Civil Society and Gender Justice: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (Studies on Civil Society Book 4)

Civil society and civic engagement have increasingly become topics of discussion at the national and international level. The editors of this volume ask, does the concept of “civil society” include gender equality and gender justice? Or, to frame the question differently, is civil society a feminist concept? Conversely, does feminism need the concept of civil society? This important volume offers both a revised gendered history of civil society and a program for making it more egalitarian in the future. An interdisciplinary group of internationally known authors investigates the relationship between public and private in the discourses and practices of civil societies; the significance of the family for the project of civil society; the relation between civil society, the state, and different forms of citizenship; and the complex connection between civil society, gendered forms of protest and nongovernmental movements. While often critical of historical instantiations of civil society, all the authors nonetheless take seriously the potential inherent in civil society, particularly as it comes to influence global politics. They demand, however, an expansion of both the concept and project of civil society in order to make its political opportunities available to all. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EDITORS’ PREFACE INTRODUCTION: GENDERING CIVIL SOCIETY RETHINKING CIVIL SOCIETY AND GENDER JUSTICE Chapter 1 CIVIL SOCIETY GENDERED: RETHINKING THEORIES AND PRACTICES Chapter 2 DILEMMAS OF GENDER JUSTICE GENDERING EQUITY, JUSTICE, AND RECOGNITION EARLY CIVIL SOCIETIES IN THEORY AND PRACTICE Chapter 3 THE PROGRESS OF “CIVILIZATION” WOMEN, GENDER, AND ENLIGHTENED PERSPECTIVES ON CIVIL SOCIETY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN Chapter 4 THE CITY AND THE CITOYENNE ASSOCIATIONAL CULTURE AND FEMALE CIVIC VIRTUES IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN Chapter 5 FEMINISTS CAMPAIGNS IN “PUBLIC SPACE” CIVIL SOCIETY, GENDER JUSTICE, AND THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN FEMINISM CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE FAMILY Chapter 6 THE FAMILY—A CORE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL SOCIETY A PERSPECTIVE ON THE MIDDLE CLASSES IN IMPERIAL GERMANY Chapter 7 VEILED ASSOCIATIONS THE MUSLIM MIDDLE CLASS, THE FAMILY, AND THE COLONIAL STATE IN NINETEENTHAND TWENTIETH-CENTURY INDIA1 Chapter 8 “ONLY CONNECT” FAMILY, GENDER, AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA CIVIL SOCIETY, GENDERED PROTEST, AND NONGOVERNMENTAL MOVEMENTS Chapter 9 NECESSARY CONFRONTATIONS GENDER, CIVIL SOCIETY, AND THE POLITICS OF FOOD IN EIGHTEENTH- TO TWENTIETH-CENTURY GERMANY Chapter 10 “GOOD” VS. “MILITANT” CITIZENS MASCULINITY, CLASS PROTEST, AND THE “CIVIL” PUBLIC IN BRITAIN BETWEEN 1867 AND 1939 Chapter 11 CIVIL SOCIETY IN A NEW KEY? FEMINIST AND ALTERNATIVE GROUPS IN 1960S–1970S WEST GERMANY Chapter 12 CIVIL SOCIETY-BY-DESIGN EMERGING CAPITALISM, ESSENTIALIST FEMINISM, AND WOMEN’S NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN POSTSOCIALIST EASTERN EUROPE CIVIL SOCIETY, THE STATE, AND CITIZENSHIP Chapter 13 THE RISE OF WELFARE STATES AND THE REGENDERING OF CIVIL SOCIETY THE CASE OF THE UNITED STATES Chapter 14 FELLOW FEELING A TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON CONCEPTIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND CITIZENSHIP IN “WHITE MEN’S COUNTRIES,” 1890–1910 Chapter 15 “BRINGING THE STATE BACK IN” CIVIL SOCIETY, WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS, AND THE STATE CIVIL SOCIETY, PUBLIC SPACE, AND GENDER JUSTICE: A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY CONTRIBUTORS INDEX