Shari L. Dworkin
- Published in print:
- 1942
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479806454
- eISBN:
- 9781479819683
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479806454.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
Chapter 4 draws on qualitative interview data derived from a research collaboration between UCSF, the University of Cape Town, and Sonke Gender Justice, a non-governmental organization in South ...
More
Chapter 4 draws on qualitative interview data derived from a research collaboration between UCSF, the University of Cape Town, and Sonke Gender Justice, a non-governmental organization in South Africa that seeks to reduce the spread and impact of HIV. This chapter analyses how men in several provinces of South Africa who participated in a gender-transformative HIV and anti-violence program shifted their views of masculinities, gender relations, and women’s rights. Chapter 3 also analyzes how men modified their alcohol use, violence, and HIV risks as a result of this innovative gender transformative program. The chapter situates gender transformative health interventions as combining dynamic social science thinking on masculinities, collective action and gendered power relations with public health behaviour change strategis. The data analysis also highlights how gender-transformative programming can reify discourses of healthism, individual blame, and individualized notions of masculinities that can limit the effectiveness of such programs.Less
Chapter 4 draws on qualitative interview data derived from a research collaboration between UCSF, the University of Cape Town, and Sonke Gender Justice, a non-governmental organization in South Africa that seeks to reduce the spread and impact of HIV. This chapter analyses how men in several provinces of South Africa who participated in a gender-transformative HIV and anti-violence program shifted their views of masculinities, gender relations, and women’s rights. Chapter 3 also analyzes how men modified their alcohol use, violence, and HIV risks as a result of this innovative gender transformative program. The chapter situates gender transformative health interventions as combining dynamic social science thinking on masculinities, collective action and gendered power relations with public health behaviour change strategis. The data analysis also highlights how gender-transformative programming can reify discourses of healthism, individual blame, and individualized notions of masculinities that can limit the effectiveness of such programs.
Chitra Sinha
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198078944
- eISBN:
- 9780199081479
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198078944.003.0014
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law
The chapter of the book discusses the specific stages of evolution of the Hindu Code Bill and provides the base for understanding the ideological underpinnings of the discourse over the Hindu Code ...
More
The chapter of the book discusses the specific stages of evolution of the Hindu Code Bill and provides the base for understanding the ideological underpinnings of the discourse over the Hindu Code Bill during 1941 to 1946. The chapter traces the process of codification of Hindu laws since the 1920s, immediately after the Montague Chelmsford reforms. It discusses the debate over Hindu legislative reforms in the 1920s and 1930s and also the growing social discontent over the Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act of 1937 that led to the constitution of the Hindu Law Committee in 1941. The chapter also discusses the recommendations of the first Hindu Law Committee, the reconstitution of the Committee in 1944 with the mandate to frame a Bill to codify Hindu law.Less
The chapter of the book discusses the specific stages of evolution of the Hindu Code Bill and provides the base for understanding the ideological underpinnings of the discourse over the Hindu Code Bill during 1941 to 1946. The chapter traces the process of codification of Hindu laws since the 1920s, immediately after the Montague Chelmsford reforms. It discusses the debate over Hindu legislative reforms in the 1920s and 1930s and also the growing social discontent over the Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act of 1937 that led to the constitution of the Hindu Law Committee in 1941. The chapter also discusses the recommendations of the first Hindu Law Committee, the reconstitution of the Committee in 1944 with the mandate to frame a Bill to codify Hindu law.
William M Gordon
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748625161
- eISBN:
- 9780748671571
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748625161.003.0016
- Subject:
- Law, Legal History
Both in the law of property and the law of succession Scots law has historically contained rules discriminating against women, restricting their rights and limiting their control over property and ...
