Gender studies: women and girls Books

Book SynopsisA collection of essays achieving a deeper understanding of the historical roots and theoretical assumptions that inform the realities and fantasies of German female leadership. The Western tradition of excluding women from leadership and disparaging their ability to lead has persisted for centuries, not least in Germany. Even today, resistance to women holding power is embedded in literary, cultural, andhistorical values that presume a fundamental opposition between the adjective "female" and the substantive "leader." Women who do achieve positions of leadership are faced with a panoply of prejudicial misconceptions: either considered incapable of leadership (conceived of as alpha-male behavior), or pigeonholed as suited only to particular forms of leadership (nurturing, cooperative, egalitarian, communicative, etc.). Focusing on the German-speakingcountries, this volume works to dismantle the prevailing disassociation of women and leadership across a range of disciplines. Contributions discuss literary works involving women's political authority and cultivation of community from Maria Antonia of Saxony to Elfriede Jelinek; women's social activism, as embodied by figures from Hedwig Dohm to Rosa Luxemburg; women in political film, environmentalism, neoliberalism, and the media from Leni Riefenstahlto Petra Kelly to Maren Ade; and political leaders Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel. Contributors: Dorothee Beck, Seth Berk, Friederike Brühöfener, Margaretmary Daley, Aude Defurne, Helga Druxes, Sarah Vandegrift Eldridge, Anke Gilleir, Rachel J. Halverson, Peter Hudis, Elisabeth Krimmer, Stephen Milder, Joyce Marie Mushaben, Lauren Nossett, Patricia Anne Simpson, Almut Spalding, Inge Stephan, Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker. Elisabeth Krimmer is Professor of German at the University of California, Davis. Patricia Anne Simpson is Professor of German at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.Trade ReviewKrimmer and Simpson bring together literary, historical, political, and media analyses to chart the shifting parameters for women's societal contribution and leadership since the eighteenth century. . . . [T]he contributions provide valuable insights into the strategies that women throughout German history have adopted to legitimate themselves amongst skeptical audiences. . . . German Studies scholars with interests in the history of women's writing and contemporary politics will find this volume particularly valuable; its historical and thematic depth promise new insights to any reader. -- Katharine Stone * GERMAN QUARTERLY *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Elisabeth Krimmer and Patricia Anne Simpson Women's Political Authority in Maria Antonia Walpurgis von Sachsen's Talestris: Königin der Amazonen (Thalestris: Queen of the Amazons, 1763) - Seth Berk Maxims of Leadership for a Silent Readership: Sophie von La Roche's Pomona für Teutschlands Töchter and Mein Schreibetisch - Margaretmary Daley Marcus Aurelius, Also for Girls: Discussions on the Best Form of Government in Enlightenment Hamburg - Almut Spalding Dux Femina Facti: Gender, Sovereignty, and (Women's) Literature; Marie Antonia of Saxony's Thalestris and Charlotte von Stein's Dido - Anke Gilleir Dux Femina Facti: Gender, Sovereignty, and (Women's) Literature in Marie Antonia of Saxony's Thalestris and Charlotte von Stein's Dido - Aude Defurne Crossing the Front Lines: Female Leadership, Politics, and War in Die Familie Seldorf - Sarah Vandegrift Eldridge Power Struggles between Women in Schiller's and Jelinek's Works - Inge Stephan Age and Purpose: Unmarried Women and Female Agency in the Works of E. Marlitt and Hedwig Dohm - Lauren Nossett "Heroism of the Mother": Women's Right's Pioneer Jeannette Schwerin, Motherlove, and Women's Leadership in German-Speaking Central Europe, 1890-1914 - Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker Strategic Optimism: Bertha von Suttner's Activism for Peace - Elisabeth Krimmer Humanizing Socialism: The Feminist Dimension of Rosa Luxemburg's Intellectual Leadership - Peter Hudis Follow-the-Leader: Tracing Male Influence on Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph des Willens - Rachel J. Halverson "Leaning In": The Career Woman as Instrument of Neoliberal Critique - Helga Druxes Change, Persistence, and Contradiction: The Representation of Female Political Leadership in Gendered Media - Dorothee Beck Petra Kelly: A Green Leader out of Place? - Stephen Milder and Friederike Brühöfener "Mama Merkel" and "Mutti-Multikulti": The Perils of Governing While Female - Patricia Anne Simpson Women Leaders in Troubled Times: The Leadership Styles of Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton - Joyce Marie Mushaben Bibliography Notes on the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisA Second Helping of Gumbo for the Soul is a collection of essays, stories, and narratives designed to inspire and empower women of color through the use of storytelling and narratives. This second edition is a sequel to the first Gumbo for the Soul and includes more...

