Term coined in the 1980s to refer to the emergence of a significant women’s vote on specific issues and candidates. The 1980 election marked the first time that more women than men favored Democratic over Republican candidates, and it was also the first time in which a substantial feminist vote surfaced. The gender gap widened as the decade progressed and, correspondingly women’s power to sway elections grew. The women who made up this voting bloc largely supported, and fostered in candidates, a feminist agenda of progressive social policies, including pay equity social equality passage of an Equal Rights Amendment and reproductive rights.