Womanhoods and Equality in the United States : 20th–21st Century Perspectives

Womanhoods and Equality in the United States explores how the idea of equality has evolved along with the debates that have animated contemporary American women's history.This book argues that “womanhood” is neither a unified concept nor a monolithic experience but rather a multifaceted notion. This collection thus looks at this plural dimension of womanhood—womanhoods—with a special focus on equality as a common goal. The authors question what equality means depending on many factors such as race, class, sexuality, education, marital or parental status, physical appearance, and political orientation, and address timely issues including abortion rights, Black womanhood, and sexual violence on college campuses.Womanhoods and Equality in the United States is an essential resource for academics and students in gender studies, American sociocultural history, and the sociology of social movements. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Acknowledgements Foreword Constituting Womanhood: A Century of Struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment The Introduction of the Equal Rights Amendment Early Contestation Over Women’s Need for Labor Protections Navigating Political Power in Congress Divided Womanhood and the Rules of Ratification Changing the Rules of Change Conclusion Notes Introduction Womanhoods Equality A Mosaic Notes Reference List Part I Fashioning and Refashioning Womanhoods 1 Echoes of Womanhood: Listening to Women’s Voices On the Radio Gender Trouble On the Air WNYC: Womanhood(s) of New York City Conclusion Notes Reference List 2 Women’s Magazines and Fashion Magazines as (Re)Sources for (De)Constructing Womanhood: Working... Producing Femininity: Fashion Magazines’ Format and Power Dynamics Representing Women in Changing Times: The Case of the Women’s Movement as Seen Through Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar Readers’ Agency and Individual Readings: Fashion Magazines as Unilateral Purveyors of Content? Conclusion Notes Reference List 3 The Right to Be Beautiful: Annie Malone, Beauty Culture, and New Negro Womanhood An Elitist Vision of New Negro Womanhood Stereotypes of “Ugliness” Beauty Culture and the Restrictive Construction of Black Women’s Bodies Beauty Culture as a Space of Redefinition of New Negro Womanhood Annie Malone and New Negro Womanhoods Advertising New Negro Womanhood Conclusion Notes Reference List Part II Violence and Womanhood 4 The Paradox of Violent Women in the U.S. Antiabortion Movement Coverture as a Dividing Line Between Progressive and Conservative Women Beauty as a Conservative Value Violence as an Escape From the Beauty Cult? Conclusion Notes Reference List 5 Gender-Based and State Violence From Central America to the U.S./Mexico Border: From Invisibility to Visibility Fleeing Violence in the Country of Origin to Experiencing Other Kinds of Violence On the Migratory Journey Escaping Violence Through Migrant Caravans as a Way to Gain Visibility and Avoid More Violence Dealing With the Impacts of the Migrant Protection Protocols On the 2018 Migrant Caravan in Douglas/Agua Prieta Border Art as a Means to Resist and Denounce Violence at the U.S./Mexico Border Conclusion Notes Reference List 6 Title IX: Fighting Sexual Violence On U.S. College Campuses By Reframing It as Sex Discrimination Defining Sexual Harassment as a Form of Sex Discrimination in Higher Education Theorizing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace as Sex Discrimination Sexual Harassment From the Workplace to Educational Institutions Sexual Violence On College Campuses: From a Criminal to a Civil Rights Approach Expanding the Scope of Title IX in Sexual Harassment Claims Leveraging Title IX to Hold Colleges Accountable for Instances of Sexual Violence OCR’s Shift to Stronger Enforcement of Title IX The Momentum for Student Activism Against Campus Sexual Violence A Conservative Backlash Strengthening Title IX to Better Address Sexual Violence in Higher Education Conclusion Notes Reference List Part III Womanhood: Sites of Debate and Negotiation 7 “Just a Housewife”: Reassessing Feminist Portrayals of the American Housewife in the 1960s and 1970s How the Doctrine of Separate Spheres Shaped Domesticity “Why I Want a Wife”: The Unquantifiable Nature of Housework and Care Work The Home as the Site of Women’s Oppression Conclusion Notes Reference List 8 Legal Frames, Scientific “Expertise,” and Abortion Debates in the United States Politicized Science, Morality Politics, and Abortion Expertise Legal Framing Junctures and Their Effect On Scientific Expertise Medical Knowledge and Credibility Struggles: Texas SB 8 and Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Conclusion Notes Reference List Index Womanhoods and Equality in the United States explores how the idea of equality has evolved along with the debates that have animated contemporary American womens history. This book argues that womanhood is neither a unified concept nor monolithic experience but rather a multifaceted notion. This collection thus looks at this plural dimension of womanhoodwomanhoodswith a special focus on equality as a common goal. The authors question what equality means depending on many factors such as race, class, sexuality, education, marital or parental status, physical appearance, and political orientation, and address timely issues including abortion rights, Black womanhood, and sexual violence on college campuses. Womanhoods and Equality in the United States is an essential resource for academics and students in gender studies, American socio-cultural history, and the sociology of social movements.