Women's Movement

British  

noun

1. a grass-roots movement of women concerned with women's liberation See Women's Liberation

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women's movement Cultural  

1. A movement to secure legal, economic, and social equality for women, also called the feminist movement. It has its roots in the nineteenth-century women's movement, which sought, among other things, to secure property rights and suffrage for women. The modern feminist movement, often said to have been galvanized by the publication of Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique, began in the 1960s and advocates equal pay for equal work, improved day care arrangements, and preservation of abortion (see also abortion) rights. (See Equal Rights Amendment, feminism (see also feminism), and Gloria Steinem.)

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Example Sentences

The women’s movement has long overlapped with demands for consumer protection, and it was no different with the pill.

From Slate

Ms. Wohl, the author of plays including Broadway’s “Grand Horizons” and the ingenious, nearly wordless “Small Mouth Sounds,” possesses a sharp wit that scrapes away some of the reverential attitude you might expect from a play about the nascent women’s movement.

From The Wall Street Journal

As first lady, she founded the 31st December Women's Movement to empower women and teach them how to earn money to develop their communities.

From BBC

In a documentary, “Unafraid,” Xenarios and Anderson describe their younger selves as “angry, idealistic, progressive,” and they assembled a staff of like-minded women who saw their work as an integral part of the women’s movement.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Even though Easy is skeptical about a woman being a detective,” he explains, “he recognizes it’s the 1970s and, with the women’s movement, he’s willing to help her if that’s what she wants.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• feminist movement