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Women's history is the study of the role that
women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of
woman's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
throughout
recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world hist ...
, personal achievement over a period of time, the examination of individual and groups of women of historical significance, and the effect that historical events have had on women. Inherent in the study of women's history is the belief that more traditional recordings of history have minimized or ignored the contributions of women to different fields and the effect that historical events had on women as a whole; in this respect, women's history is often a form of
historical revisionism In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) views held by professional scholars about a historical event or times ...
, seeking to challenge or expand the traditional historical consensus. The main centers of scholarship have been the United States and Britain, where
second-wave feminist Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains. W ...
historians, influenced by the new approaches promoted by
social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...
, led the way. As activists in
women's liberation The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...
, discussing and analyzing the oppression and inequalities they experienced as women, they believed it imperative to learn about the lives of their fore mothers—and found very little scholarship in print. History was written mainly by men and about men's activities in the public sphere, especially in Africa—war, politics, diplomacy and administration. Women were usually excluded and, when mentioned, were usually portrayed in sex stereotypical roles such as wives, mothers, daughters, and mistresses. The study of history is
value-laden Loaded language (also known as loaded terms, emotive language, high-inference language and language-persuasive techniques) is rhetoric used to influence an audience by using words and phrases with strong connotations. This type of language is ve ...
in regard to what is considered historically "worthy." Other aspects of this area of study are the differences in women's lives caused by race, economic status, social status, and various other aspects of society.


Regions


Europe

Changes came in the 19th and 20th centuries; for example, for women, the right to equal pay is now enshrined in law. Women traditionally ran the household, bore and reared the children, were nurses, mothers, wives, neighbours, friends, and teachers. During periods of war, women were drafted into the labor market to undertake work that had been traditionally restricted to men. Following the wars, they invariably lost their jobs in industry and had to return to domestic and service roles.


Great Britain

The history of Scottish women in the late 19th century and early 20th century was not fully developed as a field of study until the 1980s. In addition, most work on women before 1700 has been published since 1980. Several studies have taken a biographical approach, but other work has drawn on the insights from research elsewhere to examine such issues as work, family, religion, crime, and images of women. Scholars are also uncovering women's voices in their letters, memoirs, poetry, and court records. Because of the late development of the field, much recent work has been recuperative, but increasingly the insights of gender history, both in other countries and in Scottish history after 1700, are being used to frame the questions that are asked. Future work should contribute both to a reinterpretation of the current narratives of Scottish history and also to a deepening of the complexity of the history of women in late medieval and early modern Britain and Europe. In Ireland studies of women, and gender relationships more generally, had been rare before 1990; they now are commonplace with some 3000 books and articles in print.


France

French historians This is a list of French historians limited to those with a biographical entry in either English or French Wikipedia. Major chroniclers, annalists, philosophers, or other writers are included, if they have important historical output. Names are lis ...
have taken a unique approach: there has been an extensive scholarship in women's and gender history despite the lack of women's and gender study programs or departments at the university level. But approaches used by other academics in the research of broadly based social histories have been applied to the field of women's history as well. The high level of research and publication in women's and gender history is due to the high interest within French society. The structural discrimination in academia against the subject of gender history in France is changing due to the increase in international studies following the formation of the European Union, and more French scholars seeking appointments outside Europe.


Germany

Before the 19th century, young women lived under the economic and disciplinary authority of their fathers until they married and passed under the control of their husbands. In order to secure a satisfactory marriage, a woman needed to bring a substantial dowry. In the wealthier families, daughters received their dowry from their families, whereas the poorer women needed to work in order to save their wages so as to improve their chances to wed. Under the German laws, women had property rights over their dowries and inheritances, a valuable benefit as high mortality rates resulted in successive marriages. Before 1789, the majority of women lived confined to society's private sphere, the home. The Age of Reason did not bring much more for women: men, including Enlightenment aficionados, believed that women were naturally destined to be principally wives and mothers. Within the educated classes, there was the belief that women needed to be sufficiently educated to be intelligent and agreeable interlocutors to their husbands. However, the lower-class women were expected to be economically productive in order to help their husbands make ends meet.William W. Hagen, ''German History in Modern Times'' (2012) In the newly founded German State (1871), women of all social classes were politically and socially disenfranchised. The code of social respectability confined upper class and bourgeois women to their homes. They were considered socially and economically inferior to their husbands. The unmarried women were ridiculed, and the ones who wanted to avoid social descent could work as unpaid housekeepers living with relatives; the ablest could work as governesses or they could become nuns. A significant number of middle-class families became impoverished between 1871 and 1890 as the pace of industrial growth was uncertain, and women had to earn money in secret by sewing or embroidery to contribute to the family income. In 1865, the Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein (ADF) was founded as an umbrella organization for women's associations, demanding rights to education, employment, and political participation. Three decades later, the Bund Deutscher Frauenverbände (BDF) replaced ADF and excluded from membership the proletarian movement that was part of the earlier group. The two movements had differing views concerning women's place in society, and accordingly, they also had different agendas. The bourgeois movement made important contributions to the access of women to education and employment (mainly office-based and teaching). The proletarian movement, on the other hand, developed as a branch of the Social Democratic Party. As factory jobs became available for women, they campaigned for equal pay and equal treatment. In 1908 German women won the right to join political parties, and in 1918 they were finally granted the right to vote. The emancipation of women in Germany was to be challenged in following years. Historians have paid special attention to the efforts by Nazi Germany to reverse the political and social gains that women made before 1933, especially in the relatively liberal
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
. The role of women in Nazi Germany changed according to circumstances. Theoretically, the Nazis believed that women must be subservient to men, avoid careers, devote themselves to childbearing and child-rearing, and be helpmates to the traditional dominant fathers in the traditional family. But, before 1933, women played important roles in the Nazi organization and were allowed some autonomy to mobilize other women. After Hitler came to power in 1933, the activist women were replaced by bureaucratic women, who emphasized feminine virtues, marriage, and childbirth. As Germany prepared for war, large numbers of women were incorporated into the public sector and, with the need for full mobilization of factories by 1943, all women were required to register with the employment office. Hundreds of thousands of women served in the military as nurses and support personnel, and another hundred thousand served in the
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
, especially helping to operate the anti-aircraft systems. Women's wages remained unequal and women were denied positions of leadership or control. More than two million women were murdered in the Holocaust. The Nazi ideology viewed women generally as agents of fertility. Accordingly, it identified the Jewish woman as an element to be exterminated to prevent the rise of future generations. For these reasons, the Nazis treated women as prime targets for annihilation in the Holocaust.


Poland

Anna Kowalczyk Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...
( pl) has written and Marta Frej ( pl) has illustrated a book detailing history of Polish women entitled ''Missing Half of History: A Brief History of Women in Poland'' (''Brakująca połowa dziejów. Krótka historia kobiet na ziemiach polskich''), published in 2018 by Wydawnictwo W.A.B. ( pl).


