The nineteenth-century middle-class ideal of the married woman was of a chaste and diligent wife focused on being a loving mother, with few needs or rights of her own. The modern woman, by contrast, was partner to a new model of marriage, one in which she and her husband formed a relationship based on greater sexual and psychological equality. In Making Marriage Modern, Christina Simmons narrates the development of this new companionate marriage ideal, which took hold in the early twentieth century and prevailed in American society by the 1940s.
The first challenges to public reticence to discuss sexual relations between husbands and wives came from social hygiene reformers, who advocated for a scientific but conservative sex education to combat prostitution and venereal disease. A more radical group of feminists, anarchists, and bohemians opposed the Victorian model of marriage and even the institution of marriage. Birth control advocates such as Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger openly championed women's rights to acquire and use effective contraception. The "companionate marriage" emerged from these efforts. This marital ideal was characterized by greater emotional and sexuality intimacy for both men and women, use of birth control to create smaller families, and destigmatization of divorce in cases of failed unions. Simmons examines what she calls the "flapper" marriage, in which free-spirited young wives enjoyed the early years of marriage, postponing children and domesticity. She looks at the feminist marriage in which women imagined greater equality between the sexes in domestic and paid work and sex. And she explores the African American "partnership marriage," which often included wives' employment and drew more heavily on the involvement of the community and extended family. Finally, she traces how these modern ideals of marriage were promoted in sexual advice literature and marriage manuals of the period.
Though male dominance persisted in companionate marriages, Christina Simmons shows how they called for greater independence and satisfaction for women and a new female heterosexuality. By raising women's expectations of marriage, the companionate ideal also contained within it the seeds of second-wave feminists' demands for transforming the institution into one of true equality between the sexes.

Islam and feminism are often thought of as incompatible. Through a vivid ethnography of Muslim and secular women activists in Jakarta, Indonesia, Rachel Rinaldo shows that this is not always the case. Examining a feminist NGO, Muslim women's organizations, and a Muslim political party, Rinaldo reveals that democratization and the Islamic revival in Indonesia are shaping new forms of personal and political agency for women. These unexpected kinds of agency draw on different approaches to interpreting religious texts and facilitate different repertoires of collective action - one oriented toward rights and equality, the other toward more public moral regulation. As Islam becomes a primary source of meaning and identity in Indonesia, some women activists draw on Islam to argue for women's empowerment and equality, while others use Islam to advocate for a more Islamic nation. Mobilizing Piety demonstrates that religious and feminist agency can coexist and even overlap, often in creative ways. "Rachel Rinaldo gives us a richly documented and path-breaking study of how Muslim women in Indonesia draw on both Islam and feminism to argue and imagine political and social changes. Her findings go against a pervasive view of the incompatibility of Islam and feminism: she finds that these very diverse global discourses can in fact work together towards desirable political outcomes."-Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, and author of A Sociology of Globalization "This original study conducted in the world's largest Muslim-majority country strikes me as one of the most interesting and important works on Islam and women in recent years. Rather than pit secularists against religious-minded activists in debates over women's rights, Rachel Rinaldo shows that the major divide in contemporary Indonesia - as in much of the Muslim world - is more complex, and centers on struggles over what it means to be a Muslim, a woman, and an Indonesian."-Robert Hefner, Professor of Anthropology, Boston University

This symposium series book describes women in mid- to upper- level positions within the chemical industry who have been deemed successful, but are relatively unknown on a national level. Success comes in many forms, and it also comes in many positions. The book will highlight women whose careers range from very technical and obvious to those that are not. Some of the key careers include technical directors, eminent scientists, business managers, patent attorneys, bench chemists, entrepreneurs, human resource directors, and journalists.
The goal of this book is to create a resource where women can find a role model, someone with whom they can relate. Profiling women with a wide diversity of experiences and career opportunities allows the reader to find a common connection. Finally the workplace is not perfect; this series book will highlight both the pleasant and unpleasant career experiences which these women underwent.

While nineteenth-century literary scholars have long been interested in women's agency in the context of their legal status as objects, Curious Subjects makes the striking and original argument that what we find at the intersection between women subjects (who choose and enter into contracts) and women objects (owned and defined by fathers, husbands, and the law) is curiosity. Women protagonists in the novel are always both curiosities: strange objects worthy of our interest and actors who are themselves actively curious-relentless askers of questions, even (and perhaps especially) when they are commanded to be content and passive. What kinds of curiosity are possible and desirable, and what different kinds of knowledge do they yield? What sort of subject asks questions, seeks, chooses? Can a curious woman turn her curiosity on herself? Curious Subjects takes seriously the persuasive force of the novel as a form that intervenes in our sense of what women want to know and how they can and should choose to act on that knowledge. And it shows an astonishingly wide and subtly various range of answers to these questions in the British novel, which far from simply punishing women for their curiosity, theorized it, shaped it, and reworked it to give us characters as different as Alice in Wonderland and Dorothea Brooke, Clarissa Harlowe and Louisa Gradgrind. Schor's study provides thought-provoking new readings of the most canonical novels of the nineteenth century-Hard Times, Bleak House, Vanity Fair, Daniel Deronda, among others-and pushes well beyond commonplace historicist accounts of British culture in the period as a monolithic ideological formation. It will interest scholars of law and literature, narratology, and feminist theory as well as literary history more generally.