More
Both in the law of property and the law of succession Scots law has historically contained rules discriminating against women, restricting their rights and limiting their control over property and its disposal. These rules may sometimes have had a historical justification based on the place accorded to women in society but they could not be maintained. Some change took place by private initiative limiting the general rules but equality has required a long process of legislative change. Formal equality, however, does not ensure actual equality in that equal access to property and hence to control over it is also required.Less
Both in the law of property and the law of succession Scots law has historically contained rules discriminating against women, restricting their rights and limiting their control over property and its disposal. These rules may sometimes have had a historical justification based on the place accorded to women in society but they could not be maintained. Some change took place by private initiative limiting the general rules but equality has required a long process of legislative change. Formal equality, however, does not ensure actual equality in that equal access to property and hence to control over it is also required.
Noga Efrati
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231158145
- eISBN:
- 9780231530248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231158145.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter delves deeper into the women's movement in Iraq during the Hashemite period. It suggests that there were two main reasons why the full scale of women's response against the ...
More
This chapter delves deeper into the women's movement in Iraq during the Hashemite period. It suggests that there were two main reasons why the full scale of women's response against the constitutional monarchy was difficult to trace. The first is connected with circumstances of the time—that is, with the government's censoring of the women's movement. The second, however, is rooted in accounts portraying the history of the women's movement, provided by Iraqi women activists and their later reproduction in contemporary scholarly literature published in English. The chapter argues that the early history of the women's movement in Iraq remains little known because the two key organizations involved in the movement—the Iraqi Women's Union, which was harshly sanctioned by the regime, and the underground League for the Defense of Women's Rights, produced two competing narratives of the women's movement.Less
This chapter delves deeper into the women's movement in Iraq during the Hashemite period. It suggests that there were two main reasons why the full scale of women's response against the constitutional monarchy was difficult to trace. The first is connected with circumstances of the time—that is, with the government's censoring of the women's movement. The second, however, is rooted in accounts portraying the history of the women's movement, provided by Iraqi women activists and their later reproduction in contemporary scholarly literature published in English. The chapter argues that the early history of the women's movement in Iraq remains little known because the two key organizations involved in the movement—the Iraqi Women's Union, which was harshly sanctioned by the regime, and the underground League for the Defense of Women's Rights, produced two competing narratives of the women's movement.
Nadia Sonneveld
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9789774164842
- eISBN:
- 9781617971082
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774164842.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Discusses the issues in the film Uridu halan which, according to informants, aroused most empathy and acted as a catalyst for publicly exposing issues surrounding the reform of personal status law. ...
More
Discusses the issues in the film Uridu halan which, according to informants, aroused most empathy and acted as a catalyst for publicly exposing issues surrounding the reform of personal status law. Focuses on the evolution of the maintenance-obedience relationship in Egypt, from the early 1920s when the first codified personal status law codes were introduced, until the introduction and implementation of Egypt's first law of the new millennium, the khul' law of 2000.Less
Discusses the issues in the film Uridu halan which, according to informants, aroused most empathy and acted as a catalyst for publicly exposing issues surrounding the reform of personal status law. Focuses on the evolution of the maintenance-obedience relationship in Egypt, from the early 1920s when the first codified personal status law codes were introduced, until the introduction and implementation of Egypt's first law of the new millennium, the khul' law of 2000.
Wendy Pojmann
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823245604
- eISBN:
- 9780823252688
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823245604.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Social History
Chapter four focuses on the advancement of women’s rights movements in the years between 1956 and 1959, when the UDI and the CIF accelerated their efforts in the national context to fight for labor ...
More
Chapter four focuses on the advancement of women’s rights movements in the years between 1956 and 1959, when the UDI and the CIF accelerated their efforts in the national context to fight for labor legislation for women who worked inside and outside the home. They reaffirmed their autonomy by directly confronting the political parties, trade unions, Catholic organizations, and the Vatican on outmoded ideas about gender. The disruption on the left caused by the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 threatened to de-stabilize the membership of the UDI and the WIDF and marked a watershed year in Italian politics. Italy’s signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 opened the door to economic growth already evident by 1958 and signaled to the CIF and the WMM that the Europeans could overcome national divides. Chapter four shows that the UDI and the CIF advanced their objectives for Italian women while cautiously rethinking their national and international political alliances to best represent the interests of their members.Less
Chapter four focuses on the advancement of women’s rights movements in the years between 1956 and 1959, when the UDI and the CIF accelerated their efforts in the national context to fight for labor legislation for women who worked inside and outside the home. They reaffirmed their autonomy by directly confronting the political parties, trade unions, Catholic organizations, and the Vatican on outmoded ideas about gender. The disruption on the left caused by the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 threatened to de-stabilize the membership of the UDI and the WIDF and marked a watershed year in Italian politics. Italy’s signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 opened the door to economic growth already evident by 1958 and signaled to the CIF and the WMM that the Europeans could overcome national divides. Chapter four shows that the UDI and the CIF advanced their objectives for Italian women while cautiously rethinking their national and international political alliances to best represent the interests of their members.
