Gathering welcomes little male chauvinist? Hardly (8)
I believe the answer is:
feminist
'male chauvinist? hardly' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'gathering welcomes little' is the wordplay.
'gathering' becomes 'fest' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'welcomes' means one lot of letters goes inside another (in sense of 'invites in').
'little' becomes 'mini'.
'fest' going around 'mini' is 'FEMINIST'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for feminist that I've seen before include "Advocate of women's rights" , "I'm finest (anag.)" , "I'm finest as activist in women's lib movement" , "I'm finest with supporter of women's lib" , "Mine's fit (anag.)" .)