This edited collection presents fascinating new insights on gender and innovation with a central focus on the experiences of women innovators, exploring different geographic and institutional contexts through a series of in-depth case studies. It investigates how intersecting characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity as well as broader contextual and institutional factors enable and constrain the innovation activities and ambitions of women. Drawing on different theoretical perspectives, expert contributors interrogate questions of gender and innovation to examine the multiple factors influencing women innovators in the contemporary world. The book also engages with how policies can support diversity and inclusion within innovation, an area that has historically been highly gendered. Further to this, it recommends actions to take to support the development of inclusive practices, and identifies directions for future research. Exploring the diversity of gender and innovation as a concept as well as in practice, this book will be a stimulating resource for scholars, educators and students who wish to gain an overview of the topic. Policy makers and practitioners will find the insights on how policies and initiatives can achieve great equality and diversity informative and illuminating.

The Impact of Gender Quotas is a theory-building and comparative exercise in elaborating concepts commonly used to analyze the broad impacts of gender quotas. The book begins with the argument that the means by which women enter politics may influence how, why and to what extent their presence affects political representation. Following a preface by Drude Dahlerup, one of the pioneers of gender quota research, the editors introduce the book with a conceptual framework for analyzing the impact of quotas, based upon descriptive, substantive and symbolic dimensions of representation. The book is subsequently organized into three sections, each devoted to analyzing one of the dimensions of representation, and each of these sections contains a chapter case study from one of four regions of the world (Western Europe, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia). Each of the chapters follows a basic format instituted by the editors, with the goal of facilitating cross-case comparisons and broad theory-building. The editors conclude the book by summarizing the main themes and implications for future research on gender quotas.

A personal and powerful essay from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun. 'I would like to ask that we begin to dream about and plan for a different world. A fairer world. A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves. And this is how to start: we must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently...' What does "feminism" mean today? In this personal, eloquently argued essay - adapted from her much-admired Tedx talk of the same name - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author's exploration of what it means to be a woman now - an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.

From the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Radium Girls comes another dark and dramatic but ultimately uplifting tale of a forgotten woman hero whose inspirational journey sparked lasting change for women's rights and exposed injustices that still resonate today. 1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her because he feels increasingly threatened-by Elizabeth's intellect, independence, and unwillingness to stifle her own thoughts. So he makes a plan to put his wife back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum. The horrific conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who will prove to be even more dangerous to Elizabeth than her traitorous husband. But most disturbing is that Elizabeth is not the only sane woman confined to the institution. There are many rational women on her ward who tell the same story: they've been committed not because they need medical treatment, but to keep them in line-conveniently labeled "crazy" so their voices are ignored. No one is willing to fight for their freedom and, disenfranchised both by gender and the stigma of their supposed madness, they cannot possibly fight for themselves. But Elizabeth is about to discover that the merit of losing everything is that you then have nothing to lose... Bestselling author Kate Moore brings her sparkling narrative voice to The Woman They Could Not Silence, an unputdownable story of the forgotten woman who courageously fought for her own freedom-and in so doing freed millions more. Elizabeth's refusal to be silenced and her ceaseless quest for justice not only challenged the medical science of the day, and led to a giant leap forward in human rights, it also showcased the most salutary lesson: sometimes, the greatest heroes we have are those inside ourselves. Praise for The Woman They Could Not Silence: "Like Radium Girls, this volume is a page-turner."-Library Journal, STARRED review "A veritable tour de force about how far women's rights have come and how far we still have to go...Put this book in the hands of every young feminist."-Booklist, STARRED review "In Moore's expert hands, this beautifully-written tale unspools with drama and power, and puts Elizabeth Packard on the map at the most relevant moment imaginable. You will be riveted-and inspired. Bravo!"-Liza Mundy, New York Times bestselling author of Code Girls

Slavery in the United States continues to loom large in our national consciousness and is a major curricular focus in African American studies, during Black History Month, and for slavery units. This is the first encyclopedia to focus on the typical experiences and roles and material life of female slaves in the United States from Colonial times to Emancipation. More than 150 essay entries written by a host of experts offer a unique perspective on the material life, events, typical experiences, and roles of enslaved women and girls in both their interactions with their owners and the little private time they could manage. This groundbreaking volume is an exciting focus for research and general browsing and belongs in all American History, Women's Studies, and African American Studies collections.

The coverage includes entries illuminating women's work, on the plantation, from the big house to the field and slave cabin as well as individual entrepeneurialship. Aspects of daily life such as food procurement and meals, folk medicine and healing, and hygiene are revealed. Material life is uncovered through entries such as Auction Block, Clothing and Adornments, and Living Quarters. Life cycle events from pregnancy and birthing to childcare to holidays and death and funeral customs are discussed. The resistance to slavery and its horrors are enumerated in many entries such as Abolition, Sexual Violence, and the Underground Railroad. A wider understanding of the different ways that slavery played out for various enslaved women can be seen in entries regarding African origins and that depict regions in the North and South such as Low Country and groups such as Maroon Communities. Profiles of noted female slaves and their works are also included. Accompanying the entries are suggestions for further reading. Further scholarly value is added with a chronology and selected bibliography. Numerous photos and sidebars complement the essays, with quotations from oral history and literature plus document excerpts.