Work,love and politics: Recent studies of nineteenth‐century British women

Olive Banks, Becoming a Feminist. The Social Origins of ‘First Wave’ Feminism (Wheatsheaf) Brighton, 1986; Barbara Caine, Destined To Be Wives. The Sisters of Beatrice Webb (Clarendon) Oxford, 1986; Sandra Stanley Holton, Feminism and Democracy. Women's Suffrage and Reform Politics in Britain, 1900–1918 (Cambridge University Press) New York, 1986; Pat Jalland, Women, Marriage and Politics 1860–1914 (Clarendon) Oxford, 1986; Sylvia Walby, Patriarchy at Work. Patriarchal and Capitalist Relations in Employment (Polity) Cambridge, 1986.     

Schooling women

Paige Porter (ed.), Gender and Education (Deakin University Press) Geelong, 1986. Noelene Kyle, Her Natural Destiny: The Education of Women in New South Wales (University of New South Wales Press) Kensington, 1986.     

Women,ordination and the church

Margaret Ann Franklin (ed), The Force of the Feminine (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1986; Margaret Ann Franklin and Ruth Sturmey Jones (eds), Opening the Cage (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1987; Kate Nelson and Dominica Nelson (eds), Sweet Mothers, Sweet Maids (Penguin) Ringwood, 1986; Karen Armstrong, The Gospel According to Woman (Elm Tree) London, 1986; Kerreen Reiger, The Daughters of Eve and Mary: Women in the Modern World, Occasional Paper No. 6, IPOFAC, Mission of St James & St John, Melbourne, 1987.     

Little revolutions in the realm of reproduction

Ann Oakley, From Here to Maternity (Penguin) Harmondsworth, 1986; Berwyn Lewis, No Children by Choice (Penguin) Ringwood, 1986; Gloria Frydman, Mature‐Age Mothers (Penguin) Ringwood, 1987; Sandra Scarr and Judy Dunn, Mother Care/Other Care: The child‐care dilemma for women and children (Penguin) Harmondsworth, 1987; Caroline new and Miriam David, For the Children's Sake: Making childcare more than women's business (Penguin) Harmondsworth, 1985.     

Key women,key issues

Gillian Beer, George Eliot, Angela Leighton, Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Key Women Writers series (Harvester Press) Sussex, 1986.     

Feminism and science

Ruth Bleier (ed.), Feminist Approaches to Science (Pergamon Press, The Athene Series) New York, 1986.     

Which way to the barricades?

Ann Curthoys, For and Against Feminism. A Personal Journey into Feminist Theory and History (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1988; Elizabeth Wilson, Hidden Agendas. Theory, Politics, and Experience in the Women's Movement (Tavistock) London & New York, 1986; Charlotte Bunch, Passionate Politics. Feminist Theory in Action (St. Martin's Press) New York, 1987.     

Jean Devanny

Carole Ferrier (ed), Point of Departure: the Autobiography of Jean Devanny (University of Queensland Press) St Lucia, Queensland, 1986.     

Knowing voices: From silence to wisdom

Mary F. Belenky, Blythe McV. Clinchy, Nancy R. Goldberger, & Jill M. Tarule, Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice and Mind (Basic Books) New York, 1986.     

One hundred years of women in universities — A confidence trick?

Gabrielle Baldwin, Women at Monash (Monash University) Clayton, Victoria, 1985; Bettina Cass, Madge Dawson, Diana Temple, Sue Willis, Anne Winkler, Why So Few? Women Academics in Australian Universities (Sydney University Press) Sydney, 1983; Madge Dawson and Heather Radi (eds), Against the Odds. Fifteen professional women reflect on their lives and careers (Hale & Iremonger) Sydney, 1984; Patricia Grimshaw and Lynne Strahan (eds), The Half Open Door. Sixteen modern Australian women look at professional life and achievements (Hale & Iremonger) Sydney, 1982; Farley Kelly, Degrees of Liberation. A short history of women in the University of Melbourne, Women Graduates’ Centenary Committee of the University of Melbourne, 1985; Alison Mackinnon, The New Women. Adelaide's early women graduates, Wakefield Press in association with the University of Adelaide Foundation, 1986.     

On the so‐called stability of small landowners in Bangladesh

In their article in The Journal of Peasant Studies (Vol. 13, No. 3, April 1986), Bhaduri, Rahman and Arn argue that there is a marked tendency towards stabilisation of ownership even among smaller size‐groups. In the present note, it is postulated that the Bhaduri et al. argument is made in isolation from the context of the political economy of Bangladeshi agriculture. Once that context is established, the stability of small‐landownership is seen to be more apparent than real. Such ‘landownership’ is sustained via ‘self‐exploitation’ and under‐consumption, and is unlikely to last.     