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Book SynopsisBadass Victorian Women“Wild Women is a delightful collection of riveting stories about our independent, iconoclastic, and utterly outrageous foremothers.” – Vicki Leon, author of Uppity Women of Ancient Times.#1 New Release in Politics & Social Sciences, ReferenceEnjoy a fascinating and sometimes humorous glimpse into the lives of over one hundred, 19th-century Victorian era American women who refused to whittle themselves down to the Victorian model of proper womanhood. Included in Wild Women are 50-black-and-white photos from the era.During the Victorian era a woman’s pedestal was her prison.“Women should not be expected to write, or fight, or build, or compose scores. She does all by inspiring man to do all.” ─ Ralph Waldo Emerson“There is nothing more dangerous for a young woman than to rely chiefly upon her intellectual powers, her wit, her imagination, her fancy.” ─ Godey’s Lady’s Book magazineBut, scores of nineteenth-century American women chose to live life on their terms. In this book you will meet women who refused to remain on a Victorian pedestal. In San Francisco a courtesan appeared as a plaintiff in court, suing her clients for fraud. In Montana a laundress in her seventies decked a gentleman who refused to pay his bill. A forty-three-year-old schoolteacher plunged down Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel. A frail lighthouse keeper pulled twenty-two sinking sailors out of the ocean off Rhode Island. A pair of Colorado madams fought a public pistol duel over their mutual beau. Two lady lovebirds were legally wed in Michigan. An ad hoc abolitionist spirited away scores of slaves on the Underground Railroad. A Secessionist spy swallowed a secret message as she was arrested, claiming that no one could capture her soul.Readers of books for women such as Women Who Run with the Wolves or Badass Affirmations will love this book about Victorian women who refused to accept the gender roles of their day.Table of ContentsA Word to the Reader Flamboyant Flirts and Lascivious Libertines Tough Lovers and Fiery Sirens Brazen Brides and Wicked Wives Twisted Sisters and Mortifying Mothers Maidens a la Mode Hatchet Queens and Pistol Packers Dreaded Desperados and Gutsy Gamblers Radical Rescuers and Militant Feminists Utterly Fearless Frontierswomen Audacious Artists and Ad Hoc Architects Shocking Scholars and Wanton Wordsmiths Controversial Curers and Ingenious Invalids Alarming Litigious Ladies Outrageous Orators and Sassy Suffragists Rabble Rousers and Muckrakers Holy Terrors and Pope Perturbers Shameless Exhibitionists and Notable Narcissists Scandalous Socialites and Hellraising Heiresses Southern Rebels and Capital Offenders Totally Triumphant Travellers Bibliography Wild Woman Association

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Book SynopsisLondoners Reni Eddo-Lodge and Emma Watson are collaborating with author Rebecca Solnit and geographer Joshua Jelly-Schapiro to reimagine London's classic tube map. The new public history project 'City of London Women' will redraw Transport for London's classic underground map by naming each stop after a woman, non-binary person or a group. By consulting with artists, historians, community organizers and others through an open call, the project aims to identify remarkable female or non-binary Londoners who have had an impact on the city's history in some way. It will allocate them to each of the stations depicted on the London tube map according to their connections to a local area. Some of these people might be household names, others might be unsung heroes or figures from London's hidden histories. The names might be drawn from arts, civil society, business, politics, sport and so on. Attractively produced and packaged as a large poster map, this will be an ideal gift item that will find a place in museums and art stores as well as bookshops across London and beyond.Trade Review'How does it impact our imaginations that so many places in so many cities are named after men and so few after women? What kind of landscape do we move through when streets and parks and statues and bridges are gendered ... and it's usually one gender, and not another? What kind of silence arises in places that so seldom speak of and to women? This map was made to sing the praises of the extraordinary women who have, since the beginning, been shapers and heroes of this city that has always been, secretly, a City of Women. And why not the subway? This is a history still emerging from underground, a reminder that it's all connected, and that we get around.' -Rebecca Solnit

