6,078 articles
William Moulton Marston
William Moulton Marston (1893–1947), American Harvard psychologist, creator of DISC theory (Emotions of Normal People, 1928), pioneer of systolic blood pressure lie detection in the Frye case, and inventor of Wonder Woman under the pen name Charles Moulton.
William Still
William Still (1821-1902, some sources 1819), African American Philadelphia abolitionist, "Father of the Underground Railroad," aided 600-800 freedom seekers 1847-1865 as Vigilance Committee chairman, and published The Underground Railroad (1872).
William White Williams
William White Williams, known in the white nationalist movement as Will Williams, is an American Vietnam veteran and former Special Forces captain who has chaired the National Alliance since 2014.
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (1759–1833), British MP for Hull and Yorkshire, was the parliamentary spokesman of the abolition movement, securing the 1807 Slave Trade Act after 18 years of annual motions.
Windrush generation
The Windrush generation is the group of people who migrated from Caribbean Commonwealth countries to the UK between 1948 and 1973, named after the Empire Windrush ship.
Windrush scandal
Windrush scandal: 2018 UK scandal in which Windrush generation migrants (1948-1973 Caribbean arrivals) were wrongly classed as illegal immigrants under hostile environment policy; Wendy Williams review, £127m Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Wingman (social)
Wingman (social): a friend who supports someone, especially in meeting romantic partners; borrowed from the 1943 aviation term for a pilot flying beside the lead aircraft. Also wingwoman, wingperson, and AI dating-coach apps.
Winona LaDuke
Winona LaDuke, born 1959, is an Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) activist, economist, and author on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, known for tribal land recovery and pipeline opposition.
Wiradjuri
Wiradjuri (Wiradyuri) are Aboriginal people of the three rivers (Macquarie, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee) in central NSW, Australia, the largest nation in the state, known for the Bathurst War resistance under Windradyne and for language revival.
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a neuropsychological test in which cards are sorted by color, form, or number under rules that change without warning.
Wishful thinking
Wishful thinking, or the desirability bias, is the tendency for desire for an outcome to inflate expectations that it will occur; studied in psychology and economics, distinct from motivated reasoning, and empirically elusive in controlled lab tests.
Wives of Muhammad
Wives of Muhammad (azwāj al-nabī), the Mothers of the Believers (ummahāt al-muʾminīn): the eleven to thirteen women married to the Prophet, including Khadija, ʿĀʾisha, and Umm Salama, their hadith transmission, political roles, and modern representation.
Wives of Ranjit Singh
Wives of Ranjit Singh: the 18 to 46 women, depending on source, married by the Sikh Empire's founder between 1786 and 1835, including Mehtab Kaur, Datar Kaur, Moran Sarkar, and Jind Kaur.
Woah Vicky
Woah Vicky, real name Victoria Rose Waldrip (born 2000), is an American influencer and rapper who went viral in 2017 for falsely claiming to be Black, feuded with Bhad Bhabie, and later rebranded as a Christian poet.
Wog
Wog is a racial slur clipped from golliwog; in Britain an extremely offensive term for non-white people, in Australia for Southern European and Middle Eastern migrants, partly reclaimed by 1980s wog humour such as Wogs Out of Work.
Woke
Woke: adjective from African American English meaning aware of racial and social injustice (first recorded 1924), mainstream via Black Lives Matter from 2014, now also a right-wing pejorative for extreme progressivism.
Wolof people
Wolof people: largest ethnic group of Senegal (about 39-44% of the population), also in Gambia and Mauritania; heirs of the 14th-century Djolof empire; Wolof language is Senegal's lingua franca, spoken by over 80% as first or second language.
Woman
Woman: adult human female; also used for gender identity. Covers the sex/gender distinction, etymology, women's health research gaps, labor force participation (40.8% of formal labor market), and global gender-equality measures.
Woman on top
Woman on top: a class of sexual positions, chiefly cowgirl (face-to-face) and reverse cowgirl, where the woman controls depth, angle, and tempo; studied in orgasm research and used for dyspareunia and pregnancy comfort.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio; also World's WCTU (1883). Christian women's temperance organization led by Frances Willard under the "Do Everything" policy; major force behind U.S. Prohibition and woman suffrage amendments.
Womanism
Womanism: feminist framework centering women of color, especially Black women, coined by Alice Walker in late-1970s fiction and her 1983 In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens; distinct from mainstream feminism and Black feminism, later expanded into womanist theology and Africana womanism.
Women Against State Pension Inequality
WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) is a UK campaign group founded in 2015 seeking compensation for 3.6 million 1950s-born women over inadequate notice of State Pension age increases; the 2024 Ombudsman report found maladministration, but the government rejected compensation.
Women in China
Women in China (中国妇女): about 688 million females, 48.97% of the population. Defined by constitutional equality since 1954, one-child policy legacy, rising education, falling marriage and birth rates, and pro-natalist policy shifts.
Women in India
Women in India: status, history, and rights of Indian women. Covers the century-old women's movement, the 2023 one-third parliamentary seat reservation, female LFPR rising to 40% in 2025, the 2025 Labour Codes, and STEM participation gains.
Women in Iran
Women in Iran: female population and women's rights across Qajar, Pahlavi (1925–1979), and Islamic Republic eras; from the 1936 unveiling act and 1967 Family Protection Law to the 1979 reversal, mandatory hijab, and the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.
Women in Japan
Women in Japan: legal equality since the postwar constitution, but Japan ranked 117th of 146 on the 2026 Global Gender Gap Index; Sanae Takaichi became first female prime minister in October 2025 amid low political and economic parity.
Women in Pakistan
Women in Pakistan: 48% of the population, 49% female literacy, 21–25% labour-force participation, WBL score 42.5. Covers law, education, economy, politics, Benazir Bhutto, WAF, and child marriage.
Women in Russia
Women in Russia: their legal status, work, political representation, domestic violence, and reproductive rights under Soviet legacy and current restrictive laws, with key statistics.
Women in science
Women in science: women's participation and outcomes as researchers, about 33% of researchers globally, with field-specific evidence on funding gaps, citation and authorship credit, hiring, and UNESCO policy responses.
Women in the Comoros
Women in the Comoros: Muslim, matrilocal society with matrilineal descent on two islands; 2005 Family Code, 20.7% child marriage, 16.7% parliamentary seats held by women, 39% female labor force participation.