Eastern Europe

Interest in the study of women's history in Eastern Europe has been delayed. Representative is Hungary, where the historiography has been explored by Petö and Szapor (2007). Academia resisted incorporating this specialized field of history, primarily because of the political atmosphere and a lack of institutional support. Before 1945, historiography dealt chiefly with nationalist themes that supported the anti-democratic political agenda of the state. After 1945, academia reflected a Soviet model. Instead of providing an atmosphere in which women could be the subjects of history, this era ignored the role of the women's rights movement in the early 20th century. The collapse of Communism in 1989 was followed by a decade of promising developments in which biographies of prominent Hungarian women were published, and important moments of women's political and cultural history were the subjects of research. However, the quality of this scholarship was uneven and failed to take advantage of the methodological advances in research in the West. In addition, institutional resistance continued, as evidenced by the lack of undergraduate or graduate programs dedicated to women's and gender history at Hungarian universities.


=Russia

= Women's history in Russia started to become important in the Czarist era, and concern was shown in the consciousness and writing of
Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
. During the Soviet Era, feminism was developed along with ideals of equality, but in practice and in domestic arrangements, men often dominate. By the 1990s new periodicals, especially ''Casus'' and ''Odysseus: Dialogue with Time, Adam and Eve'' stimulated women's history and, more recently, gender history. Using the concept of gender has shifted the focus from women to socially and culturally constructed notions of sexual difference. It has led to deeper debates on historiography and holds a promise of stimulating the development of a new "general" history able to integrate personal, local, social, and cultural history.


Asia and Pacific

General overviews of women in Asian history are scarce, since most specialists focus on China, Japan, India, Korea or another traditionally defined region.


China

Published work generally deals with women as visible participants in the revolution, employment as vehicles for women's liberation, Confucianism and the cultural concept of family as sources of women's oppression. While rural marriage rituals, such as bride price and dowry, have remained the same in form, their function has changed. This reflects the decline of the extended family and the growth in women's agency in the marriage transaction. In recent scholarship in China, the concept of gender has yielded a bounty of new knowledge in English- and Chinese-language writings. ''Zhongguo fu nü sheng Huo shi'' () is a historical book written by Chen Dongyuan in 1928 and published by The Commercial Press in 1937. The book, the first to give a systematic introduction to women's history in China, has strongly influenced further research in this field. The book sheds a light on Chinese women's life ranging from ancient times (prior to
Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
) to the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
. In the book, sections are separated based on dynasties in China. Sections are divided into segments to introduce different themes, such as marriage, feudal ethical codes, education for women, virtues, positions, the concept of chastity, foot-binding and women's rights movement in modern China. Inspired by the anti-traditional thoughts in
New Culture Movement The New Culture Movement () was a movement in China in the 1910s and 1920s that criticized classical Chinese ideas and promoted a new Chinese culture based upon progressive, modern and western ideals like democracy and science. Arising out of ...
, the author devoted much effort to disclosing and denouncing the unfairness and suppression in culture, institutions, and life that victimize women in China. According to the book, women's conditions are slightly improved until modern China. In the Preface of the book, the author writes: since women in China are always subject to abuse, the history of women is, naturally the history of abuse of women in China. The author revealed the motivation: the book intends to explain how the principle of women being inferior to men evolves; how the abuse to women is intensified over time; and how the misery on women's back experience the history change. The author wants to promote women's liberation by revealing the political and social suppression of women. Mann (2009) explores how Chinese biographers have depicted women over two millennia (221 BCE to 1911), especially during the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
. Zhang Xuecheng, Sima Qian, and Zhang Huiyan and other writers often study women of the governing class, and their representation in domestic scenes of death in the narratives and in the role of
martyrs A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...
.


=Tibet

= The historiography of women in the history of Tibet confronts the suppression of women's histories in the social narratives of an exiled community. McGranahan (2010) examines the role of women in the 20th century, especially during the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet. She studies women in the Tibetan resistance army, the subordination of women in a Buddhist society, and the persistent concept of menstrual blood as a contaminating agent. 1998


Japan

Japanese women's history was marginal to historical scholarship until the late 20th century. The subject hardly existed before 1945, and, even after that date, many academic historians were reluctant to accept women's history as a part of Japanese history. The social and political climate of the 1980s in particular, favorable in many ways to women, gave opportunities for Japanese women's historiography and also brought the subject fuller academic recognition. Exciting and innovative research on Japanese women's history began in the 1980s. Much of this has been conducted not only by academic women's historians, but also by freelance writers, journalists, and amateur historians; that is, by people who have been less restricted by traditional historical methods and expectations. The study of Japanese women's history has become accepted as part of the traditional topics.


Australia and New Zealand

With a handful of exceptions, there was a little serious history of women in Australia or New Zealand before the 1970s. A pioneering study was
Patricia Grimshaw Patricia Ann Grimshaw, (born 16 December 1938) is a retired Australian academic who specialised in women's and Indigenous peoples' history. One of her most influential works is ''Women's Suffrage in New Zealand'', first published in 1972, which ...
, ''Women's Suffrage in New Zealand'' (1972), explaining how that remote colony became the first country in the world to give women the vote. Women's history as an academic discipline emerged in the mid-1970s, typified by
Miriam Dixson Miriam Joyce Dixson (born 1930) is an Australian social historian and the author of ''The Real Matilda: Woman and Identity in Australia 1788 to 1975''. Early life and education Miriam Joyce Dixson was born in Melbourne in 1930. She graduated fro ...
, ''The Real Matilda: Woman and Identity in Australia, 1788 to the Present'' (1976). The first studies were compensatory, filling in the vacuum where women had been left out. In common with developments in the United States and Britain, there was a movement toward gender studies, with a field dominated by feminists. Other important topics include demography and family history. Of recent importance are studies of the role of women on the homefront, and in military service, during world wars. See Australian women in World War I and
Australian women in World War II Australian women during World War II played a larger role than they had during World War I. Military service Many women wanted to play an active role in the war and hundreds of voluntary women's auxiliary and paramilitary organisations had been f ...
.


Middle East


Development of the field

Middle Eastern women's history as a field is still developing, but expanding swiftly. Scholarship first began to appear in the 1930s and 1940s, and then further developed in the 1980s.Margaret Lee Meriwether, ''A social history of women and gender in the modern Middle East'' (Westview Press, 1999). The earliest historical research in the west came from Gertrude Stern (''Marriage in Early Islam''),
Nabia Abbott Nabia Abbott (31 January 1897 – 15 October 1981) was an American scholar of Islam, papyrologist and paleographer. She was the first woman professor at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. She gained worldwide recognition for he ...
(''Aishah, the Beloved of Muhammed'' and ''Two Queens of Bagdad''), and Ilse Lichtenstadter (W''omen in the Aiyam al-'Arab: A Study of Female Life during Warfare in Preislamic Arabia''). Following a relatively dormant period, the western version of the discipline became revitalized by the feminist movement, which renewed interest in filling gendered gaps in historical narratives. Numerous studies were published during this period, a trend which has continued and even accelerated into the twenty-first century.