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Book SynopsisSenator Romero provides the first comprehensive accounting of why we like “Howard” but dislike “Heidi” in leadership roles—and what we can do to overcome this gender bias.Gloria Romero—former California Senate Majority Leader and Professor Emeritus of Psychology—shatters the glass ceiling in a sweeping takedown of gender bias at the workplace and the price women and society pay for the virulent, double standard of “the likability factor” that persists in the workplace. She exposes the link between success and likability that 21st-century women leaders face in politics and the workplace. In a book both accessible and enlightening, Senator Romero stands as a woman unafraid to break down barriers for women. As the first female Majority Leader of the upper house in California’s State Legislature, she authored major reform laws in public education, criminal justice, governmental ethics, and transparency. Just Not That Likable is the story of a trailblazer who understood that while the 20th-century sexism of unequal pay for equal work had been outlawed and anti-discrimination laws had become common, there was still a hidden likability penalty and the so-called “double bind” applied to successful women. The book features the most comprehensive review to date of what is known about the “double bind” faced by women executives and leaders: they are expected to exhibit strength and lead, but are penalized as being “abrasive” or exhibiting characteristics stereotyped as being masculine. Drawing on her own life as well, Senator Romero’s journey leads her to the realization that when women smash through the persisting ceiling—still with us in the 21st century—the shards cut. Too deep and too often, these practices and behaviors shut down opportunity for our daughters, sisters, and each other. Just Not That Likable recognizes that our workplaces must promote practices, policies, and cultures which confront and disassemble this double bind for women.Trade Review“Women who break the glass ceiling can find themselves bloodied in the process. Being effective as a woman often means confronting stereotypes and ‘likeability’ demands not made of men. As a trailblazer in policy and education, Dr. Romero has broken barriers and lived the consequences. Her book raises important questions for those of us working to ensure our daughters face more equitable paths to success and impact, paths that embrace their strength and temper the double standard we face.” -- Caprice Young, Ed.D, National Superintendent, Lifelong Learning; Former Board of Education President, Los Angeles Unified School District; and Founding CEO, California Charter Schools Association“Senator Romero exposes the persistence of gender inequity and workplace double standards still experienced by women. The book should be read as a call to action to state legislatures across the country to pass legislation mandating gender bias training, and stiffen penalties for those perpetuating impenetrable glass ceilings made of cement. As women are increasingly running for political offices and seeking entrance to leadership positions in both the private and public sectors, it is vital that we support these emerging women leaders. As the past Chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, I believe that we need to educate all girls with the understanding that these double-binds experienced by their grandmothers, mothers, and aunts will no longer be tolerated.” -- Hon. California State Senator Connie M. Leyva“Senator Gloria Romero served as Senate Democratic Majority Leader of the California State Senate, the first woman to serve in that office in the upper house. Dr. Romero’s dynamic legislative leadership was precursor to women subsequently becoming President of the Senate and Speaker of the Assembly. She influenced all major policy decisions affecting education, social justice, and access to government. This book pays homage—and is a tribute—to all the strong women for whom she advocated to no longer suffer the indignities and discriminatory behaviors still disturbingly present in today’s workplaces.” -- Former President Pro Tempore of the California State Senate, Don Perata“As an employment lawyer, I am shocked by the number of times a competent woman is told that she is too brash, too heavy-handed, or too demanding. Often, a man who exhibits the same characteristics is the one leveling these criticisms. And the employers rarely see it. Or if they do, they don’t call it out. This book is another step towards bringing the necessary attention to these sexist double standards.” -- David G. Greco, Attorney, RMO LLP“Throughout my professional career, because I am a woman, I was challenged to be better, to be stronger, to be more focused than my male counterpart. To do that, I had to project decisiveness, empathy, intellect, and persistence. If I was perceived as selfish, opinionated, and domineering—I figured it was their problem of perception and I defined their own sexism, classism, and racism of the preceptor. Interesting dialogue would ensue! Gloria Romero’s interpretation in this book vindicates my perception of myself. I am a warrior and I am okay with it.” -- Emma Lechuga, Woman, Chicana, Educator, Entrepreneur“An insightful and well-written book that describes the obstacles and difficulties that women in leadership positions face when they strive to shatter gender and racial barriers. Gloria Romero has proven herself to be one of the most effective and passionate advocates for creating a stronger system for reporting and responding to sexual harassment and misconduct. This is a compelling and important book that provides a blueprint for a more inclusive future and serves as an inspiration for a new generation of public servants.” -- Hon. Joe Coto, Former California State Assembly member and Chair Emeritus, of the California Latino Legislative Caucus; Superintendent of Schools in Oakland and San Jose