Martha S. Jones
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807831526
- eISBN:
- 9781469605012
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807888902_jones
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The place of women's rights in African American public culture has been an enduring question, one that has long engaged activists, commentators, and scholars. This book explores the roles black women ...
More
The place of women's rights in African American public culture has been an enduring question, one that has long engaged activists, commentators, and scholars. This book explores the roles black women played in their communities' social movements, and the consequences of elevating women into positions of visibility and leadership. It reveals how, through the nineteenth century, the “woman question” was at the core of movements against slavery and for civil rights. The book explains that, like white women activists, who often created their own institutions separate from men, black women often organized within already existing institutions: churches, political organizations, mutual aid societies, and schools. Covering three generations of black women activists, it demonstrates that their approach was neither unanimous nor monolithic but changed over time and took a variety of forms, from a woman's right to control her body to her right to vote.Less
The place of women's rights in African American public culture has been an enduring question, one that has long engaged activists, commentators, and scholars. This book explores the roles black women played in their communities' social movements, and the consequences of elevating women into positions of visibility and leadership. It reveals how, through the nineteenth century, the “woman question” was at the core of movements against slavery and for civil rights. The book explains that, like white women activists, who often created their own institutions separate from men, black women often organized within already existing institutions: churches, political organizations, mutual aid societies, and schools. Covering three generations of black women activists, it demonstrates that their approach was neither unanimous nor monolithic but changed over time and took a variety of forms, from a woman's right to control her body to her right to vote.
Phil Tiemeyer
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520274761
- eISBN:
- 9780520955301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520274761.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Chapter 5 examines the flight attendant corps of the 1970s, when the profession became more attuned to both women’s liberation and gay liberation. This chapter examines how women and gays ...
More
Chapter 5 examines the flight attendant corps of the 1970s, when the profession became more attuned to both women’s liberation and gay liberation. This chapter examines how women and gays cooperated—and sometimes fought—in both the workplace and the union hall to find common ground that respected all employees. I link these developments with the backlash against a feminist, pro-gay ethic, whether that backlash came from airline executives or larger conservative social movements. These increasingly severe skirmishes in the culture wars also influenced the legal legacy of Diaz v. Pan Am, as conservatives continued to portray women’s rights initiatives like the Equal Rights Amendment as backdoor pathways for queers to gain equal rights.Less
Chapter 5 examines the flight attendant corps of the 1970s, when the profession became more attuned to both women’s liberation and gay liberation. This chapter examines how women and gays cooperated—and sometimes fought—in both the workplace and the union hall to find common ground that respected all employees. I link these developments with the backlash against a feminist, pro-gay ethic, whether that backlash came from airline executives or larger conservative social movements. These increasingly severe skirmishes in the culture wars also influenced the legal legacy of Diaz v. Pan Am, as conservatives continued to portray women’s rights initiatives like the Equal Rights Amendment as backdoor pathways for queers to gain equal rights.
Leonard Rogoff
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469630793
- eISBN:
- 9781469630816
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469630793.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Weil pushed a reluctant Federation of Women's Clubs to adopt a suffrage resolution. In 1914 she served as president of the Goldsboro Equal Suffrage League and five years later was elected president ...