Pre-modern Middle East

Scholarship on the Middle East before the 1800s has suffered from the limited number direct records of women's lives during
ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...
and
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
periods. Since the vast majority of historical information has come from male authors and is primarily focused on men, accounts and data which are authored by and center on women are rare. Much of what has been synthesized has come from art, court records, religious doctrine, and other mentions. Researchers have made particular use of court records from the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. Despite relative sparseness, valuable sources have been identified, and historians have been able to publish recounts of women's social, economic, political, and cultural involvement. Marten Sol's 1999 ''Women in the Ancient Near East'' offers a comprehensive overview of women's lives in ancient Babylonia and Mesopotamia. Topics include, but are not limited to, dress, marriage, slavery, sexual autonomy, employment, and religious involvement. Amira El-Azhary Sonbol's ''Beyond the Exotic: Women's Histories in Islamic Societies'' brings together twenty-four historians' essays on sources that can be used to fill gaps in conventional historical narratives. Among the essays, analyses of women's legal statuses, patronage of arts, and religious involvement according to region figure prominently.


Modern Middle East

The information available on women dating after the 1800s is much more robust, and this has led to better-developed histories of multiple Middle Eastern peoples. Similarly to scholarship of the ancient and medieval Middle East, many researchers have drawn from the later Ottoman Empire, this time to discuss the lives and roles of women during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Judith E. Tucker, in ''Women in the Middle East and North Africa: Restoring Women to History'', emphasizes the ways in which changes in the
geopolitical Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...
and economic landscapes of the 19th century influenced women's lives and roles in Middle Eastern society. At the same time, she also argues that there is not a clear divide between the way societies were structured before and after modernization began to creep over the world. It is also important, according to Tucker, that scholars keep in mind the differing rates of influence other countries and global dynamics exerted according to region and time period in the Middle East, over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Across all time periods, the Middle East has been a large region of multiple countries and numerous groups, and scholars have generated research on a wide variety of specific peoples and places, both pre-modern and modern. For example, ''Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries of Sex and Gender'' covers research that ranges from women's agency in Mamluk Egypt and in the 19th century Ottoman Empire to Islamic societies' adaptations to intersex people to demonstrate the flexibility of Middle Eastern societies. In addition, ''Gender, Religion, and Change in the Middle East'' compiles research on various phenomena in the mid-20th century, including: women's integration into student bodies at the American University of Beirut; women's organization of social welfare services in Egypt; the relationship between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israeli women's roles and rights in the military and society; and Muslim women's organization of ''sofre'', or women-only "ceremonial votive meals," dedicated to Shiite saints. In ''Palestinian Women’s Activism: Nationalism, Secularism, Islamism'', Islah Jad relays the developments and conflicts associated with women's movements in Palestine from the 1930s to early 2000's, placing particular emphasis on the relationship between Islamic and secularist groups of women activists.


Issues


= Perceptions of Islam

=
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
is often framed by historians as having a profound influence on many women's lives throughout Middle Eastern history. Many researchers have dedicated special attention to changes brought about after the
rise of Islam The spread of Islam spans about 1,400 years. Muslim conquests following Muhammad's death led to the creation of the caliphates, occupying a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territorie ...
, as well as specific ways in which women's lives were shaped by
Islamic law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
and custom. However, historians are somewhat split in their interpretations on the role of Islam in mediating women's oppression since its development, with particular controversy arising in the west. Nikki R. Keddie explains that histories developed on Middle Eastern women are often written in response or reaction to historical geopolitical tension between Middle Eastern and western countries, the latter of which frequently stereotype Middle Eastern cultures as problematic based on Islam's supposed oppression of women. Scholarship on women, particularly the Muslim majority of most Middle Eastern countries, may either be hostile to or aim to defend Islam's influence on women's status. She identifies a spectrum approaches to Islam among scholars, ranging between potentially extreme forms of criticism and defense. For example, Ida Lichter's ''Muslim Women Reformers'' takes a critical approach to gender relations in Muslim majority countries. In her introduction Lichter writes that in comparison to "liberated women in the west," it seems that Muslim women are contending with "a medieval environment of cultural restrictions and
misogynistic Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
regulations scripted by religious and patriarchal authorities intent on impounding women's lives." Lichter maintains that the women's rights activists she covers in the book are striving justly against harsh oppression by Islamic extremist groups, and of that this is important because these groups pose a threat not just to women in Muslim countries, but women everywhere. At the same time, multiple scholars assert that a large part of women's statuses in Middle Eastern society were dictated by the socioeconomic and political landscape of the specific time and region, and not necessarily by religion. This idea is supported by Crocco et al.'s "At the Crossroads of the World: Women of the Middle East,” Okkenhaug and Flaskerud's ''Gender, Religion, and Change in the Middle East,'' and Keddie and Baron's ''Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries of Sex and Gender''. Crocco et al. argue, from a
pedagogical Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and Developmental psychology, psychological development of le ...
perspective, that Middle Eastern women's history needs to be regarded and taught not only as the history of Islam's impacts on women in the Middle East, but also the history of Christianity's and Judaism's impacts on their respective minority communities, and of the roles that class, political status, and economics have played in women's lives. They also assert that while religions, particularly Islam, have been viewed as sources of patriarchy, instances of women's subordination can be traced back to the development of settled agricultural societies and the advent of property, which motivated the careful control of women's reproduction to ensure inheritance stayed within families.


= Orientalism

= A central concern in the development Middle Eastern studies is
orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
, or the tendency of western groups to view civilizations in African and Asia as backwards, exotic, and underdeveloped. Keddie and Anne Chamberlain describe this approach to the so-called "Orient" as being heavily entangled with western interpretations of Middle Eastern women's roles in their families and societies. Multiple authors, including Chamberlain, criticize approaches to Middle Eastern gender relations which rely on narratives of female oppression and victimization, as well as perhaps over-confidence in western feminist thought. Chamberlain offers an alternative interpretation of women's empowerment in Middle Eastern countries in her book ''The Veil in the Looking Glass: A History of Women's Seclusion in the Middle East''.


= Applicability of western feminism

= Several authors link discussions of orientalism with the issue of translating western feminist discourses to women's historiography in the Middle East. Meriwether writes that while the discipline is gaining momentum in countries such as the U.S., Middle Eastern women's history is not as robust of a field in the countries it concerns itself with. She argues that western notions of feminism rely on cultural values which do not necessarily align with those other countries', and the impetus for much of the scholarship that has occurred in western countries does not translate perfectly into the academic landscape of the Middle East. She also argues that the complex relationships between gender,
colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
, and class and ethnic relations in Middle Eastern localities create very different climates for the development of women's histories compared with those of (at least mainstream) feminism in the west. In response to potentially narrow focus of western feminism, Liat Kozma proposes a shift toward
transnational feminism Transnational feminism refers to both a contemporary feminist paradigm and the corresponding activist movement. Both the theories and activist practices are concerned with how globalization and capitalism affect people across nations, races, ge ...
. She also advocates for collaboration between scholars who specialize in Middle Eastern history and who specialize in gender, respectively. She argues that this can help to center Middle Eastern women's history specifically, thus helping to counter its marginalization both in gender- and Middle Eastern-focused scholarship.


