A new idea, method, or invention, or the process of creating such improvements.
From Latin 'innovatio', from 'innovare' (to renew, change). In Middle English and early Modern English it often meant a change in established customs, sometimes viewed with suspicion.
Historically, ‘innovation’ was sometimes a negative word—people feared new ideas that might disrupt tradition. Today it’s a buzzword for progress, but that shadow of ‘dangerous change’ still lives in how some people react to big new technologies.
The history of “innovation” has frequently erased women’s contributions by treating informal, domestic, or community-level improvements as less legitimate than male-dominated industrial or military advances. This skewed which inventions were documented, funded, and celebrated.
When presenting case studies of innovation, deliberately include women-led and community-based examples, and avoid implying that only market or tech-sector innovations count. Recognize collaborative and caregiving innovations often led by women.
In innovation histories, highlight women’s roles in early computing, healthcare, education, and social movements, and note how their work often laid the groundwork for later, better-known male-led innovations.
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