/ˈwʊmənɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈwʊməˌnɪz(ə)m/ 1. Behaviour regarded as typical or characteristic of a woman; womanishness. Also: an instance of such behaviour.
ΘΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > womanly qualities or characteristics
tendernessa1387
femininityc1405
feminityc1415
womanhoodc1430
womanc1440
womanliness1538
muliebrity?1592
woman1619
feminality1646
femality1702
femineity1741
feminacy1776
feminility1824
womanism1824
feminism1841
womanness1841
feminicity1843
womanity1843
femininitude1878
the eternal feminine1892
marianismo1972
1824 Amer. Monthly Mag. (Philadelphia) May 431 I had passed through life without many trials of courage; and I may be excused if at this time I betrayed symptoms of womanism.
1833 Age 13 Jan. 15/1 Lords Lansdowne and Melbourne have given sundry sly looks to certain little pieces of womanism.
1880 R. D. Blackmore in Harper's Mag. Feb. 431/1 The farmer..took it to silent dudgeon that the mother of his daughter..should now turn round and take her part, from downright womanism, in the teeth of all reason, and of her own husband!
1970 N.Y. Times 11 Oct. 3/2 Maybe it is a womanism, but men do it too.
1998 W. Hill Calif. Ghosting xii. 175 ‘I'm not sure how to take that,’ Dr. Landrum said... ‘It's a womanism,’ Angela responded with a smile.
2.
a. Advocacy of or support for the rights and achievements of women; espousal of qualities and values regarded as characteristic of women. Cf. feminism n. 3.
ΘΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > discrimination or inegalitarianism > by sex > opposition to
womanism1850
women's movement1851
woman's movement1853
woman movement1854
feminism1895
women's liberation1898
the Movement1966
women's group1968
women's lib1969
1850 J. C. Stiles Speech on Slavery Resol. 33 Here is the doctrine of Womanism, so solemnly baptized of late in the West by a string of Female Conventional Resolutions.
1863 W. P. Lennox 50 Years' Biogr. Reminisc. I. 286 It became quite the rage to quote the ambiguous passages of her worst productions..as reflecting the strong-minded womanism of the nineteenth century.
1901 Christian Observer 9 Oct. 9/2 (heading) Womanism in full flower.
1914 Forum June 878 As a people we are suffering from too much womanism.
1995 Guardian 22 May 15/8 Womanism believes that women's subordinate status justifies whatever they do.
b. spec. Support for the rights and achievements of women advocated by some writers, esp. black female writers, and characterized by an emphasis on celebrating the contribution of women to society as a whole; black feminism. Cf. womanist n. 2.Associated particularly with the U.S. writer Alice Walker (b. 1944).
ΘΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > [noun] > discrimination or inegalitarianism > by sex > opposition to > specific
anarcha-feminism1976
womanism1984
1984 N.Y. Times Mag. 8 Jan. 36/3 Womanism, in Alice Walker's definition, is not just different from feminism; it is better. ‘Part of our tradition as black women is that we are universalists... When a black woman looks at the world, it is so different.’
1987 Poetry Rev. June 7 We're working in the wrong culture for poetry. This led to my work in womanism..because one of the missing things is the place of women's influence in our culture.
1994 A. O. Bellis Helpmates, Harlots, & Heroes i. 10 Perhaps the most fundamental difference between white feminism and black womanism is in the attitudes toward men.
2003 Afr. Amer. Rev. 37 170 Lauret argues quite convincingly that Hurston's major influence enables Walker to articulate her critique of race and gender relations in the feminist post-Civil Rights era and to theorize it in the concept of womanism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1824