Africa

Numerous short studies have appeared for women's history in African nations. Several surveys have appeared that put the sub-Sahara Africa in the context of women's history. There are numerous studies for specific countries and regions, such as Nigeria. and Lesotho. Scholars have turned their imagination to innovative sources for the history of African women, such as songs from Malawi, weaving techniques in Sokoto, and historical linguistics. Prior to the colonial era reigning across the continent of Africa, systems and societies were matriarichal. The woman carried and respresented herself as equal and even superior to the man. Leading the continent to prosper and flourish. By bringing an oppressive form of Christianity to Africa, European colonizers altered its trajectory by introducing and imposing patriarchal ideals and systems to replace the matriarchy that had aided in upbringing the African continent. At the First Floor Art Gallery in Zimbabwe, feminist artist Lauren Webber works on traditional fabrics and materials to expose and showcase the continent's long history of female dominance


Americas


United States

Apart from individual women, working largely on their own, the first organized systematic efforts to develop women's history came from the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in the early 20th century. It coordinated efforts across the South to tell the story of the women on the Confederate home front, while the male historians spent their time with battles and generals. The women emphasized female activism, initiative, and leadership. They reported that when all the men left for war, the women took command, found ersatz and substitute foods, rediscovered their old traditional skills with the spinning wheel when factory cloth became unavailable, and ran all the farm or plantation operations. They faced danger without having menfolk in the traditional role of their protectors. Historian
Jacquelyn Dowd Hall Jacquelyn Dowd Hall (born 1943) is an American historian and Julia Cherry Spruill Professor Emerita at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her scholarship and teaching forwarded the emergence of U.S. women's history in the 1960s and ...
argue that the UDC was a powerful promoter of women's history: The work of women scholars was ignored by the male-dominated history profession until the 1960s, when the first breakthroughs came.
Gerda Lerner Gerda Hedwig Lerner (née Kronstein; April 30, 1920 – January 2, 2013) was an Austrian-born American historian and woman's history author. In addition to her numerous scholarly publications, she wrote poetry, fiction, theatre pieces, screenpl ...
in 1963 offered the first regular college course in women's history. The field of women's history exploded dramatically after 1970, along with the growth of the new
social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...
and the acceptance of women into graduate programs in history departments. In 1972,
Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...
began offering a Master of Arts Program in Women's History, founded by Gerda Lerner, which was the first American graduate degree in the field. Another important development was to integrate women into the history of race and slavery. A pioneering effort was
Deborah Gray White Deborah Gray White is the Board of Governors Professor of History and Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. In addition to teaching at Rutgers, she also directed, "The Black Atlantic: Race, Nati ...
's Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South'' (1985), which helped to open up analysis of race, slavery, abolitionism, and feminism, as well as resistance, power, and activism, and themes of violence, sexualities, and the body. It is also White who has brought up the subject of women's presence in historical archives. Speaking on the absence black women specifically in historical narratives she says "black people have an oral tradition sustained by almost 300 years of illiteracy in America." There has been an increase in women within archival repositories which means people are finding it is a more important area of study. A major trend in recent years has been to emphasize a global perspective. Although the word "women" is the eighth most commonly used word in abstracts of all historical articles in North America, it is only the twenty-third most used word in abstracts of historical articles in other regions. Furthermore, "gender" appears about twice as frequently in American history abstracts compared to abstracts covering the rest of the world. In recent years, historians of women have reached out to web-oriented students. Examples of these outreach efforts are the websites ''Women and Social Movements in the United States'', maintained by Kathryn Kish Sklar and Thomas Dublin. and ''Click! The Ongoing Feminist Revolution''.


Canada


Pre-revolution

In the
Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...
, few women held any formal power; some queens did, as did the heads of Catholic convents. In the Enlightenment, the writings of philosopher
Jean Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
provided a political program for reform of the ancien régime, founded on a reform of domestic mores. Rousseau's conception of the relations between private and public spheres is more unified than that found in modern sociology. Rousseau argued that the domestic role of women is a structural precondition for a "modern" society.
Salic law The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
prohibited women from rule; however, the laws for the case of a
regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
, when the king was too young to govern by himself, brought the queen into the centre of power. The queen could ensure the passage of power from one king to another—from her late husband to her young son—while simultaneously assuring the continuity of the dynasty.


Education for girls

Educational aspirations were on the rise and were becoming increasingly institutionalized in order to supply the church and state with the functionaries to serve as their future administrators. Girls were schooled too, but not to assume political responsibility. Girls were ineligible for leadership positions and were generally considered to have an inferior intellect to their brothers. France had many small local schools where working-class children - both boys and girls - learned to read, the better "to know, love, and serve God." The sons and daughters of the noble and bourgeois elites were given gender-specific educations: boys were sent to upper school, perhaps a university, while their sisters - if they were lucky enough to leave the house - would be sent to board at a convent with a vague curriculum. The Enlightenment challenged this model, but no real alternative was presented for female education. Only through education at home were knowledgeable women formed, usually to the sole end of dazzling their salons.


Themes


Rights and equality

Women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
refers to the social and human rights of women. In the United States, the abolition movements sparked an increased wave of attention to the status of women, but the
history of feminism The history of feminism comprises the narratives (chronological or thematic) of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending ...
reaches to before the 18th century. (See
protofeminism Protofeminism is a concept that anticipates modern feminism in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown. This refers particularly to times before the 20th century, although the precise usage is disputed, as 18th-century feminism ...
.) The advent of the reformist age during the 19th century meant that those invisible minorities or marginalized majorities were to find a catalyst and a microcosm in such new tendencies of reform. The earliest works on the so-called "woman question" criticized the restrictive role of women, without necessarily claiming that women were disadvantaged or that men were to blame. Parliamentary representation began in the early 20th century. In 1900 no woman had ever been elected to the national legislature. Finland broke through in 1907. By 1945 representation averaged three percent; by 2015, it reached 20 percent. In Britain, the Feminism movement began in the 19th century and continues in the present day.
Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...
wrote a detailed analysis of women's oppression in her 1949 treatise ''The Second Sex.'' It became a foundational tract of contemporary feminism. In the late 1960s and early 1970s,
feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality b ...
s, such as the one in the United States substantially changed the condition of women in the Western world. One trigger for the revolution was the development of the
birth control pill The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. The pill contains two important hormones: progest ...
in 1960, which gave women access to easy and reliable contraception in order to conduct family planning.