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Book SynopsisThis singular history of a prison, and the queer women and trans people held there, is a window into the policing of queerness and radical politics in the twentieth century. The Women’s House of Detention, a landmark that ushered in the modern era of women’s imprisonment, is now largely forgotten. But when it stood in New York City’s Greenwich Village, from 1929 to 1974, it was a nexus for the tens of thousands of women, transgender men, and gender-nonconforming people who inhabited its crowded cells. Some of these inmates—Angela Davis, Andrea Dworkin, Afeni Shakur—were famous, but the vast majority were incarcerated for the crimes of being poor and improperly feminine. Today, approximately 40 percent of the people in women’s prisons identify as queer; in earlier decades, that percentage was almost certainly higher. Historian Hugh Ryan explores the roots of this crisis and reconstructs the little-known lives of incarcerated New Yorkers, making a uniquely queer case for prison abolition—and demonstrating that by queering the Village, the House of D helped defined queerness for the rest of America. From the lesbian communities forged through the Women’s House of Detention to the turbulent prison riots that presaged Stonewall, this is the story of one building and much more: the people it caged, the neighborhood it changed, and the resistance it inspired. Winner, 2023 Stonewall Book Award—Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Book AwardCrimeReads, Best True Crime Books of the Year

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Book SynopsisA collection of key dissenting and majority opinions from U.S. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.During her 27 years as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg became well known for her strongly worded dissenting opinions against the decisions of the conservative majority. Ginsburg was a fierce supporter of women’s rights whose personal experiences helped shape her into a feminist icon who employed logical, well-presented arguments to show that gender discrimination was harmful to all members of society. Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dissents features 15 legal opinions and briefs, including majority and dissenting opinions that Ginsburg drafted during her time on the U.S. Supreme Court and briefs from her career before she was appointed to the court in 1993.

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Book Synopsis“A woman’s work is to define herself,” writes award-winning slam poet Dominique Christina. While this task is important for everybody, Dominique says, “There is an urgency for women. When you have inherited a construct that names, describes, and practices an ideology that women are somehow less important, less necessary, then the work of defining yourself carries with it a kind of fury.” This is why she wrote This Is Woman’s Work: to help women reclaim every single aspect of their selves, whether caring or cunning or fierce. Every woman is composed of many selves - archetypal players of the psyche who contribute their voices to her greater “I.” In this paperback edition of This Is Woman’s Work, Dominique introduces us to our council of inner women, delving into the secret wisdom and gifts of the Willing Woman, the Rebel, the Shapeshifter, the Warrior, and more. Combining writing exercises with fresh and dynamic insights, Dominique helps us make an intimate connection with each inner woman - known and unknown, loved and feared - so we may integrate their voices, realise their wisdom, and open ourselves to our full expression and power.

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Book SynopsisDespite the widespread promotion of microfinance as a key strategy for reducing poverty and fostering microenterprise development in developing countries, there is still a lack of understanding about how this concept can be used to empower women in these regions. The role played by formal and informal institutions in developing countries in facilitating or disabling women's empowerment and social mobility has not previously been adequately explored. Empowering Women Through Microfinance in Developing Countries addresses this knowledge gap by examining the influence of microfinance on women's empowerment in developing countries. It offers theoretical and empirical insights from industry experts, experienced researchers, and policymakers on the problems, processes, and prospects of using microfinance as a catalyst for women's empowerment in the developing world. The book covers a range of topics, including the impact of microfinance interventions on women's empowerment, financial inclusion, microfinance and female entrepreneurship, and poverty reduction among women, and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth. The insights provided in this book will be a valuable resource for researchers, students, microfinance institutions, policymakers, state institutions, managers, non-governmental organizations, and financial institutions looking to expand their product portfolio and outreach. The book also provides policy directions and rethinking of practice in using microfinance as a strategy for eliminating barriers to women's empowerment in developing countries.

