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working woman

working woman

14 3.2
A woman who has a paid job doing physical tasks outside the home, often in a factory
  • noun
  • /ˈwɜrkɪŋ ˈwʊmən/
translation icon : trabajadora
  • She started a group for working women.
  • conditions for working women
  • time for working women

I feel like this represents so many everyday working women.

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Examples

  • I think the complications a family adds for a working woman are vastly unappreciated by the community.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Results further indicated that the younger working women had the least tolerance for sexual harassment.

    Academic text (1996)
  • I felt she was a hard working woman, with all them kids.

  • It's a struggle, but I think every working woman has thought that before.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Sociologists say the new working woman is a phenomenon of our time.

  • I smile every time I think of the hardest working woman in Nevada politics, Dina Titus.

    Blog text (28)
  • For working women, pumping and breastfeeding during work are associated with a longer duration of breastfeeding.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Nearly three-quarters of female instigators were working women, as were 69 percent of men.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Katherine had served twice on committees to resettle single, working women in South Africa after the Second Anglo-Boer War.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Many working women contribute significantly to their families' incomes.

Synonyms

working girl
vsworking woman
  • Archaic
3 3.3

A woman who has a job and earns money

specifies manual or industrial labor rather than any form of employment
craftswoman
vsworking woman
1 4.2

A woman who makes things by hand and is very skilled

focuses on manual industrial labor rather than handcraft skill
journeywoman
vsworking woman
1 8.2

A woman who finished training and works as a skilled craft worker

applies to any employed woman in manual roles, not only certified ones
workingwoman
vsworking woman
4.2

A woman who does paid work in a factory or manual job

is the two word general form of the same meaning
workwoman
vsworking woman
  • Archaic
4.8

A woman who does physical work in a factory or workshop

emphasizes work done outside the home rather than general manual tasks
skilled workwoman
vsworking woman
3.8

A woman with special training who does a job well

describes general manual or industrial labor without stressing special training
tradeswoman
vsworking woman
4.2

A woman who does skilled work with her hands like carpentry

covers manual or industrial labor more broadly, not only skilled trades
utility woman
vsworking woman
  • US
7.4

A female worker who does different jobs when needed

describes someone who does manual or industrial work, not varied tasks

How Career-Focused

careerist
  • Offensive
3 6.3
career woman
9 3.5
career girl
  • Archaic
3 3.8
working woman
14 3.2
part-timer
8 3.0
homemaker
28 2.7

Surface Forms

working woman singular
working women plural

Morphology

working + woman

The meaning 'a woman who is employed' is directly and compositionally derived from 'working' (engaged in paid work) + 'woman' (an adult female). This adjective+noun combination follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Working woman comes from the simple picture of a woman who is working outside the home, for example in a factory or shop. So, the phrase came to mean 'a woman who is employed', especially in manual or industrial jobs.