Small farmers are being proletarianised ‐ a note on persistence and polarization by Bhaduri et al.

It is suggested in this note that the so‐called ‘stability’ or ‘persistence’ of the small peasantry, postulated by Bhaduri, Rahman and Arn in their article in The Journal of Peasant Studies of April 1986 (Vol.13, No.3) is a myth. Using the data presented by Bhaduri et al. themselves, and data from other micro studies, the author argues that differentiation and disintegration of the peasantry are proceeding in the countryside of Bangladesh. This may be happening slowly, but it is clearly in evidence.     

Persistence of the smallholder,withering away of the small farmer: Comments on Bhaduri,Rahman and Arn

Bhaduri, Rahman and Arn's article on the persistence of small farms in the April 1986 issue of The Journal of Peasant Studies is reviewed. The article raises a number of critical points for understanding the effects of capitalist penetration of land‐holding patterns in Bangladesh. It is argued that the discussion would benefit from a refined methodological and definitional focus to avoid misrepresenting processes of polarisation. Particular attention in this review is given to a critique of the construction of the land stability ratio and to the conceptualisation and definition of the term ‘small farm’.     

Do Academic and Social Goals Predict Planned Alcohol Use Among College-Bound High School Graduates?

Actively pursuing important goals predicts positive affect and well-being (Emmons, 1986, J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 51: 1058–1068; Emmons and King, 1988, J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 54: 1040–1048; Salmela-Aro and Nurmi, 1997, J. Adult Dev. 4: 179–188). College-bound high school graduates (n=943) completed the ULTRA Orientation Survey prior to college. Planned alcohol use differed by gender, fraternity/sorority participation, and Honors membership. Students who appraised academic goals as more important and less difficult/stressful planned to consume less alcohol in their 1st year of college. Greater importance and lower difficulty/stressfulness of social goals predicted more planned drinking. Relationships of personal goals with drinking remained after controlling for group differences, and academic and social goal importance predicted plans to drink after controlling for alcohol use during high school senior year. The discussion focuses on the impact of goal appraisals on risk behavior, niche selection during the transition to college, and implications for the prevention of heavy drinking.

Beyond stereotypes: Mary Wilkins Freeman's radical critique of nineteenth‐century cults of femininity

MARY SHELLEY &; FRANKENSTEIN; THE FATE OF ANDROGYNY by William Veeder. (The University of Chicago Press, 1986), Cloth, $22.50

THE FEMALE MALADY: WOMEN, MADNESS, AND ENGLISH CULTURE, 1830–1980 by Elaine Showalter. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985), 312 pp., 29 illustrations.

PATRIARCHAL STRUCTURES IN SHAKESPEARE'S DRAMA by Peter Erickson. (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1985) xii + 209 pp. $22.00

RECLAIMING A CONVERSATION: THE IDEAL OF THE EDUCATED WOMAN by Jane Roland Martin. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985); ALMA MATER: DESIGN AND EXPERIENCE IN THE WOMEN'S COLLEGES FROM THEIR 19TH‐CENTURY BEGINNINGS TO THE 1930s by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz. (New York: Knopf, 1984); IN THE COMPANY OF EDUCATED WOMEN: A HISTORY OF WOMEN AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN AMERICA by Barbara Miller Solomon. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985).     

Book Reviews

MARY SHELLEY &; FRANKENSTEIN; THE FATE OF ANDROGYNY by William Veeder. (The University of Chicago Press, 1986), Cloth, $22.50

THE FEMALE MALADY: WOMEN, MADNESS, AND ENGLISH CULTURE, 1830–1980 by Elaine Showalter. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985), 312 pp., 29 illustrations.

PATRIARCHAL STRUCTURES IN SHAKESPEARE'S DRAMA by Peter Erickson. (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1985) xii + 209 pp. $22.00

RECLAIMING A CONVERSATION: THE IDEAL OF THE EDUCATED WOMAN by Jane Roland Martin. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985); ALMA MATER: DESIGN AND EXPERIENCE IN THE WOMEN'S COLLEGES FROM THEIR 19TH‐CENTURY BEGINNINGS TO THE 1930s by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz. (New York: Knopf, 1984); IN THE COMPANY OF EDUCATED WOMEN: A HISTORY OF WOMEN AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN AMERICA by Barbara Miller Solomon. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985).     

Before and after Mau Mau in Kenya

Paul Collier and Deepak Lal, Labour and Poverty in Kenya, 1900–1980, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986. Pp.296. £27.50.

Tabitha Kanogo, Squatters and the Roots of Mau Mau, London: James Currey, 1987. Pp.206. £25 and £8.95.

David Throup, Economic and Social Origins of Mau Mau, 1945–1953, London: James Currey, 1987. Pp.304. £25 and £8.95.