Capitalism

Women's historians have debated the impact of capitalism on the status of women. Taking a pessimistic side,
Alice Clark Alice Clark may refer to: * Alice Clark (historian), British feminist and historian * Alice Clark (singer), American soul singer See also * Alice Clarke, English cricketer {{hndis, Clark, Alice ...
argued that when capitalism arrived in 17th century England, it made a negative impact on the status of women as they lost much of their economic importance. Clark argues that in the 16th century England, women were engaged in many aspects of industry and agriculture. The home was a central unit of production and women played a vital role in running farms, and in some trades and landed estates. Their useful economic roles gave them a sort of equality with their husbands. However, Clark argues, as capitalism expanded in the 17th century, there was more and more division of labor with the husband taking paid labor jobs outside the home, and the wife reduced to unpaid household work. Middle-class and women were confined to an idle domestic existence, supervising servants; lower-class women were forced to take poorly paid jobs. Capitalism had a negative effect on many women. In a more positive interpretation,
Ivy Pinchbeck Ivy Pinchbeck, (9 April 1898 – 10 May 1982) was a British economic and social historian, specialising in the history of women. Her book of 1930,''Women Workers and the Industrial Revolution, 1750 – 1850'' was a pioneering effort in women's hi ...
argues that capitalism created the conditions for women's emancipation. Tilly and Scott have to emphasize the continuity and the status of women, finding three stages in European history. In the preindustrial era, production was mostly for home use and women produce much of the needs of the households. The second stage was the "family wage economy" of early industrialization, the entire family depended on the collective wages of its members, including husband, wife and older children. The third or modern stage is the "family consumer economy," in which the family is the site of consumption, and women are employed in large numbers in retail and clerical jobs to support rising standards of consumption.


Employment

The
1870 US Census The United States census of 1870 was the ninth United States census. It was conducted by the Census Bureau from June 1, 1870, to August 23, 1871. The 1870 census was the first census to provide detailed information on the African-American popul ...
was the first to count "Females engaged in each and every occupation" and provides a snapshot of women's history. It reveals that, contrary to popular myth, not all American women of the Victorian period were "safe" in their middle-class homes or working in sweatshops. Women composed 15% of the total workforce (1.8 million out of 12.5). They made up one-third of factory "operatives," and were concentrated in teaching, as the nation emphasized expanding education; dressmaking, millinery, and tailoring. Two-thirds of
teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
s were women. They also worked in iron and steel works (495), mines (46), sawmills (35), oil wells and refineries (40), gas works (4), and charcoal kilns (5), and held such surprising jobs as ship rigger (16), teamster (196), turpentine laborer (185), brass founder/worker (102), shingle and lathe maker (84), stock-herder (45), gun and locksmith (33), hunter and trapper (2). There were five lawyers, 24 dentists, and 2,000 doctors.


Marriage ages

Marriage ages of women can be used as an indicator of the position of women in society. Women's age at marriage could influence economic development, partly because women marrying at higher ages had more opportunities to acquire
human capital Human capital is a concept used by social scientists to designate personal attributes considered useful in the production process. It encompasses employee knowledge, skills, know-how, good health, and education. Human capital has a substantial ...
. On average, across the world, marriage ages of women have been rising. However, countries such as Mexico, China, Egypt, and Russia have shown a smaller increase in this measure of female empowerment than, for example, Japan.


Sex and reproduction

In the
history of sex The social construction of human sexuality and sexual behavior—along with its taboos, regulation, and social and political impact—has had a profound effect on the various cultures of the world since prehistoric times. The study of the his ...
, the social construction of sexual behavior—its taboos, regulation and social and political effects—has had a profound effect on women in the world since prehistoric times. Absent assured ways of controlling reproduction, women have practiced abortion since ancient times; many societies have also practice infanticide to ensure the survival of older children. Historically, it is unclear how often the ethics of abortion (induced abortion) was discussed in societies. In the latter half of the 20th century, some nations began to legalize abortion. This controversial subject has sparked heated debate and in some cases, violence, as different parts of society have different social and religious ideas about its meaning. Women have been exposed to various tortuous sexual conditions and have been discriminated against in various fashions in history. In addition to women being sexual victims of troops in warfare, an institutionalized example was the
Japanese military The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, th ...
enslaving native women and girls as
comfort women Comfort women or comfort girls were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term "comfort women" is a translation of the Japanese '' ia ...
in military brothels in Japanese-occupied countries during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Particularly,
Black Women Black women are women of sub-Saharan African and Afro-diasporic descent, as well as women of Australian Aboriginal and Melanesian descent. The term 'Black' is a racial classification of people, the definition of which has shifted over time and acr ...
have been the most affected by hyper-sexualization, body policing, and sexual assault throughout time. Specifically during slavery, Black women were used both as human tools, as well as sexual devices for their white slave-masters. Such conditions continue to permeate in American society beyond slavery and the Jim Crow era. Black women have been conditioned to be silent on their experiences with sexual assault as a means of survival in a society that devalues their whole experience as a Black woman. This stems from the roots of slavery, where Black women were both dehumanized by society, while also being labeled as sexual, and deserving of sexual abuse.


Clothing

The social aspects of clothing have revolved around traditions regarding certain items of clothing intrinsically suited different
gender role A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...
s. In different periods, both women's and men's fashions have highlighted one area or another of the body for attention. In particular, the wearing of skirts and trousers has given rise to common phrases expressing implied restrictions in use and disapproval of offending behavior. For example, ancient Greeks often considered the wearing of trousers by Persian men as a sign of an
effeminate Effeminacy is the embodiment of traits and/or expressions in those who are not of the female sex (e.g. boys and men) that are often associated with what is generally perceived to be feminine behaviours, mannerisms, styles, or gender roles, rather ...
attitude. Women's clothing in
Victorian fashion Victorian fashion consists of the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and developed in the United Kingdom and the British Empire throughout the Victorian era, roughly from the 1830s through the 1890s. The period saw m ...
was used as a means of control and admiration. Reactions to the elaborate confections of French fashion led to various calls for reform on the grounds of both beauties (Artistic and Aesthetic dress) and health (dress reform; especially for undergarments and lingerie). Although trousers for women did not become fashionable until the later 20th century, women began wearing men's trousers (suitably altered) for outdoor work a hundred years earlier. In the 1960s, André Courrèges introduced long trousers for women as a fashion item, leading to the era of the pantsuit and designer jeans, and the gradual eroding of the prohibitions against girls and women wearing trousers in schools, the workplace, and fine restaurants. Corsets have long been used for fashion, and body modification, such as waistline reduction. There were, and are, many different styles and types of corsets, varying depending on the intended use, corset maker's style, and the fashions of the era.


Status

The
social status Social status is the level of social value a person is considered to possess. More specifically, it refers to the relative level of respect, honour, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organizations in a society. Stat ...
of women in the Victoria Era is often seen as an illustration of the striking discrepancy between the nation's power and richness and what many consider its appalling social conditions.
Victorian morality Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of the middle class in 19th-century Britain, the Victorian era. Victorian values emerged in all classes and reached all facets of Victorian living. The values of the period—which can be ...
was full of contradictions. A plethora of social movements concerned with improving public morals co-existed with a class system that permitted and imposed harsh living conditions for many, such as women. In this period, an outward appearance of dignity and restraint was valued, but the usual "vices" continued, such as prostitution. In the Victorian era, the
bathing machine The bathing machine was a device, popular from the 18th century until the early 20th century, to allow people to change out of their usual clothes, change into swimwear, and wade in the ocean at beaches. Bathing machines were roofed and walled woo ...
was developed and flourished. It was a device to allow people to wade in the ocean at beaches without violating Victorian notions of modesty about having "limbs" revealed. The bathing machine was part of sea-bathing etiquette that was more rigorously enforced upon women than men.