More
Weil pushed a reluctant Federation of Women's Clubs to adopt a suffrage resolution. In 1914 she served as president of the Goldsboro Equal Suffrage League and five years later was elected president of the Equal Suffrage Association of North Carolina. Either North Carolina Tennessee would need to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment for women to achieve the vote, but North Carolina's political climate was conservative. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, appointed Weil as state field commander. The legislature repeatedly voted down granting women the franchise or legal rights, and anti-suffragists campaigned that women's suffrage was immoral and would overturn white supremacy. Although the governor reluctantly endorsed women's suffrage, the state legislature tabled the motion, and Tennessee became the ultimate ratifying state.Less
Weil pushed a reluctant Federation of Women's Clubs to adopt a suffrage resolution. In 1914 she served as president of the Goldsboro Equal Suffrage League and five years later was elected president of the Equal Suffrage Association of North Carolina. Either North Carolina Tennessee would need to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment for women to achieve the vote, but North Carolina's political climate was conservative. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, appointed Weil as state field commander. The legislature repeatedly voted down granting women the franchise or legal rights, and anti-suffragists campaigned that women's suffrage was immoral and would overturn white supremacy. Although the governor reluctantly endorsed women's suffrage, the state legislature tabled the motion, and Tennessee became the ultimate ratifying state.
Ashley Baggett
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496815217
- eISBN:
- 9781496815255
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496815217.003.0008
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
After the South reversed intimate partner violence reform, the North did too. Progressivism emphasized reliance on experts, and science grew as a field during the early twentieth century. Biologists ...
More
After the South reversed intimate partner violence reform, the North did too. Progressivism emphasized reliance on experts, and science grew as a field during the early twentieth century. Biologists warned against women’s growing rights, claiming family and the entire nation would suffer as a consequence. The field of psychology and social work also grew during the period. Social workers pushed for the creation of family courts, in which decisions of intimate partner violence would be decided. These new professions upheld conservative definitions of womanhood and pushed to uphold the family whatever the cost. This process effectively decriminalized abuseLess
After the South reversed intimate partner violence reform, the North did too. Progressivism emphasized reliance on experts, and science grew as a field during the early twentieth century. Biologists warned against women’s growing rights, claiming family and the entire nation would suffer as a consequence. The field of psychology and social work also grew during the period. Social workers pushed for the creation of family courts, in which decisions of intimate partner violence would be decided. These new professions upheld conservative definitions of womanhood and pushed to uphold the family whatever the cost. This process effectively decriminalized abuse
Jessica Ziparo
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469635972
- eISBN:
- 9781469635989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469635972.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
Chapter 4 describes the challenges and opportunities of life for women in the nation’s capital during the 1860s. During the Civil War, Washington, D.C., was on the front lines of the conflict. After ...
More
Chapter 4 describes the challenges and opportunities of life for women in the nation’s capital during the 1860s. During the Civil War, Washington, D.C., was on the front lines of the conflict. After the war, annual reports of the Board of Metropolitan Police to Congress make clear that Washingtonians continued to endure overcrowding, housing shortages, crime, and disease. Women not only survived in this chaotic context; many—including Patent Office clerk Julia Wilbur, whose diary offers an intriguing window into the everyday life of a female federal employee—thrived in this tough city, enjoying independence, filling their leisure time, and changing the demographics of Washington. For those who chose to do so, female federal employees’ salaries, newly acquired political knowledge, and personal associations provided them with the financial and practical wherewithal to participate in philanthropy and political movements, including the suffrage movement. Female federal employees were visible all over the city, helping to normalize the presence of middle-class women in the streets of Washington. In forming this new, conspicuous community of independent women in full view of the nation’s politicians, female federal employees became a part of the struggle for women’s rights, whether they intended to or not.Less
Chapter 4 describes the challenges and opportunities of life for women in the nation’s capital during the 1860s. During the Civil War, Washington, D.C., was on the front lines of the conflict. After the war, annual reports of the Board of Metropolitan Police to Congress make clear that Washingtonians continued to endure overcrowding, housing shortages, crime, and disease. Women not only survived in this chaotic context; many—including Patent Office clerk Julia Wilbur, whose diary offers an intriguing window into the everyday life of a female federal employee—thrived in this tough city, enjoying independence, filling their leisure time, and changing the demographics of Washington. For those who chose to do so, female federal employees’ salaries, newly acquired political knowledge, and personal associations provided them with the financial and practical wherewithal to participate in philanthropy and political movements, including the suffrage movement. Female federal employees were visible all over the city, helping to normalize the presence of middle-class women in the streets of Washington. In forming this new, conspicuous community of independent women in full view of the nation’s politicians, female federal employees became a part of the struggle for women’s rights, whether they intended to or not.
