What Really Made 1950s Housewives So Miserable
Where did the image of the quietly desperate stay-at-home mother come from?
The History of Outlawing Abortion in America
Abortion was first criminalized in the U.S. in the mid-19th century. A key argument was that too many white women were ending their pregnancies.
How World’s Fairs Helped Train Southern Suffragists
There’s no cultural touchstone quite like an exhibition or fair—think the Great Exhibition of 1851, which introduced the ...
Women Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement
Women leaders of the Civil Rights movement worked under the triple constraints of gender, race, and class. Their contribution hasn't gotten its due.
What the Girl Scouts’ Founder Wanted Girls to Know
Girl Scouts and Girl Guides around the world celebrate World Thinking Day, a holiday aimed at helping global scouts connect and reflect on their past.
Identity Politics and Popular Movements
Issues tied to gender have often been part of broad-based popular movements, like the Zetetic movement in early nineteenth-century England.
How Women’s Studies Erased Black Women
The founders of Women’s Studies were overwhelmingly white, and focused on the experiences of white, heterosexual women.
Why Do We Take Pride in Working for a Paycheck?
In the modern imagination, work is a source of pride, but early labor unions regarded hourly toil in industry as "wage slavery."
Rebecca Harding Davis, American Realist
How do we record the voices of those who are silenced? We might do well to remember one of ...
How the Internet Makes Women’s Work Visible
When I left my fancy corporate job so that I’d have the flexibility to support my autistic son, I was afraid I’d disappear.