No Turning Back - The History of Feminism and the Future of Women

Zusatztext “AN ASTONISHING FEAT! a comprehensive synthesis of a sprawling and often contradictory body of thought and activism.” –San Francisco Examiner “A TOUR DE FORCE . . . THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT BOOK.” –CATHARINE R. STIMPSON University Professor Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Science New York University Informationen zum Autor Estelle B. Freedman Klappentext "On the situations of women around the world today, this one book provides more illumination and insight than a dozen others combined. . . . Freedman's survey is a triumph of global scope and informed precision.” -NANCY F. COTT Professor of History, Harvard University Repeatedly declared dead by the media, the women's movement has never been as vibrant as it is today. Indeed as Stanford professor and award-winning author Estelle B. Freedman argues in her compelling book, feminism has reached a critical momentum from which there is no turning back. Freedman examines the historical forces that have fueled the feminist movement over the past two hundred years-and explores how women today are looking to feminism for new approaches to issues of work, family, sexuality, and creativity. Drawing examples from a variety of countries and cultures, from the past and the present, this inspiring narrative will be required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the role women play in the world. Searching in its analysis and global in its perspective, No Turning Back will stand as a defining text in one of the most important social movements of all time. Leseprobe THE HISTORICAL CASE FOR FEMINISM In the past two centuries, a revolution has transformed women’s lives. Unlike national revolutions, this social upheaval crosses continents, decades, and ideologies. In place of armed struggle it gradually sows seeds of change, infiltrating our consciousness with the simple premise that women are as capable and valuable as men. To measure the breadth of this ongoing upheaval of old patterns, consider the way feminist movements have transformed law and politics, from divorce reforms in Egypt and sexual harassment cases in Japan and the United States to the nomination of equal numbers of male and female candidates by French political parties. Or note the change in leadership: During the 1990s, 90 percent of the world’s nations elected women to national office, and women served as heads of state in more than twenty countries. Just as important, consider the thousands of grassroots organizations such as Women in Law and Development in Africa, the National Black Women’s Health Project in the United States, and the Self-Employed Women’s Association in India. Women’s movements have never been so widespread. In No Turning Back I explain why and how a feminist revolution has occurred. I argue that two related historical transitions have propelled feminist politics. First, the rise of capitalism disrupted older, reciprocal relations within families in ways that initially enhanced men’s economic opportunities and defined women as their dependents. Second, new political theories of individual rights and representative government that developed alongside capitalism extended privileges to men only. In response, feminist movements named these disparities as unjust, insisting on the value of women’s economic contributions and the justice of political rights for women. In short, the market economies and democratic systems that now dominate the world create both the need for feminism and the means to sustain it. Feminist politics originated where capitalism, industrial growth, democratic theory, and socialist critiques converged, as they did in Europe and North America after 1800. Women and their male allies began to agitate for equal educational, economic, and political opportunities, a struggle that continues to the present. By 1900 an international ...

Product details

• Authors: Estelle Freedman, Estelle B. Freedman
• Publisher: Ballantine
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2003
• EAN: 9780345450531
• ISBN: 978-0-345-45053-1
• No. of pages: 464
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 210 mm x 25 mm
• Subjects: Education and learning; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories