Leatherwomen is a collective term describing women who actively participate in Leather culture and its associated traditions. Rather than referring to a specific role, practice, or sexual orientation, the term encompasses women whose identities are shaped by participation in Leather communities through authority exchange, service, mentorship, protocol, education, historical preservation, activism, or cultural stewardship.

Historically, Leatherwomen have contributed to the development of organizations, educational programmes, publications, archives, competitions, and community institutions that helped establish Leather culture as a distinct social and cultural tradition. Their participation extends across many identities, including lesbians, bisexual women, heterosexual women, transgender women, queer women, Dominants, submissives, switches, Masters, slaves, bootblacks, and community leaders.

The term therefore describes a cultural affiliation rather than a specific erotic practice or relationship model.

Women have participated in Leather communities since the emergence of post-war motorcycle and Leather cultures, although their contributions were frequently underrepresented in early historical accounts. During the 1970s and 1980s, lesbian Leather organizations such as SAMOIS and Lesbian Sex Mafia, together with influential writers including Gayle Rubin, Patrick Califia, Joan Nestle, Dorothy Allison, and Viola M. Johnson, helped establish a more visible intellectual and cultural presence for Leatherwomen.

The growth of educational organizations, competitions, archives, conferences, and historical projects during the late twentieth century further strengthened the visibility of Leatherwomen as educators, mentors, authors, archivists, and community leaders. Today, the term reflects the diversity of women's contributions across the international Leather community rather than any single political, sexual, or relational identity.

Leatherwomen should not be understood as synonymous with lesbian Leather, Female Dominance, or any single BDSM role. While lesbian Leather communities have played a particularly significant historical role in expanding women's visibility within Leather culture, Leatherwomen include participants from many sexual orientations, gender identities, relationship structures, and community traditions.

Within the historical development of Leather culture, the term represents both a community identity and an acknowledgement of the diverse contributions women have made to education, preservation, mentorship, activism, and cultural continuity. Understanding this distinction helps avoid reducing Leatherwomen to a single demographic or practice while recognising their central place in the history of the Leather movement.