Book Club
Session III: Gender and Difference
ARE THERE REAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN? Are they socialized or biological? This has been a debate amongst women and between women and men that often reinforces stereotypes and discrimination. We will examine some of the evidence and discuss if the debate really matters and if so how.
To Read:
Excerpt from Carol Gilligan, “A Different Voice.”
Caryl Rivers and Rosalind Barnett, Same Difference: How Gender Myths Are Hurting Our Relationships, Our Children, and Our Jobs, pp. ix -45.
Deborah Tannen, excerpt from “You Just Don’t Understand.”
Fels, Anna. 2004.” Do Women Lack Ambition?” Harvard Business Review 82 (4): 50-60.
Rhode, “The Difference Difference Makes,” pp. 3-34 (notes optional) in Rhode, Ed. The Difference Difference Makes (2003).
Eagly and Carli, “Are Men Natural Leaders”? in Eagly and Carli, op.cit., pp. 29-48
Session II: The Second Wave
Teeing off of the themes we raised during Session One, here are some questions to guide your reading:
1) What were the key problems/issues the women’s movement wished to change in the 1960′s and 1970′s? Are most resolved or do they still persist?
2) To what extent did the second wave make the same mistakes or learn from the first wave?
- Issues of race, class and exclusion
- Allies and other social change movements
- Organizing: running the “inside” and the “outside” game- and roles of radical vs. Establishment players
3) How was it different? Was the fact that it didn’t zero in on a specific political or legislative goal an advantage or disadvantage?
4) Was the movement simply the struggle of the white middle class?
5) How has participation in the women’s movement influenced today’s middle-aged women and their daughters? How does this generation view their supposed role models?
Before we meet, please purchase from Amazon,etc:
Estelle B. Freedman, ed., The Essential Feminist Reader (Modern Library, 2007).
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. (Vintage, 2008).
Watch either of the videos (we have copies, or you may buy your own):
“The Pill”
“The Sixties”
To Read:
Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, in Freedman, pp. 269-282. (Originally published 1963).
Read “The Pill: The Pill and the Sexual Revolution” at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/e_revolution.html
Videos of Gloria Steinem (the first three are from an interview fom 1987 and run 9 mins each):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3zw5GQAMmA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYLlfsikLAM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL_WfbP-RTA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSh8qlmyZZI (1968)
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “Waves,” pp. 191-222.
bell hooks, “Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory” in The Black Feminist Reader, eds. Joy James and Tracey Denean Sharpley-Whiting, pp. 131-144. (GOOGLE BOOKS VERSION: CLICK HERE. WE HAVE A PHOTOCOPY OF THE FULL TEXT OF THIS SHORT CHAPTER AND WILL MAIL TO YOU)
Robin Morgan (Goodbye To All That, 1970). Available at: http://blog.fair-use.org/category/chicago/
Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” in Freedman, pp. 331-335. (Originally published 1979).
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Session I: Voting Rights and the Fight for Suffrage
Before we meet, please purchase from Amazon,etc:
Estelle B. Freedman, ed., The Essential Feminist Reader (Modern Library, 2007).
Optional book (Fran is not a fan of it, Morra loves it) Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. (Vintage, 2008).
Session One: Fighting for the Right to Vote
In the first session we will look at Suffrage -who the leaders were, why it took so long and how race interacted with suffrage for women. We also will reflect on what women have done with the vote and where that influence is today.
To watch:
One Woman, One Vote (PBS Home Video). Fran has a copy and will distribute, or you can order DVD online. You can also watch Iron Jawed Angels from HBO films, available on Netflix or Amazon.
To read:
Toni Bentley. A Hyena in Petticoats. From the NYT Book Review, May 29. 2005. Available online at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07EFDA1739F93AA15756C0A9639C8B63
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman pp. 24-36 in Estelle B. Freedman, ed., The Essential Feminist Reader (Modern Library, 2007), (Originally published in 1792).
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Declaration of Sentiments” in Freedman, pp. 57-62. (Originally published in 1848).
Sojourner Truth, two speeches in Freedman, pp. 63-66.
Jill Lepore, “Vast Designs, How America Came of Age” in The New Yorker, Oct. 29 2007 at http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/10/29/071029crbo_books_lepore?printable=true
Modern History Sourcebook: selections from the New York Times when the 19th Amendment was passed at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1920womensvote.html
“Women and Politics,” The Atlantic Monthly, June 10, 1999. see: http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/womenpols.htm
Optional reading: “Slaves in the Attic,” in Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History, pp. 105-142.
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The Gender Gap in American Voting % of women and men voting |
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Source: Center for American Women in Politics, 2004 | |
Have a look at this site: World Economic Forum: Global Gender Gap 2008 http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Gender%20Gap/index.htm
Gender Differences in Voter Turnout (1 page PDF, Rutgers University Center for Women and Politics)
Gender Gap: Voting Differences in Presidential Elections (1 page PDF, Rutgers University Center for Women and Politics)
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About Me
Morra Aarons-Mele utilizes social media strategies to help employers, employees and communities connect. She also consults with leading organizations on how women can use the internet for professional and personal development. In her spare time, Morra enjoys blogging about women and politics. Read her full bio >>
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