distaff

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A staff that holds on its cleft end the unspun flax, wool, or tow from which thread is drawn in spinning by hand.
• noun An attachment for a spinning wheel that serves this purpose.
• noun Work and concerns traditionally considered important to women.
• noun Women considered as a group.
• adjective Of or relating to women and girls; female.
• adjective Relating to or being the female line or maternal branch of a family.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In the earliest method of spinning, the staff, usually a cleft stick about 3 feet long, on which was wound a quantity of wool, cotton, or flax to be spun.
• noun Figuratively, a woman, or the female sex.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The staff for holding a bunch of flax, tow, or wool, from which the thread is drawn in spinning by hand.
• noun Used as a symbol of the holder of a distaff; hence, a woman; women, collectively.
• noun descent on the mother's side.
• noun the morrow of the Epiphany, that is, January 7, because working at the distaff was then resumed, after the Christmas festival; -- called also Rock Day, a distaff being called a rock.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective of, relating to, or characteristic of women
• adjective referring to the maternal side of a family
• noun a device to which a bundle of natural fibres (often wool, flax, or cotton) are attached for temporary storage, before being drawn off gradually to spin thread. A traditional distaff is a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it (see Etymology), but modern distaffs are often made of cords weighted with beads, and attached to the wrist.
• noun the part of a spinning wheel from which fibre is drawn to be spun
• noun anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only
• noun women considered as a group

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adjective characteristic of or peculiar to a woman
• noun the sphere of work by women
• noun the staff on which wool or flax is wound before spinning