woman of color

noun

plural women of color

: a woman whose skin pigmentation is other than and especially darker than what is considered characteristic of people typically defined as white (see white entry 1 sense 2a) : a woman who is of a race (see race entry 1 sense 1a) other than white or who is of mixed race

… Sen. Kamala Harris of California, will become the first woman of color to accept a major party's vice presidential nomination on Wednesday.

—Steve Peoples

In reality the 19th Amendment failed to enfranchise thousands of American women of color—Black, Asian, Latina and Native American.

—Anna Bloom

Examples of woman of color in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The decision means that Harris, who is of Black and South Asian descent, could be the first woman of color to lead a major-party ticket. —Anna Gordon, TIME, 22 July 2024

Shortly after that, Sian was selected to serve on the crew of the Inspiration4 mission and in 2021 became the first woman of color to pilot a spacecraft. —Russ Wiles, The Arizona Republic, 9 July 2024

Some studies have found women of color who’d given birth were twice as likely as white women to report health workers ignored them or refused to help during the hospital stay. —Meg Wingerter, The Denver Post, 8 July 2024

The Fearless Fund and Fearless Foundation were created in 2018 to help address the disparities in venture capital funding for businesses founded by Black women and women of color. —Phil Wahba, Fortune, 3 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1791, in the meaning defined above