The sheer number of publications on Feminism make it difficult for students who approach the subject for the first time to gain a sense of what the main issues and interpretations are. This book addresses this by offering students an overview of feminism and its history across several countries and time periods, along with an annotated guide to direct them in their further reading.
Feminism by June Hannam provides comprehensive coverage right from how feminists began to write the history of their movement as early as the late nineteenth century to the impact feminism has had on higher education. The text also looks in depth at propaganda and the cult of the heroine in suffrage campaigning and how ‘first wave’ feminists constructed their own history which then affected future generations of historians, and activists.
Acknowledgements. Chronology. Who’s Who. Glossary. PART ONE ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT. 1. THE PROBLEM. Histories of Feminism Definitions of Feminism Themes. 2. THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN FEMINISM. The Enlightenment and the French Revolution Early nineteenth century social and political reform movements The organised women’s movement in the mid-nineteenth century. 3. WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE 1860’s-1920. Origins of women’s suffrage Widening the basis of support after 1900 Socialism and suffrage. International women’s organisations. Militancy. Achievement of the vote. 4. FEMINISM, NATIONALISM AND INTERNATIONALISM. Women’s suffrage beyond Europe and North America. Nationalism and anti-colonialism. Internationalism and universal sisterhood. Tensions in the IWSA. 5. CITIZENSHIP IN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE IN THE INTER-WAR YEARS. Political representation and impact. Women’s organisations. Social welfare. Feminism, peace and international activism. 6. ‘THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL’: WOMEN’S LIBERATION AND ‘SECOND WAVE’ FEMINISM. Origins of second wave feminism. Protest in the 1960s and women’s liberation. Debating feminism. Feminism on a global scale. Divisions in ‘second wave’ feminism. Setbacks and new initiatives. 7. ASSESSMENT. PART TWO DOCUMENTS. Further Reading. References.
Biography
June Hannam is a Professor of Modern History at the University of the West of England, Bristol and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has published widely on the history of women and her previous works include Isabella Ford, 1855–1924 (1989) and (with Karen Hunt) Socialist Women: Britain 1880s–1920s (2001). She is on the editorial board of Women’s History Review and is a member of the national steering committee of Women’s History Network.
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