Wiktionary

pink-collar

English

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WOTD – 29 November 2016
 
Women working at a Wacoal lingerie factory in Thailand

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From pink +‎ collar. By analogy with various constructions ending in the word collar, especially blue-collar, and from the traditional conception of pink as a feminine color (with blue its masculine counterpart), a conception perhaps magnified in this case by the sometime popularity of pink blouses among women in the service industry.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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pink-collar (comparative more pink-collar, superlative most pink-collar)

  1. Of or pertaining to employees in predominantly female service industries.
    • 1977, Glenn Siebert, Employment Service Potential: Indicators of Labor Market Activity, Sacramento, Calif.: Employment Research Section, California Employment Development Department, →OCLC, page 115:
      Black men have tended to congregate in laborers' jobs and certain service occupations, young workers in trade and such service enterprises as gas stations (to a lesser extent also in laborers' jobs), and women in the so-called "pink collar" occupations in trade, the services, and clerical work in all industrial sectors.
    • 1992, Emrika Padus, The Complete Guide to Your Emotions and Your Health: Hundreds of Proven Techniques to Harmonize Mind & Body for Happy, Healthy Living, Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Press, →ISBN, page 210:
      Good examples of employees under hidden stress are the nation's pink-collar workers. This group includes secretaries, clerks, data processors, telephone operators, and others.
    • 2003, Peggy Fielding, Confessing for Money, Denton, Tx.: AWOC.COM, →ISBN, page 7:
      These days, girls and women of all ages are still reading them, particularly the blue collar or pink collar workers or wives of blue collar workers.
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Translations

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Further reading

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