Roaring twenties

The Roaring Twenties is a term for society and culture in the 1920s in the Western world. It was a period of sustained economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, particularly in major cities.
Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
came about in many major countries in the 1920s, including United States, Canada, Great Britain. many countries expanded women's voting rights in representative and direct democracies across the world such as the US, Canada, Great Britain and most major European countries in 1917–21, as well as India. This influenced many governments and elections by increasing the number of voters available. Politicians responded by spending more attention on issues of concern to women, especially pacifism, public health, education, and the status of children. On the whole, women voted much like their menfolk, except they were more pacifistic. The 1920s marked a revolution in fashion. The new woman danced, drank, smoked and voted. She cut her hair short, wore make-up and partied. Sometimes she smoked a cigarette. She was known for being giddy and taking risks; she was a flapper. More women took jobs making them more independent and free. With their desire for freedom and independence came as well change in fashion, welcoming a more comfortable style, where the waistline was just above the hips and loosen, and staying away from the Victorian style with a
corset A corset is a support garment commonly worn to hold and train the torso into a desired shape, traditionally a smaller waist or larger bottom, for aesthetic or medical purposes (either for the duration of wearing it or with a more lasting effe ...
and tight waistline.


Great Depression

With widespread unemployment among men, poverty, and the need to help family members who are in even worse condition, The pressures were heavy on women during the Great Depression across the modern world. A primary role was as a housewife. Without a steady flow of family income, their work became much harder in dealing with food and clothing and medical care. The birthrates fell everywhere, as children were postponed until families could financially support them. The average birthrate for 14 major countries fell 12% from 19.3 births per thousand population in 1930 to 17.0 in 1935. In Canada, half of Roman Catholic women defied Church teachings and used contraception to postpone births. Among the few women in the labor force, layoffs were less common in the white-collar jobs and they were typically found in light manufacturing work. However, there was a widespread demand to limit families to one paid job, so that wives might lose employment if their husband was employed. Across Britain, there was a tendency for married women to join the labor force, competing for part-time jobs especially. In rural and small-town areas, women expanded their operation of vegetable gardens to include as much food production as possible. In the United States, agricultural organizations sponsored programs to teach housewives how to optimize their gardens and to raise poultry for meat and eggs. In American cities, African American women quiltmakers enlarged their activities, promote collaboration, and trained neophytes. Quilts were created for practical use from various inexpensive materials and increased social interaction for women and promoted camaraderie and personal fulfillment. Oral history provides evidence for how housewives in a modern industrial city handled shortages of money and resources. Often they updated strategies their mothers used when they were growing up in poor families. Cheap foods were used, such as soups, beans and noodles. They purchased the cheapest cuts of meat—sometimes even horse meat—and recycled the
Sunday roast A Sunday roast or roast dinner is a traditional meal of British and Irish origin. Although it can be consumed throughout the week, it is traditionally consumed on Sunday. It consists of roasted meat, roasted potatoes and accompaniments ...
into sandwiches and soups. They sewed and patched clothing, traded with their neighbors for outgrown items, and made do with colder homes. New furniture and appliances were postponed until better days. Many women also worked outside the home, or took boarders, did laundry for trade or cash, and did sewing for neighbors in exchange for something they could offer. Extended families used mutual aid—extra food, spare rooms, repair-work, cash loans—to help cousins and in-laws. In Japan, official government policy was deflationary and the opposite of Keynesian spending. Consequently, the government launched a nationwide campaign to induce households to reduce their consumption, focusing attention on spending by housewives. In Germany, the government tried to reshape private household consumption under the
Four-Year Plan The Four Year Plan was a series of economic measures initiated by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany in 1936. Hitler placed Hermann Göring in charge of these measures, making him a Reich Plenipotentiary (Reichsbevollmächtigter) whose jurisdiction cut a ...
of 1936 to achieve German economic self-sufficiency. The Nazi women's organizations, other propaganda agencies and the authorities all attempted to shape such consumption as economic self-sufficiency was needed to prepare for and to sustain the coming war. Using traditional values of thrift and healthy living, the organizations, propaganda agencies and authorities employed slogans that called up traditional values of thrift and healthy living. However, these efforts were only partly successful in changing the behavior of housewives.


Religion

The
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
,
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
,
Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
,
Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
and Christian views about women have varied throughout the last two millennia, evolving along with or counter to the societies in which people have lived. For much of history, the role of women in the life of the church, both local and universal, has been downplayed, overlooked, or simply denied.Blevins, Carolyn DeArmond, ''Women in Christian History: A Bibliography.'' Macon, Georgia: Mercer Univ Press, 1995. *
Timeline of women in religion This is a timeline of women in religion. See also: Timeline of women in religion in the United States. Timeline Ancient history and Middle Ages *8th–7th century BCE Livy, Plutarch, and Aulus Gellius attribute the creation of the Vestal Virgin ...
* Timeline of women's ordination worldwide * Timeline of women in religion in America *
Timeline of women rabbis in America This is a timeline of women rabbis in the United States. * 1890s: Ray Frank, a young Jewish woman living on the American frontier, began delivering sermons in her small Jewish community in the American West. Frank was regarded at the time ...
*
Timeline of women rabbis worldwide This is a timeline of women rabbis. * Pre-modern figures ** 1590–1670: Asenath Barzani is considered the first female rabbi of Jewish history by some scholars. ** 1805–1888 Hannah Rachel Verbermacher (the Maiden of Ludmir) was the only i ...


Warfare

Warfare always engaged women as victims and objects of protection. The First World War has received the most coverage, with the newest trend being coverage of a wide range of gender issues.