The author discusses three books on Kenya. Tabitha Kanogo's Squatters and the Roots of Mau Mau and Economic and Social Origins of Mau Mau by David Throup examine why there was agrarian revolt in Kenya during the 1940s and 1950s. This article raises questions about tragedy and community, the two key ideas upon which the two books rest. Another text, Labour and Poverty in Kenya, 1900–1980 by Paul Collier and Deepak Lal, proponents of the new liberal attack on development, is also reviewed. It is argued that Collier and Lal fail to grasp the basis of state intervention to support schemes of peasant production.     

School Socioeconomic Contexts and Adolescent Self-Descriptions in India

Many Western developmental theorists (e.g., Baumeister, 1986; Erikson, 1968) propose an increasingly autonomous self-construal during adolescence (e.g., Erikson, 1968). In this study self-construal among 191 older children and young adolescents (ages 9 through 16) from private and public schools in Madras, India, was assessed by means of the self attitudes instrument (Kuhn and McPartland, 1954) and the scoring system of Trafimow et al. (1991). Individuality in self-construal did not increase with age across all groups but was mediated by socioeconomic strata (SES, as indexed by school) and gender. Boys from high SES schools best conformed to the Western conceptualization of self-concept development. Boys from lower SES schools exhibited opposite patterns with higher group responses in the older age group. The findings highlight the importance of social context in individual development.     

Measuring School-Related Stressors in Adolescents

Some 1620 high school students responded to 68 items that measure adolescent stressors. Thirty-five of the items were based on J. P. Kohn and G. H. Frazer's Academic Stress Scale [1(1986) An Academic Stress Scale: Identification and Rated Importance of Academic Stressors, Psychological Reports, Vol. 59, pp. 415–426] developed in the United States, while the remaining 33 items were developed from P. Strutynski's [(1985) A Survey of Queensland Year 10, 11 and 12 Student Attitudes to Schools and Schooling, State Planning Committee, International Youth Year, Brisbane] lists of the most frequently named problems of 2336 Australian high school students. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to test and develop a measurement model developed from an extensive review of previous scales. The High School Stressors Scale emerged from the analytic process and measures nine school-related stressors. For researchers focusing on school-related problems and stressors among adolescents, the HSSS promises to be a very useful instrument. It has sound construct and predictive validity and adequate reliability, as demonstrated by the goodness-of-fit indices the squared multiple correlations.     

Dréed's drag kinging of race,sex, and the queering of the American racial machine‐désirante

Help Wanted, written by Franz Xavier Kroetz, translated by Gitta Honegger, directed by JoAnne Akalaitis, presented by Mabou Mines at Theatre for the New City, New York City, February and April, 1986.

The Women Here Are No Different, by Nancy Beckett, directed by Jenny O'Hara, presented by 13th Street Repertory Company, New York City. (attended on 8.27.86).

The Early Girl, by Caroline Kava. Directed by Munson Hicks. Circle Repertory Theatre.

Crowsfeet Dance Collective, Performance Space 122, New York City. June 1986.

This Is For You, Anna/A Spectacle of Revenge, directed by June Guralnick; created by The Anna Project (initiated at the Nightwood Theatre in Toronto), Suzanne Odette Khun, Ann‐Marie MacDonald, Patricia Nichols, Banuta Rubess, Maureen White; performed by members of The Women's Ensemble Theatre: Mia Kanazawa, Alonia King, Judith Pucci, Debbie Smith.

Rate It X, produced by Lynn Campbell, Claudette Charbonnear, Paula de Koenigsberg and Lucy Winer. OMT Productions Inc and Channel 4 of London, 1985. NYC Film Forum 1987. Distributed by Interama Inc.

Interview with Filmmaker Marken Gorris, conducted by Katheryn White with Helma Klooss at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel in New York City during Holland Film Week at Carnegie Hall Cinema, Spring, 1986.

Sex &; Dance Series, Dance Theatre Workshop (DTW) and P.S. 122, October‐November, 1986.

L.O.W. in Gaia, by Rachel Rosenthal. The Kitchen. New York City.

Books

Interviews With Contemporary Women Playwrights, by Kathleen Betsko and Rachel Koenig. New York: Beech Tree Books, 1987. 480 pp. Index.

Feminist Theatre: An Introduction to Plays of Contemporary British and American Women, by Helene Keyssar. London: MacMillan Modern Dramatists, 1984. 223 pp. Bibliography and index.

The public forum

A Report on the Women's Preconvention of the National Educational Theatre Conference, Tisch School of the Arts and the Gallatin Division, New York University, August 15–16, 1986.

Founding Mothers: Contemporary Dance as a Canon for Women's Studies, Department of Dance in collaboration with the Women's Studies Program and the Research Center for the Arts and Humanities, University of Maryland, College Park.

The Third Annual Women in Theatre Festival, Boston, March 20–29, 1987.