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Book SynopsisIn the 116 year history of the Nobel Prize in Physics, only two women have won the award; Marie Curie (1903) and Maria Mayer (1963). During the 60 years between those awards, several women did work of similar calibre. This book focuses on those women, providing biographies for each that discuss both how they made their discoveries and the gender-specific reception of those discoveries. It also discusses the Nobel process and how society and the scientific community's treatment of them were influenced by their gender.

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Book SynopsisMentor. Savior. Enemy of the State. Livewire is on the run after plunging the United States into a nationwide blackout to stop the exploitation of the psiots she is sworn to protect. Now, she'll have to outrun the government she once served and those she once called allies while finding herself called on to track down disappearing psiots. Can she overcome the political forces out to get her or will she become what the world condemns her as, a traitor? Rising star Vita Ayala (Shuri, New Mutants) joins astounding artists Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín (Dune, Hawkeye), Kano (Gotham Central), and Tana Ford (Avengers) to take one of the Valiant Universe’s most powerful heroes continues down her road to redemption! Collecting LIVEWIRE #1–12, along with more than 20 pages of rarely seen art and extras!

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Book SynopsisAnxious Girls Do It Better is the travel guide that covers everything you need to know when anxiety is your (invisible) excess baggage. The second in the Girls Guide to the World series, this travel companion for women contains invaluable practical advice for anyone who experiences anxiety while travelling. Including advice from a pilot, doctor and psychologist, alongside author, Bunny Banyai''s own experiences of juggling holiday fun with a mixed bag of neuroses, you don''t need an official diagnosis of anxiety to get something out of this book.Perhaps you''re simply nervous at the idea of parting with a wad of cash in exchange for three weeks in the Mediterranean. Or maybe you''re feeling rattled by the Covid-19 pandemic, which doesn''t make you someone with an anxiety disorder, but rather just a normal human being. Visiting an unknown corner of the globe with only a wheelie bag for company could induce anxiety in a bar fridge.In spite of any worries, Anxious Girls Do It Better will help you to travel anyway, because there''s only so much you can learn about the world while lying in bed and watching Netflix. And hey, what''s the worst thing that could happen?**everything, LOL

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Book SynopsisMartine Delvaux produces a provocative analysis of the many gendered assumptions that underlie modern culture. She draws on the works of Barthes, Foucault, de Beauvoir, Woolf, and more to argue that serial girls are not just the ubiquitous symbols of patriarchal domination but also offer the possibility of liberation.

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Book SynopsisAnn Douglas, author of the bestselling Mother of All Books series, is back with a fierce and unapologetic book for and about midlife women.Roughly 68 million North American women currently grapple with the challenges of midlife, faced with a culture that tells them their best-before date has long passed. In Navigating the Messy Middle, Ann Douglas pushes back against this toxic narrative, providing Gen X women with evidence-based strategies for thriving at midlife.In this deeply validating and encouraging book, Douglas interviews well over one hundred women of different backgrounds and identities, sharing their diverse conversations about the complex and intertwined issues that women must grapple with at midlife: from family responsibilities to career pivots, health concerns to building community. Readers will find a book that offers practical, evidence-based strategies for thriving at midlife, coupled with compelling first-person stories.Offering purpose and meaning in a life stage that can otherwise feel out of control, Douglas pushes back against the message that middle-aged women are no longer relevant and needed, highlighting the far-reaching economic, political and social impacts of these messages and providing a refreshing counter-narrative that maps out a path forward for women at midlife.Both a midlife love letter and a lament, Navigating the Messy Middle celebrates the beauty and rages at the many injustices of this life stage, and provides readers with the tools to chart their own course.

