Women and Socialism - Socialism and Women : : Europe Between the World Wars / / ed. by Helmut Gruber, Pamela Graves, ontributors.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Bard, Christine,; Blom, Ida,; De Weerdt, Denise,; Eley, Geoff,; Frangeur, Renée,; Gibson, Mary,; Graves, Pamela,; Grossmann, Atina,; Gruber, Helmut,; Jansz, Ulla,; Nash, Mary,; Perrot, Michelle,; Robert, Jean-Louis,; Romer Christensen, Hilda,; Saldern, Adelheid von,; Tilly, Louise A.,
• HerausgeberIn: Graves, Pamela,; Gruber, Helmut,; ontributors, ,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [1998]; ©1998
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (450 p.)

Until recently, histories of women tended to be segregated from the larger historical context. This pioneering volume places the role of women within the history of the interwar years, whenboth the women's and socialist movements became prominent, and raises the key question of how power was distributed between the genders in a historical setting. The emblematic title of this volume highlights the fundamental conception of this comparative study of eleven West European countries: that in the interwar decades two great movements gained in strength, converged, diverged, competed, and cooperated. Each of these movements is viewed as acomplex matrix of organized and unorganized participants. However, by far the most provocative questions deal with gender relations. Central to these are definitions of femininity and masculinity in terms of mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion at the workplace, in the home, and in the political arena. The mystique of the "new woman" in the 1920s and the 1930s challenged traditional notions of gender identity and relations, not the least of which was the redefinition of the role of men. The main issue addressed in this volume is not how male socialists "dealt with" the woman question or how women functioned in or outside left-wingparties; it rather centers on illustrating the power distribution between the sexes in specific political and cultural contexts. This rigorously focused and coherent volume, to which some of the best-known scholars in the field have contributed, will no doubt establish itself as the standard reference work for years to come.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- List of Photo Essays -- List of Acronyms -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1914: Great Feminist Expectations -- Part I. Social Experiments -- Introduction -- 1. The “New Woman”: Realities and Illusions of Gender Equality in Red Vienna -- 2. Modernization as Challenge: Perceptions and Reactions of German Social Democratic Women -- 3. German Communism and New Women: Dilemmas and Contradictions -- Part II. Grassroots Initiatives -- Introduction -- 4. An Experiment in Women-Centered Socialism: Labour Women in Britain -- 5. Gender and Democratic Socialism in the Netherlands -- 6. Bread and Roses: Pragmatic Women in the Belgium Workers’ Party -- Part III. Political Fractures -- Introduction -- 7. French Women in the Crossfire of Class, Sex, Maternity and Citizenship -- 8. The French Communist Party and Women 1920-1939: From “Feminism” to Familialism -- 9. “Ideals of Redemption”: Socialism and Women on the Left in Spain -- 10. Women and the Left in the Shadow of Fascism in Interwar Italy -- Part IV. Prelude to Welfare States -- Introduction -- 11. Social Democrats and the Woman Question in Sweden: A History of Contradiction -- 12. A Double Responsibility: Women, Men, and Socialism in Norway -- 13. Socialist Feminists and Feminist Socialists in Denmark 1920-1940 -- Part V. Reflections -- 14. Women, Citizenship, and Power -- 15. From Welfare Politics to Welfare States: Women and the Socialist Question -- List of Contributors -- Indexes -- Name Index -- Subject Index -- Subject Index by Country