headship

English

Etymology

From head +‎ -ship.

Pronunciation

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Noun

headship (countable and uncountable, plural headships)

1. The position of a head or chief.
   • 1917, Upton Sinclair, “Witches and Women”, in The Profits of Religion […] ‎^[1], book 4:

     And if you say that this enslavement of Woman has nothing to do with religion […] then listen to the Vicar of Crantock, preaching at St. Crantock's, London, Aug. 27th, 1905, and explaining why women must cover their heads in church: […] (7) The headship of man and woman. The head of every man is Christ, but the head of the woman is man.

   • 2022 August 26, Stephanie Kirchgaessner, “Revealed: leaked video shows Amy Coney Barrett’s secretive faith group drove women to tears”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     […] shows Dorothy Ranaghan explaining how some female followers of the faith group cried intensely in reaction to the group’s early teachings on “headship” and the “roles of men and women”, in which men are considered divinely ordained as the “head” of the family and dominant to women.

2. (British) The position of a headmaster or headmistress.

   Synonym: headmastership

3. (archaic) Authority or dignity.