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Book SynopsisAcclaimed Portuguese Canadian playwright Elaine Ávila's new play, Fado: The Saddest Music in the World, is a tale of love and ghosts set in the back alleys and brothels of old Lisbon. Part concert, part theatre, the story of a young woman confronting her country's fascist past and her own identity is interwoven with the heartbreaking national music of Portugal known as fado, which means fate. Playing sold-out crowds in Vancouver and Victoria in 2018 and 2019, Fado was honoured on the Playwrights Guild of Canada's Sure Fire List (the Top Twenty-Three Most Producible Plays in Canada by Women) and selected as one of the Top Unproduced Latinx Plays in the U.S. by Fifty Playwrights. Fado won the Award for Favourite Musical in Victoria with B.C.'s own beloved Sara Marreiros playing the ghost of Amália Rodrigues, the Queen of Fado.

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Book SynopsisThis interdisciplinary volume opens an innovative space for critical discussion, and production of new imaginaries within, feminist scholarship, analysis and feminist politics, about what is and has been meant by, involved in, required of, and what it means to be, a “wife.” Contributions within this volume together critically explore and tease out, intersections, overlaps, and distinctions between the social categories of wife and mother, and the link, and separate, labours of wife-work and maternal caregiving labour. This volume brings together diverse critical perspectives through creative contributions, personal narratives, and scholarly works. Chapters discuss critical theorizing about roles, representations, identities, and work associated with being a “wife.”Table of Contents• Lynn O’Brien Hallstein and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich, “Introduction”; • Contributor Biographies; Part l: Wife-Work and Mother-Work Today; • Natalie McKnight,” No Time Off for Good Behavior: The Persistence of Victorian Expectations of Wives.”; • Leanne Letourneau, “Invisible Wives: Analyzing the Consequence of `Sameness’”; • Jane Marcellus, “’Office Wife,’ `Two-job Wife,’ `Work Wife’: The Marriage Metaphor in Popular Culture Representation of Women’s Paid Labour.”; • Robyn Pepin, “Mediators’ Perspectives on the Ontario Family Mediation Process and its Potential Impact on Abused Women and Children’s Education.”; • Hinda Mandell, “Birthing New Identities through Wifework and Mothering: The Lineage of Family Narrative in Toddlerhood.”; Part ll – The Work of Wives in Different Cultural Contexts; • Ariadne Gonzales, “Mjueres Trabajadoras” ; • Suzanne Kamata, “Behind the Screens: Mary Elkinton Nitobe and Mary Dardis Noguchi.” ; • Ester Botta Sompare, “Becoming a Good wife in a Guinean Pastoral Society.” ; Part lll –Resisting and Changing Wives’ Roles and Lives ; • Rebecca Bromwich and Beverley Smith, “Espousing Care: Counting `Wife – Work’: Lessons from Canadian Family Law.”; • Holly Willson Holladay, “What is a Wife? Partnering and Mothering in the ABC Family’s The Fosters.”; • Jo Scott-Coe, “Kathy Leissner Whitman and the Mad Men Milieu.” ; • Elisavietta Ritchie, “Aspects of Wifehood” (poem)

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Book SynopsisThis volume explores the intersections of welfare, gender and mothering work in the context this political reality. It explores austerity and the policies of neoliberal governments that work to deprive some mothers of their welfare. This volume also explores how motherhood is socially constructed in various social locations and places around the world. Last, it examines different ways of thinking about mothering and what changes to laws and policies are required to assist all who are mothering and provide better support to their families.

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Book SynopsisThis collection explores the concept of the Missing Mother from two inter-related standpoints: the mother as absent in society and the mother as absent in a woman? s selfhood. The first perspective considers why and how the mother/mothering is disregarded, discounted, or dismissed in art, literature, culture, policy, and law while the second perspective explores why and how a woman has marginalized, lost, forgotten, forfeited, or abandoned her individual maternal identity. Whether it is society that erases the maternal or a woman who forsakes it, the aim of this collection is to consider the why, how, what, who, and where of the mechanics of missing mother in both society and self. This collection considers reasons for this disavowal and disappearance of the maternal and shows how mothers can and do resist to recover and reclaim the maternal in society and self. Overall, this collection seeks to uncover and reveal the mother so marginalized and maligned in and by patriarchal culture and to show how women may find the missing mother in society and self and achieve empowerment in doing so.