Jessica Ziparo
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469635972
- eISBN:
- 9781469635989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469635972.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
Chapter 7 explores the equal pay debates of the Civil War era. The government paid women less than it paid men, although many performed the same or equivalent work. Between late 1864 and early 1870, ...
More
Chapter 7 explores the equal pay debates of the Civil War era. The government paid women less than it paid men, although many performed the same or equivalent work. Between late 1864 and early 1870, Congress received at least 740 female federal employee signatures on eleven separate petitions asking for greater pay. Some of these women argued that since they performed the same work as men, they should be paid the same. The efforts of early female federal employees and labor feminists to obtain equal pay for equal work engendered a precocious debate in Congress that almost succeeded in earning equal pay for women and forced Congressmen to engage in dialogues about gender equality and the role the federal government should play in society. Despite the exciting rhetoric of equality and justice in these debates, Congress did not set the standard of equal pay for women underscoring that although women had made much progress in federal work during the Civil War era, much work remained to be done. Surprisingly, petitioners did not receive much assistance from the women’s suffrage movement. The absence of the suffrage movement in these debates arguably disadvantaged both causes.Less
Chapter 7 explores the equal pay debates of the Civil War era. The government paid women less than it paid men, although many performed the same or equivalent work. Between late 1864 and early 1870, Congress received at least 740 female federal employee signatures on eleven separate petitions asking for greater pay. Some of these women argued that since they performed the same work as men, they should be paid the same. The efforts of early female federal employees and labor feminists to obtain equal pay for equal work engendered a precocious debate in Congress that almost succeeded in earning equal pay for women and forced Congressmen to engage in dialogues about gender equality and the role the federal government should play in society. Despite the exciting rhetoric of equality and justice in these debates, Congress did not set the standard of equal pay for women underscoring that although women had made much progress in federal work during the Civil War era, much work remained to be done. Surprisingly, petitioners did not receive much assistance from the women’s suffrage movement. The absence of the suffrage movement in these debates arguably disadvantaged both causes.
Margaret A. Simons
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039003
- eISBN:
- 9780252097171
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039003.003.0045
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
This introductory chapter provides a background of Simone de Beauvoir's feminism. As the political opposition hardened and the Women's Liberation Movement (MLF) matured in the 1970s, Beauvoir put ...
More
This introductory chapter provides a background of Simone de Beauvoir's feminism. As the political opposition hardened and the Women's Liberation Movement (MLF) matured in the 1970s, Beauvoir put “her notoriety and her connections at the service of this movement of young rabble-rousers without ever claiming to lead it in any certain direction.” Beauvoir supported those feminists interested in legal reform through the creation of a League of Women's Rights and those “who preferred to fight sexism by denouncing it with perspicacity and humor.” Moreover, she lent her support to a successful campaign for divorce law reform and an unsuccessful one for a law banning sexism, which won the support of the Secretary for Women's Rights in the new Socialist government in 1981, but failed after vehement opposition from advertisers and the press. In 1979, Beauvoir joined an international campaign—also unsuccessful—to defend the rights of women in the Iranian Revolution.Less
This introductory chapter provides a background of Simone de Beauvoir's feminism. As the political opposition hardened and the Women's Liberation Movement (MLF) matured in the 1970s, Beauvoir put “her notoriety and her connections at the service of this movement of young rabble-rousers without ever claiming to lead it in any certain direction.” Beauvoir supported those feminists interested in legal reform through the creation of a League of Women's Rights and those “who preferred to fight sexism by denouncing it with perspicacity and humor.” Moreover, she lent her support to a successful campaign for divorce law reform and an unsuccessful one for a law banning sexism, which won the support of the Secretary for Women's Rights in the new Socialist government in 1981, but failed after vehement opposition from advertisers and the press. In 1979, Beauvoir joined an international campaign—also unsuccessful—to defend the rights of women in the Iranian Revolution.
