ONEUPWOMANSHIP

(wun.up.WOOM.un.ship; OO as in foot)

n.

The practice of one woman trying to do better than or to prove herself superior to another woman.

Russia had already had a female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, in orbit in 1963 and, in a further show ofone-up-womanship, had a second, Svetlana Savitskaya, seven months before Ride.

— Susan Kurosawa, "ScreenWatch — Sally go round the stars,"The Australian, January 24, 2002

"My Old Lady" is a tour de force of feministone-upwomanship.

— Jennefer Hirshberg, "Chapin's 'Dance Band on the Titanic': A Microcosm of Life,"The Washington Post, October 26, 1977

This word is an obvious play onone-upmanship, which was first recorded in 1952.It's so obvious, in fact, that I'm sure its first usage must have appeared not long after one-upmanship's debut. Still, the earliest citation I could find is only from 1977.

alpha girl

do-it-herselfer

femaleist

Jane Wayne syndrome

one-uppersonship

stepwife

Men and Women