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Book SynopsisIt has long been recognised that the technology industry is not diverse and gender inclusive. In the UK, the proportion of women in technology roles has remained stubbornly beneath 20% for the last twenty years. With this book we hope to help address that. This guide to tackling the gender imbalance in technology professions offers expertise, initiatives and true stories to support those wishing to bring greater gender diversity into the workplace. It aims to inform regarding background, theory and policy; advise on concrete actions that can be undertaken, and to be an exemplar for companies, organisations, establishments and campaigns in the form of real-world case studies.Trade ReviewAs the title promises, 'Women in Tech' is a highly practical resource and will rapidly become the go to resource for anyone wanting to really move the dial on gender diversity in tech. This is a thorough, data-driven piece which effectively and usefully pulls together a wealth of experience, research and real evidence across the whole of the pipeline. Highly recommended. -- Debbie Forster MBE, CEO, Tech Talent Charter'Women in Tech' is a deeply insightful read, bringing together high-quality evidence with an intersectional viewpoint. It delivers a clear action plan for how digital leaders can build diverse teams to deliver lasting change. Hugely recommended. -- Tom Read, Chief Executive Officer / CEO, Government Digital ServiceA must read! Fantastic collaborative narrative and the 'go to place' for anyone working on progressing the ‘Women in Tech’ agenda. The authors have been generous in sharing their knowledge and tips for action based on a wealth of diverse experience. We have been waiting for this and it can be a game-changer. -- Lynn O’Connor, MD Inclusive Work Ltd, Co-Founder of iSAW International and Director, DEI at SageEvery tech leader and every CIO needs to know why diversity brings benefits and how to build an inclusive and successful team. This book tells them what they need to know. -- John Higgins, Chair, Global Digital Foundation and President, BCS, The Chartered Institute for ITThis book is an inspiration on how to build an e-inclusive world. If we all execute these very concrete actions it is an opportunity to make the real difference and activate all women in the employment market going forward. Let’s just do it! -- Saskia Van Uffelen, Digital Champion of Belgium, Digital AgendaThis book is a superb addition to the literature on women in computing in UK. It may be unique in ranging from school through to progression to senior management. It is characterised by the immense strength of its evidence base and the practicality of its recommendations. Chapter 4, on Unconscious Bias, is the pivot: it could sensibly make for compulsory reading for anyone, either male or female, especially for anyone in a decision-making role. The study of allyship in the final chapter is also crucial. I thoroughly recommend the book for anyone involved with computing, regardless of gender. -- John Power, Honorary Professor, Macquarie UniversityWISE believes this book is a positive step forward for gender diversity and looks forward to practically supporting the reader to improve gender balance in their organisation. With WISE Ten Steps™ we have a recommended and practical programme that is proven to be impactful. Together we all can successfully address the challenge and thereby benefit individuals, families, communities and the country. -- Kay Hussain, CEO, Women Into Science and Engineering (WISE)A thorough and insightful guide to the iniquities and challenges facing women in tech, with valuable practical advice for how to effect change. This book should be read by all men in tech – especially those in leadership positions who have the power and responsibility to address the shameful lack of diversity in the industry. -- Bryan Glick, Editor in Chief, Computer WeeklyFrom a diverse and experienced set of authors, this refreshingly honest and inclusive up to date set of tools will help organisations and leaders consider new and relatable approaches to attracting, growing and retaining talent. The approaches set out are based on experiences and pragmatic forward thinking to create and sustain a happier, healthier, more inclusive and therefore innovative workforce. Crucially, it will help you make a genuine impact on the future talent in your community and your organisation, both now and in the future. -- Roxane Heaton, CIO and Digital, Data and Technology LeaderI congratulate BCS and the authors for stepping forward with this publication. It is refreshing to see BCS Publishing collaborate with leading gender diversity and inclusion groups such as WISE, to support the challenges and opportunities in Tech together. Together we can help fill address the D&I imperative and in so doing the digital skills deficit that can open up additional and enhanced opportunities for all. -- Trudy Norris-Grey, Chair of WISE BoardSuperbly written, the authors have combined their vast knowledge and expertise to provide a concise, practical guide with interventions to help anyone looking to support and make progress for women in technology. Well researched with why we are still falling short within schools, universities and in our workplaces, this book is a fantastic resource providing professionals with the practical steps to take action and drive change. -- Rav Bumbra, Diversity Consultant, Founder and CEO CajigoThis book is a very fact-based, well-researched piece of work. It covers everything from today’s position and how we got here, through to the analysis of education, and why the UK differs in its gender imbalance where other countries do not. The book points us to some very good practical steps that could be employed to achieve a more diverse and gender balanced workforce in the IT industry. The evidence points us to look at the longer term and does not try to give short-term ‘sticking plaster’ answers to a very challenging environment, which is not just related to IT but many other industries. -- Dawn Wright, Chair of the Equalities Committee, Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT)BCS have managed to collate a myriad of resources on the subject and produce a guide that not only explains how we are in this situation but also gives us direction on how to make change. An essential resource for anyone working on diversifying their tech workforce. -- Anne-Marie Balfour CISM CGEITEvery technology employer should read this book on diversity and inclusivity and apply the concrete actions and practical guidance detailed within it. This is a welcome resource for the cyber security profession as well as the wider tech community. -- Don MacIntyre, Interim Chief Executive Officer, The UK Cyber Security Council‘Women in Tech’ is an important book. The combined authority of its six preeminent authors lends enormous weight to its central argument: levelling up diversity in tech is fundamental to our future. But in also articulating the methods by which that can be achieved, it puts itself at the top of the required reading list. If you’re planning to distribute paperwork at the next leadership meeting, let it be this. -- Tech For Good, techforgood.netAn easily digestible read that doesn’t hide the damning reality for women in tech. YBA believe it is important for everyone to read this book regardless of characteristics such as their age or experience. The authors use a data-backed representation of the current environment with well-explained strategies and practical tips enabling readers to ignite change, make an impact and make it last. This resonated with us at YBA: ‘You can’t be what you can’t see.’ -- Young Business Analysts (YBA)Table of Contents The Business Case for Diversity Computing in Schools Women in Higher Education Computing Unconscious Bias Establishing a Programme/Project to Attract and/or Retain Women in Tech Attracting Women into Tech Retaining and Progressing Women Within the Technology Industry Conclusion

