Feminist Foundations

A collection of essays by feminist scholars on feminist sociology, reflecting the cultural and historical context in which feminist scholarship has taken place.

"Thomas explores Stanton's philosophies and proposals for women's equality in marriage, divorce, and maternity, and reveals that the campaigns for equal gender roles in the family from the 1960's and '70's had nineteenth-century roots. Applying feminist legal theory, Thomas argues that Stanton's positions on family equality were strikingly progressive, providing parallels and solutions to the issues confronting women today."--Provided by publisher.

This collection of twenty-six original essays looks at contemporary feminist organizations, how they've survived, the effects of their work, the problems they face, the strategies they develop, and where the women's movement is headed. The contributors, leading feminist scholars from nine social science disciplines, examine a wide variety of local feminist organizations, past and preset, illuminating the struggles of feminist organizers and activists. In the series Women in the Political Economy, edited by Ronnie J. Steinberg.

The struggle for the advancement of women's rights and gender equality globally is impossible without strong women's organizations and movements to provide leadership and momentum. But what does a strong women's organization look like? And what does it take to create effective and sustainable women's movements? This groundbreaking collection of essays by activists from all corners of the globe explores what it means to be an influential women's organization, and what it takes to build the kinds of movements needed to transform women's lives. From how to build successful participatory democratic processes and implement shared leadership models, to lessons on overcoming internal organizational divisions, the case studies in this collection focus not only on the "what" but also the "how" of movement building. Those concerned with how to effect sustainable change will find not only much food for thought, but also an abundance of creative ideas and innovative strategies - served up with a uniquely feminist twist.

Here is a useful and illustrative guide for those interested in the impact of feminist scholarship on traditional academic disciplines. This important book explores the changes that have taken place in the academic world as a result of feminist approaches to scholarship, including issues of staffing, organization, administration, recruitment, student support, faculty advancement, and learning. Appropriate for readers not familiar with feminist scholarship as well as for those who are deeply interested in the message of feminist scholarship, Foundations for a Feminist Restructuring of the Academic Disciplines comes out of the experiences of women who are intimately involved with feminist pedagogy and curriculum transformation. The contributors describe a variety of educational environments that feminists have established in the academy, reflecting various disciplines.This profoundly important book raises new questions about the bias in traditional education and challenges basic assumptions about women--in education and society. In chapter after chapter, readers discover changes in perspective and knowledge brought on by feminist approaches to scholarship: the common images of women in literature written by men and contrast them with women writers'revisions of these traditional images the elimination and/or misrepresentation of women in the history books a feminist perspective on and critique of the image of women as traditionally analyzed by economists the major feminist challenges to political science the traditional and contemporary approaches to women in psychological theory and research how the teaching and practice of medicine, as it is related to women and women's health issues, has served to communicate an unfair and erroneous image of woman

The first in-depth analysis of the black feminist movement, Living for the Revolution fills in a crucial but overlooked chapter in African American, women’s, and social movement history. Through original oral history interviews with key activists and analysis of previously unexamined organizational records, Kimberly Springer traces the emergence, life, and decline of several black feminist organizations: the Third World Women’s Alliance, Black Women Organized for Action, the National Black Feminist Organization, the National Alliance of Black Feminists, and the Combahee River Collective. The first of these to form was founded in 1968; all five were defunct by 1980. Springer demonstrates that these organizations led the way in articulating an activist vision formed by the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality. The organizations that Springer examines were the first to explicitly use feminist theory to further the work of previous black women’s organizations. As she describes, they emerged in response to marginalization in the civil rights and women’s movements, stereotyping in popular culture, and misrepresentation in public policy. Springer compares the organizations’ ideologies, goals, activities, memberships, leadership styles, finances, and communication strategies. Reflecting on the conflicts, lack of resources, and burnout that led to the demise of these groups, she considers the future of black feminist organizing, particularly at the national level. Living for the Revolution is an essential reference: it provides the history of a movement that influenced black feminist theory and civil rights activism for decades to come.

This anthology assembles two decades’ of work initiated by SisterSong Women of Color Health Collective, who created the human rights-based “reproductive justice” to move beyond polarized pro-choice/pro-life debates. Rooted in Black feminism and built on intersecting identities, this revolutionary framework asserts a woman's right to have children, not have children, and to parent and provide for the children they have.