Kimberly A. Hamlin
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226134611
- eISBN:
- 9780226134758
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226134758.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
From Eve to Evolution analyzes the U.S. reception of Charles Darwin through the lens of gender and provides the first full-length study of women’s responses to evolutionary theory. Raised on the ...
More
From Eve to Evolution analyzes the U.S. reception of Charles Darwin through the lens of gender and provides the first full-length study of women’s responses to evolutionary theory. Raised on the idea that Eve’s sin forever fixed women’s subordinate status, many 19th-century women embraced Darwinian evolution, especially sexual selection theory as explained in The Descent of Man (1871), as an alternative to the Genesis creation story. Darwin also introduced readers to the concept of human-animal kinship, allowing feminist reformers to look to animals for examples of non-patriarchal gender roles, domestic arrangements, and sexual power systems. This book chronicles the lives and writings of the women who combined their enthusiasm for evolutionary science with their commitment to women’s rights, including Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Helen Hamilton Gardener, Eliza Burt Gamble, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Darwinian feminists believed evolutionary science proved that women were not inferior to men, that it was natural for mothers to work outside the home, and that the progress of women went hand-in-hand with that of science. The practical applications of this evolutionary feminism came to fruition in the early thinking and writing of the American birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger. While household names in their day, after 1890, the Darwinian feminists frequently published in small women’s rights periodicals, the freethought press, and socialist publications, and, thus, are not as well-known today. Studying their writings reveals an alternate discourse in the history of U.S. feminist thought and the centrality of evolutionary science within it.Less
From Eve to Evolution analyzes the U.S. reception of Charles Darwin through the lens of gender and provides the first full-length study of women’s responses to evolutionary theory. Raised on the idea that Eve’s sin forever fixed women’s subordinate status, many 19th-century women embraced Darwinian evolution, especially sexual selection theory as explained in The Descent of Man (1871), as an alternative to the Genesis creation story. Darwin also introduced readers to the concept of human-animal kinship, allowing feminist reformers to look to animals for examples of non-patriarchal gender roles, domestic arrangements, and sexual power systems. This book chronicles the lives and writings of the women who combined their enthusiasm for evolutionary science with their commitment to women’s rights, including Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Helen Hamilton Gardener, Eliza Burt Gamble, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Darwinian feminists believed evolutionary science proved that women were not inferior to men, that it was natural for mothers to work outside the home, and that the progress of women went hand-in-hand with that of science. The practical applications of this evolutionary feminism came to fruition in the early thinking and writing of the American birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger. While household names in their day, after 1890, the Darwinian feminists frequently published in small women’s rights periodicals, the freethought press, and socialist publications, and, thus, are not as well-known today. Studying their writings reveals an alternate discourse in the history of U.S. feminist thought and the centrality of evolutionary science within it.
Stephanie J. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469635682
- eISBN:
- 9781469635699
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469635682.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
Chapter 2 analyzes the complex and often contradictory gendered positions of women artists associated with Mexico’s Communist Party during the first decades of the twentieth century. This chapter ...
