Kategoria BISAC: Social Science >> Feminism & Feminist Theory

The changing role and status of women in America from colonial times to the present, and the American woman's unrelenting struggle for complete equality with men are the major themes of this work. The works of leading feminists, suffragists, abolitionists, unionists, and temperance workers are explored.

"Speaking of Friendship" provides an in-depth look at the friendships of middle-class women. It explores the details of their everyday experiences with making and keeping friends from the beginnings of casual acquaintanceship to the cultivation of close friends and confidantes. The importance women attach to having friends is seen in the determined search they undertake to replace friends from whom they are periodically separated by residential mobility, job switches, and other major changes in their lives. Based on interviews with seventy-five middle- and upper-middle-class women between...

Few books in this field focus solely on beauty ideals, and this volume is unique in terms of its scholarly, interdisciplinary approach. The eleven chapters offer readers a comprehensive analysis of beauty and patriarchy. They reflect a variety of approaches to the study of feminine beauty, including philosophical, historical, sociological, cross-cultural, and empirical. Feminine beauty is discussed as a means of patriarchal, social control, which shapes the socio-cultural, political context as well as the everyday lives of women.

At all levels of government--from the international to the local--public policies are formulated mainly by men, but their impacts are felt, sometimes differently, by women, men, and children. This book considers the impact of public policy on various aspects of women's lives, including sex and birth, marriage and death, work and child rearing, and women's responses to those policies. Written by scholars who have lived on five continents, the chapters span the First and Third Worlds, with several providing case illustrations of policies affecting women in Latin America, Asia, and Africa....

How have women, at different times and in different places, been perceived when they cross the sharp boundaries between public and private realms? This broad-ranging study, edited by professors Garlick, Dixon, and Allen, points to enduring themes about women who acquire political power and/or become public figures. The assessments describe domineering dowagers, witches, and scheming concubines in various cultures in ancient, medieval, and modern times. Teachers and students interested in feminist theory, in the role of women historically, and in politics and history generally, will find...

Dispelling the myth that women became involved in partisan politics only after they obtained the vote, this study uses contemporary newspaper sources to show that women were active in the party struggle long before 1920. Although their role was initially limited to attending rallies and hosting picnics, they gradually began to use their pens and voices to support party tickets. By the late 19th century, women spoke at party functions and organized all-female groups to help canvass neighborhoods and get out the vote. In the early suffrage states of the West, they voted in increasing numbers...

The women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s changed the lives of a vast majority of women, especially young women, in America. This introduction to the movement provides not only a narrative overview, but a also wealth of ready-reference materials, including 13 lengthy biographical profiles of key figures, a broad selection of 15 primary source documents, a glossary of terms, and a useful annotated bibliography. The women's liberation movement was an outgrowth of earlier waves of feminism, including the women's suffrage movement that gained women the right to vote in 1920. In a...

Women's rights issues have been a part of the political and social fabric of the United States since the Declaration of Independence. In fact, women's rights activists have often wielded principles enunciated in the Declaration as they struggled to secure equality. This reference source examines 15 controversial issues concerning women's rights in the United States. A historical overview introduces each issue, followed by the presentation of primary documents that illustrate the various positions women and men have taken in support of or opposition to the issue at hand.

Chapters...