women's lib

3 4.6

A movement for equal rights and opportunities for women

noun
/ˈwɪmɪnz lɪb/

Archaic

: movimiento de liberación de la mujer

Many documentaries highlight the impact of women's lib during the 1970s.
the women's lib thing

Examples

Didn't you ever hear of women's lib?

Taxi Driver (1976)
Women's lib hasn't made it here yet.

Future Hunters (1986)
Right, but with women's lib and all-

Trust the Man (2005)
Oh, it's just women's lib.

The Big Wedding (2013)
How does this type of thing square with women's lib?

Paris Is Burning (1991)
Where was women's lib when you needed it?

Fiction book (1994)
However, women's lib has not all been a piece of cake.

Blog text (3)
Gloria has been reading a book about women's lib.

Rush (1991)
Then women's lib hit, we became double-income households, and the demand for convenience exploded.

Blog text (14)
Advocates of women's lib argue for equal pay and opportunities in the workplace.

Synonyms

feminism

vswomen's lib

141 3.9

Support for equal rights and chances for women

is an organized late twentieth century movement rather than a belief or idea

feminist movement

vswomen's lib

11 3.5

People who work to get equal rights and chances for women

is focused on the late twentieth century period rather than the movement overall

women's liberation movement

vswomen's lib

1 4.4

A series of campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s asking for equal rights for women

is wider covering the whole late twentieth century not only 1960s and 1970s

fem movement

vswomen's lib

5.1

A social movement that works for women's rights and gender equality

is anchored in late twentieth century activism rather than general advocacy

Antonyms

patriarchy

31 7.0

A system where men have most power in family and public life

Surface Forms

women's lib singular

women's libs plural

Morphology

women's + lib

The component 'women's' clearly indicates the expression concerns women, but the element 'lib' is informal and ambiguous (could be interpreted as 'liberal' or as an abbreviation of 'liberation'), so the full sense 'women's liberation movement' is not directly or reliably derivable by a B1 learner. Because there is a partial relation to the constituents but the specific sense of a social/political movement requires prior exposure, the expression is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Women's lib comes from shortening women's liberation into a short name during the 1960s and 70s. It created the simple image of women breaking free from old rules, so today it means the movement for 'equal rights' and 'freedom' for women.