‘First wave’ feminism in Canada: The ideas of the English-Canadian suffragists, 1877–1918

Part of the purpose of this paper is to show that a consensus now exists among historians of the movement about the limitations of the suffragists' programme. Studies of the American, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand movements concur that the suffragists wished to preserve the family and did not challenge the priority of woman's maternal function.This paper takes a closer look at the evolution of the historical debate in an attempt to establish what is accepted and what remains open to conjecture. At the same time it tries to explain why the suffragists adopted a moderate social platform by borrowing and expanding upon themes raised by other historians. The major contention is that it is possible to explain the suffragists' attitudes without either condemning or lauding them.     

‘Free from all uninvited touch of man’: Women's campaigns around sexuality, 1880–1914

The history of sex in the last 100 years has generally been represented as a triumphant march from Victorian prudery into the light of sexual freedom. From a feminist perspective the picture is different. During the last wave of feminism women, often represented as prudes and puritans by historians, waged a massive campaign to transform male sexual behaviour in the interests of women. They campaigned against the abuse of women in prostitution, the sexual abuse of children, and marital rape. This article describes the women's activities in the social purity movement, and the increasingly militant stance taken by some pre-war feminists who refused to relate sexually to men, in the context of the developing feminist analysis of sexuality. The main purpose of the paper is to show that in order to understand the significance of this aspect of the women's movement we must look at the area of sexuality not merely as a sphere of personal fulfilment but as an arena of struggle in which male dominance and women's subordination can be most powerfully reinforced and maintained or fundamentally challenged.     

Faking it : The Story of “Ohh!”

This paper examines the phenomenon of faking orgasm in order to construct a critical analysis of heterosexual relations. Such an analysis, we argue, is central to the task of developing effective HIV/AIDS educational campaigns for heterosexual people. In the paper we examine the different narratives upon which heterosexual men and women rely when they are discussing their sexual and relationship experiences. We analyse these in terms of recent feminist theories of embodiment. We conclude by arguing the importance of this kind of analysis to HIV/AIDS prevention and education.     

New directions in the political history of women: A case study of the National Woman's Party's campaign for the equal rights amendment, 1920–1927

This paper examines the National Woman's Party campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1920s as an important chapter in the history of organized feminism in America. The analysis focuses on the NWP's two major objectives: to create gender equality and female autonomy and to redefine the agenda of American politics to include women's special interests. Drawing on the work of women's historians and feminist anthropologists, this paper also suggests several new perspectives for studying the political history of women. The relationship between the public and domestic spheres in general, and the relationship between women's politics and women's culture in particular, are discussed as central components for any new theoretical perspectives on women's political history.     

Struggling and surviving: The life style of European immigrant breadwinning mothers in American industrial cities, 1900–1930

Immigrant working mothers created strategies to meet increasingly competing demands of family and job. Despite their wage-earning capacity and rising expectations, ethnic mores, patriarchy, poverty and discrimination perpetuated a rigid family hierarchy which precluded freedom for these women to seek alternatives to their traditional life styles.     

White women as burden: On playing the role of feminist “experts” in china

This article explores the problems of international, collaborative feminist research by telling the story of two Canadian academics who embarked on a journey to do feminist research with a group of Chinese academics. The literature warns of the difficulties of collaboration and the dangers of power imbalances that are positional, procedural and representational. In this instance, the Canadians, despite their positional advantages, experienced little power in the planning of the research, feeling themselves as a burden rather than a boon at many points during the process. They analyze the reasons for this, and conclude that the content of their conversation mattered less than the form in which it was delivered. Despite a number of difficulties, the project was of value for the collaborators. For the Chinese, it was a chance for women faculty in less privileged universities to work together, with new resources, on a topic that needed validation. For the Canadians, it resulted in an increased appreciation for the specificity of North American feminism, varieties of Chinese feminism and the contextual nature of research methodologies. The article concludes with a discussion of the value and limits of universities' new emphasis on internationalism and its meaning for feminists with an emphasis on the value of such projects, if appropriately conceived and managed.     

The history of women in science: A women's studies course

Women have always done scientific work but have rarely received the recognition they deserved. As a result most of us learn, from elementary school on through university, that science is and always has been the province of men. Women are seldom mentioned in history of science courses and their contributions are often attributed to male scientists. This paper describes a lower division course in the history of women in science, offered jointly through the Women's Studies Program and the Biology Department at Portland State University. It includes a discussion of the topics and issues covered in the course and the types of questions raised about women scientists. Examples are given to illustrate historic trends and some of our experiences in the classroom are described. A representative bibliography provides an introduction to various aspects of the subject.     

Na shariram nadhi, My body is mine: The urban women’s health movement in india and its negotiation of modernity

This article explores the Indian women’s health movement for productive insights into current debates on the “travelling” meanings of modernity. Taking the feminist demand for bodily autonomy as a starting point for the exploration, the article traces the trajectories described by some of modernity’s central concepts: choice, freedom, autonomy, rights, and [developmental versions of] progress. The journeys described here take place not only between the “global” and the “local,” but between metropole and colony in the colonial period, and between the nation-state and the women’s movement in the postcolonial period. As the case example of the controversy over amniocentesis (used in India in the identification and abortion of female foetuses) illustrates, terms such as choice and development have become central to contestations between the women’s movement, the state, and the professional middle classes.