Home front

During the twentieth century of total warfare the female half of the population played increasingly large roles as housewives, consumers, mothers, munitions workers, replacements for men in service, nurses, lovers, sex objects and emotional supporters. One result in many countries was women getting the right to vote, including the United States, Canada, Germany, and Russia, among others.Bernard Cook, ed, ''Women and War: Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present'' (2 vol, 2006)


Timelines

* Timeline of women in ancient warfare worldwide * Timeline of women in warfare in the Postclassical Era worldwide * Timeline of women in warfare in the early modern era worldwide * Timeline of women in warfare from 1750 until 1799 in America * Timeline of women in warfare from 1750 until 1799 worldwide * Timeline of women in warfare in the 19th century in America * Timeline of women in warfare in the 19th century worldwide * Timeline of women in warfare from 1900 until 1939 in America * Timeline of women in warfare from 1900 until 1939 worldwide * Timeline of women in warfare from 1940 until 1944 worldwide * Timeline of women in warfare from 1945 until 1999 in America * Timeline of women in warfare from 1945 until 1999 worldwide * Timeline of women in warfare from 2000 until the present in America * Timeline of women in warfare from 2000 until the present worldwide


See also

*
Women's History Month Women's History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. It is celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, corresponding with ...
*
List of American women's firsts This is a list of American women's firsts, noting the first time that an American woman or women achieved a given historical feat. Inclusion on the list is reserved for achievements by American women that have significant historical impact. ...
* Gender history *
History of feminism The history of feminism comprises the narratives (chronological or thematic) of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending ...
*
Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...
*
Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
*
The Subjection of Women ''The Subjection of Women'' is an essay by English philosopher, political economist and civil servant John Stuart Mill published in 1869, with ideas he developed jointly with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill. Mill submitted the finished manuscript ...
* Feminist Library *
Women's Library The Women's Library is England's main library and museum resource on women and the women's movement, concentrating on Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has an institutional history as a coherent collection dating back to the mid-1920s, ...
*
GENESIS Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
*
Leonore Davidoff Leonore Davidoff (31 January 1932 – 19 October 2014) was a feminist historian and sociologist who pioneered new approaches to women's history and gender relations, including through her analysis of the gendered division of roles in public ...
*
Herstory Herstory is a term for history written from a feminist perspective and emphasizing the role of women, or told from a woman's point of view. It originated as an alteration of the word "history", as part of a feminist critique of conventional hist ...
*
History of feminism The history of feminism comprises the narratives (chronological or thematic) of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending ...
*
Women in the Middle Ages Women in the Middle Ages in Europe occupied a number of different social roles. Women held the positions of wife, mother, peasant, artisan, and nun, as well as some important leadership roles, such as abbess or queen regnant. The very concept of ...
* Women-led uprisings


References


Further reading


World

* * * Franceschet, Susan, et al. eds. ''The Palgrave Handbook of Women’s Political Rights'' (2019
online
* * Hopwood, Nick, Rebecca Flemming, Lauren Kassell, eds. ''Reproduction: Antiquity to the Present Day'' (Cambridge UP, 2018). Illustrations. xxxv + 730 pp
excerpt
als
online review
44 scholarly essays by historians. *


Primary sources

* *<


Ancient

*
Pomeroy, Sarah B. Sarah B. Pomeroy is an American Professor of Classics. Early life and education Sarah Pomeroy was born in New York City in 1938. She attended the Birch Wathen School, taking Latin and ancient history among other subjects. She graduated high sc ...
''Women's History and Ancient History'' (1991
online edition


Asia

* Edwards, Louise, and Mina Roces, eds. ''Women in Asia: Tradition, Modernity and Globalisation'' (Allen & Unwin, 2000
online edition
* Ramusack, Barbara N., and Sharon Sievers, eds. ''Women in Asia: Restoring Women to History'' (1999
excerpt and text search
* Peran Wanita dalam Pembanguan Desa Wisata. ''Women in Asia: Peran Wanita dalam Pembanguan Desa Wisata'' (2019
excerpt and text search


China

* Ebrey, Patricia. ''The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period'' (1990) * Hershatter, Gail, and Wang Zheng. "Chinese History: A Useful Category of Gender Analysis," ''American Historical Review,'' Dec 2008, Vol. 113 Issue 5, pp 1404–1421 * Hershatter, Gail. ''Women in China's Long Twentieth Century'' (2007)
full text online
* Hershatter, Gail, Emily Honig, Susan Mann, and Lisa Rofel, eds. ''Guide to Women's Studies in China'' (1998
online edition
* Ko, Dorothy. ''Teachers of Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in China, 1573-1722'' (1994) * Mann, Susan. ''Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century'' (1997) * Seth, Sanjay. "Nationalism, Modernity, and the 'Woman Question' in India and China." ''Journal of Asian Studies'' 72#2 (2013): 273–297. * Wang, Shuo. "The 'New Social History' in China: The Development of Women's History," ''History Teacher,'' (2006) 39#3 pp. 315–32
in JSTOR


India

* Borthwick, Meredith. ''The changing role of women in Bengal, 1849-1905'' (Princeton UP, 2015). * Brinks, Ellen. ''Anglophone Indian Women Writers, 1870–1920'' (Routledge, 2016). * * Healey, Madelaine. ''Indian Sisters: A History of Nursing and the State, 1907–2007'' (Routledge, 2014). * Pande, Rekha. "Women's History: India" in * * Seth, Sanjay. "Nationalism, Modernity, and the 'Woman Question' in India and China." ''Journal of Asian Studies'' 72#2 (2013): 273–297.


Europe

* Anderson, Bonnie S. and Judith P. Zinsser. ''A History of Their Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present'' (2nd ed 2000). * Bennett, Judith M. and Ruth Mazo Karras, eds. ''The Oxford Handbook of Women & Gender in Medieval Europe'' (2013) 626pp. * Boxer, Marilyn J., Jean H. Quataert, and Joan W. Scott, eds. 'Connecting Spheres: European Women in a Globalizing World, 1500 to the Present'' (2000), essays by scholar
excerpt and text search
* Bridenthal, Renate, Susan Stuard, and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks eds. ''Becoming Visible: Women in European History'' (3rd ed. 1997), 608pp; essays by scholars * Daskalova, Krassimira. "The politics of a discipline: women historians in twentieth-century Bulgaria." ''Rivista Internazionale di Storia della storiografia'' 46 (2004): 171-187. * Fairchilds, Cissie. ''Women in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1700'' (2007
excerpt and text search
* Fout, John C. ''German Women in the Nineteenth Century: A Social History'' (1984
online edition
* Frey, Linda, Marsha Frey, Joanne Schneider. ''Women in Western European History: A Select Chronological, Geographical, and Topical Bibliography'' (1982
online
* De Haan, Francisca, Krasimira Daskalova, and Anna Loutfi. ''Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe: 19th and 20th Centuries'' (Central European University Press, 2006). * Hall, Valerie G. ''Women At Work, 1860-1939: How Different Industries Shaped Women's Experiences'' (Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2013)
excerpt
* Herzog, Dagmar. ''Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History'' (2011
excerpt and text search
* Hufton, Olwen. ''The Prospect Before Her: A History of Women in Western Europe, 1500-1800'' (1996
excerpt and text search
* Levy, Darline Gay, et al. eds. ''Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1795'' (1981) 244p
excerpt and text search
primary sources * Kowalczyk, Anna and Marta Frej (illustrator). ''Brakująca połowa dziejów. Krótka historia kobiet na ziemiach polskich (Missing Half of History: A Brief History of Women in Poland) (2018
excerpt and illustrationsand more illustrations
* Offen, Karen M. ''European feminisms, 1700-1950: a political history'' (2000
online edition
* Offen, Karen. "Surveying European Women's History since the Millenium: A Comparative Review", ''Journal of Women's History'' Volume 22, Number 1, Spring 2010 * Smith, Bonnie. ''Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700'' (1988) * Stearns, Peter, ed. ''Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000'' (6 vol 2000), 209 essays by leading scholars in 3000 pp.; many aspects of women's history covered * Tilly, Louise A. and Joan W. Scott. ''Women, Work, and Family'' (1978) * Ward, Jennifer. ''Women in Medieval Europe: 1200-1500'' (2003) * Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. ''Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe'' (2008
excerpt and text search


