The highly practical guide introduces the reader to the main areas of British women's history: education, work, family life, sexuality and politics. After an introduction to each topic detailed commentary is provided on a range of primary source material together with advice on further reading. For the new edition the author has written a brand new chapter on how to choose a dissertation subject and the pitfalls to avoid.

The highly practical guide introduces the reader to the main areas of British women's history: education, work, family life, sexuality and politics. After an introduction to each topic detailed commentary is provided on a range of primary source material together with advice on further reading. For the new edition the author has written a brand new chapter on how to choose a dissertation subject and the pitfalls to avoid.

Featuring vital firsthand testimonies from women of all walks of life from important points in history, and giving an intimate portrayal of real women's lives in different eras, this book looks at the 1950s and 1960s. Like many other aspects of life, education in these decades for most girls still meant segregation, not just by gender but also by age. Grammar school set a girl up for life, while secondary modern meant a girl was one of the workers. Many women still lost their jobs upon marriage and certainly lost them if they became unmarried mothers. But the '50s and '60s also brought rock-n-roll, rising hemlines, and the first signs of female emancipation since the vote. Moving, funny, brave and, at times, deeply shocking, this anthology brings together a dazzling collection of experiences female writers, focusing on everyday life during this transformative period.

This work reveals the story of women's lives in Wales during the 20th century. The areas of women's lives explored include: education; health; home life; leisure; politics; and waged work. The regional variations and differing linguistic and cultural traditions are also investigated.

.,."No mere collection, but a wonderful synthesis of some of the best and most representative works of modern feminist scholarship, reflecting the richness and diversity of contemporary women's studies. It provides an informative and empowering perspective on feminist scholarly achievements of the last decades."
--Dale Spender, Founding member of WITS (Women, Information, Technology, and Scholarship), is author of more than 30 books, including "Feminist Theorists: Three Centuries of Key Women Thinkers" and "For The Record: the Making and Meaning of Feminist Knowledge."

"A stimulating introduction to women's studies and a really useful teaching tool."
--Mary Ellen Brown, Television and Women's Culture

"Women's Studies: Essential Readings" provides a wide range of readers with an entirely comprehensive selection of ever 140 readings on women's studies, representing the entire diversity of current feminist thinking. The book is a divided into fourteen sections that reflect primary topics within women's studies, covering theory and perspectives, including: feminist social theory; psychological and psychoanalytic theory; cross-cultural perspectives and historical perspectives, as well as themes such as: education and work; marriage and motherhood; sexuality; the law; crime and deviance; politics and the state; science, medicine and reproductive technology; language and gender; feminist literary criticism; and the media tool

Features: Introductions to each section provide an overview of the main issues and debates. Commentaries on each extract locate the work of individual authors within wider debates and identify the perspective from which they are writing. Each sectioncontains a guide to further reading.