More
Chapter 2 analyzes the complex and often contradictory gendered positions of women artists associated with Mexico’s Communist Party during the first decades of the twentieth century. This chapter first examines the Mexican Communist Party’s official stance toward women from 1919 to the 1940s, and the changing global and national political framework in which the PCM operated. Next, this chapter highlights the artistic and political contributions of Tina Modotti, while recognizing her ambivalent position within postrevolutionary society. This chapter argues that even as state representatives grew increasingly concerned with Modotti’s communist leanings, Mexican officials nonetheless co-opted Modotti’s image in several ways. Not only did her photographs help to shape an “authentic” Mexican identity, but her very presence provided a cautionary morality tale to all women concerning the consequences of having “questionable” morals and even worse, of adhering to communist principles.Less
Chapter 2 analyzes the complex and often contradictory gendered positions of women artists associated with Mexico’s Communist Party during the first decades of the twentieth century. This chapter first examines the Mexican Communist Party’s official stance toward women from 1919 to the 1940s, and the changing global and national political framework in which the PCM operated. Next, this chapter highlights the artistic and political contributions of Tina Modotti, while recognizing her ambivalent position within postrevolutionary society. This chapter argues that even as state representatives grew increasingly concerned with Modotti’s communist leanings, Mexican officials nonetheless co-opted Modotti’s image in several ways. Not only did her photographs help to shape an “authentic” Mexican identity, but her very presence provided a cautionary morality tale to all women concerning the consequences of having “questionable” morals and even worse, of adhering to communist principles.
Nicholas L. Syrett
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469629537
- eISBN:
- 9781469629551
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469629537.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Focusing on the writings of antebellum women’s rights activist Elizabeth Oakes Smith, this chapter demonstrates that many objected to early marriage for girls, but for a variety of reasons. Some ...
More
Focusing on the writings of antebellum women’s rights activist Elizabeth Oakes Smith, this chapter demonstrates that many objected to early marriage for girls, but for a variety of reasons. Some believed that it was physiologically unsound, others that it would be detrimental to “the race,” and others like Smith believed that early marriage curtailed girls’ chances for a meaningful girldhood. Smith and other activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton also pointed out that legally early marriage was flawed because girls were permitted to contract marriage—which itself was disadvantageous for all women because of coverture—when they were not yet legally adults. While Smith and her contemporaries were astute in all these critiques, they rarely paused to consider the ways that early marriage was mostly detrimental for middle-class girls who really did have the opportunity of a protected childhood, unlike working-class children, who were laboring from early ages.Less
Focusing on the writings of antebellum women’s rights activist Elizabeth Oakes Smith, this chapter demonstrates that many objected to early marriage for girls, but for a variety of reasons. Some believed that it was physiologically unsound, others that it would be detrimental to “the race,” and others like Smith believed that early marriage curtailed girls’ chances for a meaningful girldhood. Smith and other activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton also pointed out that legally early marriage was flawed because girls were permitted to contract marriage—which itself was disadvantageous for all women because of coverture—when they were not yet legally adults. While Smith and her contemporaries were astute in all these critiques, they rarely paused to consider the ways that early marriage was mostly detrimental for middle-class girls who really did have the opportunity of a protected childhood, unlike working-class children, who were laboring from early ages.
Nicholas L. Syrett
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469629537
- eISBN:
- 9781469629551
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469629537.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Most in the United States likely associate the concept of the child bride with the mores and practices of the distant past. But Nicholas L. Syrett challenges this assumption in his sweeping and ...
More
Most in the United States likely associate the concept of the child bride with the mores and practices of the distant past. But Nicholas L. Syrett challenges this assumption in his sweeping and sometimes shocking history of youthful marriage in America. Focusing on young women and girls—the most common underage spouses—Syrett tracks the marital history of American minors from the colonial period to the present, chronicling the debates and moral panics related to these unions.
Although the frequency of child marriages has declined since the early twentieth century, Syrett reveals that the practice was historically far more widespread in the United States than is commonly thought. It also continues to this day: current estimates indicate that 9 percent of living American women were married before turning eighteen. By examining the legal and social forces that have worked to curtail early marriage in America—including the efforts of women's rights activists, advocates for children's rights, and social workers—Syrett sheds new light on the American public's perceptions of young people marrying and the ways that individuals and communities challenged the complex legalities and cultural norms brought to the fore when underage citizens, by choice or coercion, became husband and wife.Less
Most in the United States likely associate the concept of the child bride with the mores and practices of the distant past. But Nicholas L. Syrett challenges this assumption in his sweeping and sometimes shocking history of youthful marriage in America. Focusing on young women and girls—the most common underage spouses—Syrett tracks the marital history of American minors from the colonial period to the present, chronicling the debates and moral panics related to these unions.
