The politics of publishing: Selection and rejection of women's words in print

The commercial publishing industry is controlled by men and under the guise of rational and objective decision-making, it manages to produce and disseminate material that it claims to be ‘universal’ and representative of all humanity. In fact, through gatekeeping, the publishing industry selects and promotes the ideas and knowledge that effectively maintain and support the dominant male view of the world. This constitutes a rarely acknowledged ‘political’ dimension in the production of knowledge and in the publishing industry. Alternative views, such as those presented by feminists, are contained at a level where they inevitably remain marginal and without the legitimacy that the sheer volume of production and expensive promotion accord to masculist ideals and practices. Feminist publishing cannot compete in terms of scale or influence and feminist writers and feminists in publishing have to contend with the issue of marginality — both ideological and pragmatic — in a male-dominated area. ‘Book publishing, like all industries, is controlled by rich, white heterosexual men’. (West, 1978:6)     

Spreading the Word: feminist print cultures and the Women's Liberation Movement

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the significance of print cultures to the Women's Liberation Movement. It highlights feminist interventions into a male-dominated publishing industry through women's writing, publishing and political commitment, with shifts towards feminist publishing cultures, both emboldened by the WLM and empowered by separatist networks. The construction and publication of feminist magazines was a significant aspect of feminist print cultures and activism. This article discusses the different publishing hinterlands of three important feminist magazines: Shrew, Spare Rib and Womens Voice. Arguing that whilst their concerns were overlapping, their distinctive approaches represented the diversity of print activism of the WLM.     

Gender and Australian history in the 1990s

Tom Griffiths, Hunters and Collectors (Cambridge University Press) Melbourne, 1996. Chris Healy, From the Ruins of Colonialism (Cambridge University Press) Melbourne, 1997. Alan Atkinson, The Europeans in Australia: A History, Volume One (Oxford University Press) Melbourne, 1997.

Tom Griffiths, Hunters and Collectors (Cambridge University Press) Melbourne, 1996.

Chris Healy, From the Ruins of Colonialism (Cambridge University Press) Melbourne, 1997.

Alan Atkinson, The Europeans in Australia: A History, Volume One (Oxford University Press) Melbourne, 1997.     

Multiple femininities in two Russian women’s magazines, 1970s–1990s

In both the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods, femininity and beauty were traits often attributed to the ideal working mother portrayed and promoted in state media. But with greater exposure to global beauty ideals in the post-communist era, the sexualized and beautified female body acquired a social value that was independent of its role in the reproductive process. In this paper, I analyse changes in the way care for the female body was represented in two Russian women’s magazines Rabotnitsa and Krest’yanka (1970s–1990s). Over this period, the ideal of the working mother figures less prominently and there is an increasing focus on the ways that women-consumers ought to work on their individual body-projects. This might appear to be a radical change. But by analysing the representations of women more carefully, I show that the move towards the privatization of the body project was already under way in the late Soviet period, but only for some categories of women. That is, non-Slavic women of various ages could be working mothers, but individual consumption was a realm reserved for their Slavic countrywomen.     

Women's studies and men's careers: How the ‘social problem’ of women in education maintained the academic status of men in the 1970s

This paper investigates the changing status of research of women and education during the 1970s. All articles published in the American Educational Research Journal, the Journal of Educational Psychology, Child Development, Sociology of Education, and the Journal of Educational Measurement from 1973 through 1978 are included in this study. A total of 2239 research articles are identified and examined for article content and authorship. Of these articles, 13.5 per cent deal with women and education, 15.9 per cent are authored by women solely and 28.0 per cent are co-authored by women and men. There is a significant increase in the number of articles on women and education, and it appears that proportionately more of these articles are written by women; however, there is no proportional change in women's authorship of (1) total articles written by women, (2) articles on women and education, or (3) articles on topics other than women and education. It is concluded that women and education became a legitimate topic for scholarly inquiry during the 1970s, but that this increased legitimacy did not benefit women specifically.     

Toilets and resistance in Italian factories in the 1950s

ABSTRACT

In the literature on industrial conflict, the Italy of the 1950s is often described as marked by worker acquiescence and an absence of conflict, ensured by high unemployment and the severe repression of union activism. My research challenges this. While formal, organized collective action subsided, workers continued to show their defiance and opposition to factory authorities by means of diverse acts of individual resistance that have escaped scholarly study. Drawing on anthropological theory, particularly Scott’s notion of ‘weapons of the weak’ – the strategies used by subordinate classes when facing heavy repression or lack of resources – this article undertakes an innovative analysis of the use of insults, irreverent behaviour, rumours and mockery of foremen and bosses to undermine the authority and legitimacy of factory hierarchies. It casts new light on the protest cultures and practices of Italian workers in the 1950s and improves our understanding of post-1945 industrial conflict.     

Women’s international Democratic Federation,the ‘Third World’ and the Global Cold War from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s

ABSTRACT

This article examines the work of the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) with women from Africa, Asia and Latin America. It analyzes their role in the WIDF’s decision-making process and activities during a period marked by decolonization and the intensification of women’s rights activism outside Europe. This analysis contributes to a better understanding of the extent to which the WIDF’s official position on support for the rights of women in the Global South was translated into the practical work of organization. The article is based on materials from Moscow archives that have hitherto not been explored in research on the WIDF. It shows that, in spite of the WIDF’s formal anti-colonial stance, women from the Global South were not always given a voice or able to insert their demands into WIDF policy.     

Women’s Sexuality in the South African Constitutional Court

In 2002 the constitutionality of the Sexual Offences Act, which criminalizes the behaviour of sex workers but fails to punish their clients, was at issue in the South African Constitutional Court. The majority of the Court held that the legislation does not constitute indirect discrimination on the basis of gender. The minority judgment found indirect gender discrimination, but held that the legislation did not infringe upon sex workers’ rights to dignity and privacy. This note argues that the reasoning in both the majority and minority judgments reflects and contributes to detrimental stereotypes of feminine sexuality, which, in turn, exacerbate women’s vulnerability to H.I.V. infection in South Africa.     

Domineering mothers in the 1950s: image and reality

While new economic and social possibilities were opening up for American women in the post World War II period, it was a time in which the only acceptable goals for women were marriage and the family. However, in spite of the fact that so many women conformed to this norm, they were simultaneously blamed for being overbearing with their children. Mothers were especially blamed for overprotecting their sons and creating weak and unmasculine men. It was a period of changing gender configurations and new personality goals. The anxiety and hostility this generated was directed at the mothers who were devoting themselves to their children in the way they were ‘supposed’ to.