Annotated Bibliography on Gender Discrimination and the Rise of Feminism in America

Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing." Revised edition for Burlington County College. NY: Pearson (2011).

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Through the voice of her mother, Alice Walker encapsulates the plight of women in the then American society. She does not rescind to express the transformative role that her mother played in their lives but still bore the feeling of delayed gratification in her male centred society. She complicates her plight by depicting how gender bias, poverty and racial prejudice reinforced to undermine her mothers ability to obtain education just like other male folks. Alice Walker who is the author of Everyday Use inadvertently relives the memories of the 1900s American women, mistreated by their husbands in a society that held an engendered perspective about them. The literature is depictive of a feminist writing, which was a culmination of many years of struggle by the American women to reclaim a better status in the society. Despite the challenges of the women charters in the writing, Alice does not disappoint to give the impression of a new dawn for women in which they are able to express their thoughts and get the best they can achieve. The change is attributable to a feminist movement that redefined the roles and place of women in the society after the American Civil wars and later spread to the rest of the world.

Inglehart, Ronald, and Pippa Norris. Rising Tide: Gender equality and cultural change around the world. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Inglehart and Pippa captures the epical moments in the transformation of the status of women in the world during the late twentieth century. They chronicle the specific transformational agenda pursued by major international organizations such as the United Nations. One of such initiatives is the UN Decade for Women, which ended in 1985 and used as an avenue for championing women rights. The two authors focuses on the role of women in championing their own liberation through establishing womens organizations and networks for sharing ideas throughout the world. Nonetheless, the authors capture the fundamental role that institutions played in supporting women in their clamour for equal rights.

McRobbie, Angela. The aftermath of feminism: Gender, culture and social change. Sage, 2009.

The book concisely examines the social and cultures landscape that ensued in the post-feminist era. The book contextualizes the situations characterized by a new wave of anti-feminist sentiments, which signifies a backlash against the gains made in mainstreaming women rights in the 1970s and 1980s. The author exemplifies that feminism has been institutionalized into terminologies such as empowerment and choice. Nonetheless, the author perceives this institutionalization of gender concepts as a means used to muzzle the women and prevent the resurgence of the sting feminist movement. From a conspiracy perspective, the author develops the idea that the Reformation of feminism using terminologies such as empowerment only involves women in masking the contested focus on feminism as social change.

Bolzendahl, Catherine, and Daniel J. Myers. "Feminist attitudes and support for gender equality: Opinion change in women and men, 1974-1998." Social Forces 83.2 (2004): 759-790.

The literature assesses the popular attitudes on the concepts of feminism and gender equality. It evaluates the trends and determinants of women and men attitudes on gender within the period 1974 to 1998. It uses key issues to determine the perceptions including opinions on abortion, sexual behaviour, public roles and family responsibilities of women to determine their place in the society over the years. It draws the conclusion that attitudes about the significant roles of women have continued to liberalize and converge in most cases except on controversial issues such as abortion. The authors underscore the need to focus attention on the approaches underlying production of feminist opinions and a subsequent theoretical integration interests and exposure in a dynamic social process.

DeLuzio, Crista. Women's Rights: People and Perspectives. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Print.

The book illustrates that the participation of women in the labour force in the post-war America varied across class and race. It also provides the different motivation for women involvement in active employment, which includes the need to attain economic sustenance for their families, and to secure the families among the middle class. Nonetheless, the book indicates the irrespective of the motivation of women, all of them became victims of different levels of discrimination in the post-war workplaces in America. Women were relegated to less critical and low-paying jobs while the men occupied senior and lucrative positions thus undermining the clamour for female liberation. It also captures the different social challenges emerging in families with working-class women including divorce. Despite the challenges that women endured, the author asserts that the feminist movements ushered in an awakening for females and placed them in a better position to compete favourably with the men.

LeGates, Marlene. In their time: A history of feminism in western society. Routledge, 2012.

From the onset, the book undertakes to explain increasing writing and sensitivity to feminism 30 years at its time of publication. The author delves into various intricacies surrounding the contemporary feminism such as the debate over differences in the application of the concept to all women. For instance, racial differences have become a controversy in the universal application of feminism. Therefore, the primary difference in embracing feminism as a universal concept is the difficulty inherent in acknowledging the diversity among women while at the same time addressing their gender issues. It focuses on the practical approaches used to concentrate on issues that women share while at the same time leveraging in the differences.

Works Cited

Bolzendahl, Catherine, and Daniel J. Myers. "Feminist attitudes and support for gender equality: Opinion change in women and men, 1974-1998." Social Forces 83.2 (2004): 759-790.

DeLuzio, Crista. Women's Rights: People and Perspectives. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Print.

Inglehart, Ronald, and Pippa Norris. Rising tide: Gender equality and cultural change around the world. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing." Revised edition for Burlington County College. NY: Pearson (2011).

LeGates, Marlene. In their time: A history of feminism in western society. Routledge, 2012.

McRobbie, Angela. The aftermath of feminism: Gender, culture and social change. Sage, 2009.