Although the frequency of child marriages has declined since the early twentieth century, Syrett reveals that the practice was historically far more widespread in the United States than is commonly thought. It also continues to this day: current estimates indicate that 9 percent of living American women were married before turning eighteen. By examining the legal and social forces that have worked to curtail early marriage in America—including the efforts of women's rights activists, advocates for children's rights, and social workers—Syrett sheds new light on the American public's perceptions of young people marrying and the ways that individuals and communities challenged the complex legalities and cultural norms brought to the fore when underage citizens, by choice or coercion, became husband and wife.
Wendy Kozol
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816681297
- eISBN:
- 9781452948676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816681297.003.0003
- Subject:
- Art, Art Theory and Criticism
This chapter further analyzes the ambivalences of media witnessing through a study of the visual rhetorics of women’s human rights in Associated Press photographs of Afghan women caught up in the War ...
More
This chapter further analyzes the ambivalences of media witnessing through a study of the visual rhetorics of women’s human rights in Associated Press photographs of Afghan women caught up in the War on Terror. I critique visual encounters with spectacles of Orientalism to consider the possibilities of recognition within human rights discourse.Less
This chapter further analyzes the ambivalences of media witnessing through a study of the visual rhetorics of women’s human rights in Associated Press photographs of Afghan women caught up in the War on Terror. I critique visual encounters with spectacles of Orientalism to consider the possibilities of recognition within human rights discourse.
Kimberly A. Hamlin
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226134611
- eISBN:
- 9780226134758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226134758.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
“Evolution and the Natural Order” introduces the key themes of the book, notably that evolutionary theory profoundly impacted ideas about gender and sex and that the American reception of Charles ...
More
“Evolution and the Natural Order” introduces the key themes of the book, notably that evolutionary theory profoundly impacted ideas about gender and sex and that the American reception of Charles Darwin was often highly gendered. The connections between Darwin and new thinking about gender can especially be seen the American reception of The Descent of Man(1871). This chapter also introduces the Darwinian feminists who are further analyzed in the rest of the book.Less
“Evolution and the Natural Order” introduces the key themes of the book, notably that evolutionary theory profoundly impacted ideas about gender and sex and that the American reception of Charles Darwin was often highly gendered. The connections between Darwin and new thinking about gender can especially be seen the American reception of The Descent of Man(1871). This chapter also introduces the Darwinian feminists who are further analyzed in the rest of the book.
Rebecca Tuuri
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638904
- eISBN:
- 9781469638928
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638904.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
In the fall of 1963, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) took steps to become more directly involved in the civil rights movement when Dorothy Height travelled with a small interracial team of ...
More
In the fall of 1963, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) took steps to become more directly involved in the civil rights movement when Dorothy Height travelled with a small interracial team of elite clubwomen to investigate the abuse of activist children imprisoned in Selma. The team moved behind the scenes and tried to establish ties with local black and white women to better support the movement. After the Selma trip, white team member Polly Cowan developed plans to bring additional teams of interracial middle and upper class women down to the South. At a March 1964 Atlanta meeting of black and white southern clubwomen, Clarie Collins Harvey, a black businesswoman and clubwoman from Jackson, Mississippi, invited Cowan and the NCNW to provide support to civil rights efforts in Jackson. Her invitation led Cowan and Height to develop plans for Wednesdays in Mississippi to help with Freedom Summer.Less
In the fall of 1963, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) took steps to become more directly involved in the civil rights movement when Dorothy Height travelled with a small interracial team of elite clubwomen to investigate the abuse of activist children imprisoned in Selma. The team moved behind the scenes and tried to establish ties with local black and white women to better support the movement. After the Selma trip, white team member Polly Cowan developed plans to bring additional teams of interracial middle and upper class women down to the South. At a March 1964 Atlanta meeting of black and white southern clubwomen, Clarie Collins Harvey, a black businesswoman and clubwoman from Jackson, Mississippi, invited Cowan and the NCNW to provide support to civil rights efforts in Jackson. Her invitation led Cowan and Height to develop plans for Wednesdays in Mississippi to help with Freedom Summer.
