pink-collar

Definition

Of or pertaining to employees in predominantly female service industries.

Etymology

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.

Example Sentences

• "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."
• "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."
• "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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