craftswomanship

English

Etymology

From craftswoman +‎ -ship, on the pattern of craftsmanship.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹæftswʊmʌnʃɪp/

Noun

craftswomanship (uncountable)

1. The body of skills, techniques, and expertise of (a) feminine craft(s).
   • 1934, Joseph Kirk Folsom, The Family: Its Sociology and Social Psychiatry, J. Wiley & Sons, Inc., page 296:

     …were to cease purchasing machinery, labor-saving devices, hired service, ready-made food and clothes, and go back to the old-fashioned craftswomanship.

   • 1991 Duke L.J. 365 (Duke Law Journal); quoted in:
   • 2000: Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge, page 275 (Temple University Press)

     When will I cherish my hair again, the way my grandmother cherished it, when fascinated by its beauty, with hands carrying centuries-old secrets of adornment and craftswomanship, she plaited it, twisted it, cornrowed it, finger-curled it, olive-oiled it, on the growing moon cut and shaped it, and wove it like fine strands of gold inlaid with semiprecious stones, coral and ivory, telling with my hair a lost-found story of the people she carried inside her?

   • 2006: Alison Findlay, Playing Spaces in Early Women’s Drama, p200 (Cambridge University Press)

     Its swift intercutting suggests theatrical craftswomanship based on a working knowledge of the effects that could be achieved with shutters and scenery offered by the Theatre Royal.

Related terms

• craftsmanship
• craftspersonship