Primary sources: Europe

* DiCaprio, Lisa, and Merry E. Wiesner, eds. ''Lives and Voices: Sources in European Women's History'' (2000
excerpt and text search
* Hughes, Sarah S., and Brady Hughes, eds. ''Women in World History: Readings from Prehistory to 1500'' (1995), 270pp; ''Women in World History: Readings from 1500 to the Present'' (1997) 296pp; primary sources *


Americas


Canada

* Brandt, Gail et al. ''Canadian Women: A History'' (3rd ed. 2011)
online review
* Cook, Sharon Anne; McLean, Lorna; and O'Rourke, Kate, eds. ''Framing Our Past: Canadian Women's History in the Twentieth Century.'' (2001). 498 pp. * Strong-Boag, Veronica and Fellman, Anita Clair, eds. ''Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women's History.'' (3d ed. 1997). 498 pp. * Prentice, Alison and Trofimenkoff, Susan Mann, eds. ''The Neglected Majority: Essays in Canadian Women's History'' (2 vol 1985)


United States


=Surveys

= * * * * Daniel, Robert L. ''American women in the twentieth century'' (1987). * Dayton, Cornelia H., and Lisa Levenstein, “The Big Tent of U.S. Women’s and Gender History: A State of the Field,” ''Journal of American History,'' 99 (Dec. 2012), 793–817. * * Hasia Diner, Diner, Hasia, ed. ''Encyclopedia of American Women's History'' (2010) * Feimster, Crystal N., “The Impact of Racial and Sexual Politics on Women’s History,” ''Journal of American History,'' 99 (Dec. 2012), 822–26. * Linda K. Kerber, Kerber, Linda K.; Kessler-Harris, Alice; and Sklar, Kathryn Kish, eds. ''U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays.'' (1995). 477 pp
online edition
* Alice Kessler-Harris, Kessler-Harris, Alice. ''Out to Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States'' (2003
excerpt and text search
* Melosh, Barbara. ''Gender and American History since 1890'' (1993
online edition
* Miller, Page Putnam, ed. ''Reclaiming the Past: Landmarks of Women's History.'' (1992). 232 pp. * Mintz, Steven, and Susan Kellogg. ''Domestic Revolutions: A Social History of American Family Life'' (1988), 316pp; the standard scholarly histor
excerpt and text search
* Pleck, Elizabeth H. and Nancy F. Cott, eds. ''A Heritage of Her Own: Toward a New Social History of American Women'' (2008), essays by scholar
excerpt and text searchonline edition
* Riley, Glenda. ''Inventing the American Woman: An Inclusive History'' (2001
vol 2 online edition
* Woloch, Nancy. ''Women and The American Experience, A Concise History'' (2001) * Zophy, Angela Howard, ed. ''Handbook of American Women's History.'' (2nd ed. 2000). 763 pp. articles by experts


=U.S. Historiography

= * Dayton, Cornelia H.; Levenstein, Lisa. "The Big Tent of U.S. Women's and Gender History: A State of the Field," ''Journal of American History'' (2012) 99#3 pp 793–817 * Frederickson, Mary E. "Going Global: New Trajectories in U.S. Women's History," ''History Teacher,'' Feb 2010, Vol. 43 Issue 2, p169-189 * Hewitt, Nancy A. ''A Companion to American Women's History'' (2005
excerpt and text search
* Smith, Bonnie G. "Women’s History: A Retrospective from the United States." ''Signs'' 35.3 (2010): 723–747
in JSTOR
* Traister, Bryce. "Academic Viagra: The Rise of American Masculinity Studies," ''American Quarterly'' 52 (2000): 274–30
in JSTOR


=Primary sources: U.S.

= * Berkin, Carol and Horowitz, Leslie, eds. ''Women's Voices, Women's Lives: Documents in Early American History.'' (1998). 203 pp. * DuBois, Ellen Carol and Ruiz, Vicki L., eds. ''Unequal Sisters: A Multi-Cultural Reader in U.S. Women's History.'' (1994). 620 pp.


Historiography

* Amico, Eleanor, ed. ''Reader's Guide to Women's Studies'' (1997) 762pp; advanced guide to scholarship on 200+ topics. * Bennett, Judith M. and Ruth Mazo Karras, eds. ''The Oxford Handbook of Women & Gender in Medieval Europe'' (2013) 626pp. * Blom, Ida, et al. "The Past and Present of European Women's and Gender History: A Transatlantic Conversation." ''Journal of Women's History'' 25.4 (2013): 288–308. * Hershatter, Gail, and Wang Zheng. "Chinese History: A Useful Category of Gender Analysis," ''American Historical Review,'' Dec 2008, Vol. 113 Issue 5, pp 1404–1421 * Ko, Dorothy., "Women's History: Asia" in * Meade, Teresa A., and Merry Wiesner-Hanks, eds. ''A Companion to Gender History'' (2006
excerpt and text search
* Offen, Karen. "Surveying European Women's History since the Millenium: A Comparative Review," ''Journal of Women's History,'' Volume 22, Number 1, Spring 2010, pp. 154–177 * Offen, Karen; Pierson, Ruth Roach; and Rendall, Jane, eds. ''Writing Women's History: International Perspectives'' (1991). 552 pp
online edition
Covers 17 countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, East Germany, Greece, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Yugoslavia. * Petö, Andrea, and Judith Szapor, "The State of Women's and Gender History in Eastern Europe: The Case of Hungary," ''Journal of Women's History,'' (20070, Vol. 19 Issue, pp 160–166 * Joan Wallach Scott, Scott, Joan Wallach. ''Gender and the Politics of History'' (1999), influential theoretical essay
excerpt and text search
* Sheldon, Kathleen. 'Women's History: Africa" in * Spongberg, Mary. ''Writing Women's History Since the Renaissance.'' (2003) 308 pages; on Europe * Thébaud, Françoise. "Writing Women's and Gender History in France: A National Narrative?" ''Journal of Women's History,'' (2007) 19#1 pp 167–172.


External links


Clio Visualizing History
s web exhibi
''Click! The Ongoing Feminist Revolution''Timeline of women's history worldwide by the Encyclopædia BritannicaClick! The Ongoing Feminist RevolutionToday in Women's HistoryThe Gerritsen Collection - Women's History OnlineFeminist Majority Foundation timelineGenesis: a mapping initiative to identify and develop access to women's history sources in the British Isles


*[http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/ Women in World History]
The Women’s History Project
an
The Women’s History Project Page
increasing public awareness to significant female figures from various countries and cultures, their actions and contributions to humanity. {{DEFAULTSORT:Women's History Women's history, Social history Women in history,