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2020, a vivid work of history that explores the life of an unconventional woman in Edo - now known as Tokyo - and a portrait of a great city on the brink of momentous change'Compelling... Deeply absorbing' GuardianThe daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in 1804 in a village in Japan's snow country and was expected to lead a life much like her mother's. Instead - after three divorces and with a temperament much too strong-willed for her family's approval - she ran away to follow her own path in Edo, the city we now call Tokyo.Stranger in the Shogun's City is a rare, captivating portrait of one woman as she endeavours to recreate herself and her life, and provides a window into the drama and excitement of Japan at a pivotal moment in history.'Marvellous... Stanley builds up a picture of Tsuneno's world, immersing us in an experience akin to time travel' TLS* Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography 2020 ** Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography 2021 ** Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography ** Longlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown *Trade ReviewHow did it feel to live in what was even then one of the largest cities in the world, a place of vivid and brilliant creativity, isolated by decree from the world at large? This is the question that Amy Stanley has set herself in this quietly ambitious book... She has extracted a touching and accessible story about leaving the provinces for the thrilling loneliness of the big city, about making mistakes and making the same mistakes again... a minor miracle of documentary and literary archaeology -- Richard Lloyd Parry * The Times *At the heart of Stanley's book is the extraordinary and terrible story of Tsuneno... Using detailed documentation, Stanley builds up a picture of Tsuneno's world, immersing us in temple, village and town life in an experience akin to time travel... Tsuneno's story takes us into virtually every corner of this remarkable society on the brink of change -- Lesley Downer * Times Literary Supplement *Stanley's book - a stunning work of academic persistence, reconstruction and luck - weaves the hard-won details of Tsuneno's life into the final years of the Edo period, brilliantly highlighting the clues that both Japan, and the city that would become Tokyo, were on the brink of change... Few western writers have managed to capture the DNA strands from this fabulously colourful moment of Tokyo's past and weave them so adroitly -- Leo Lewis * Financial Times *The great achievement of this revelatory book is to demolish any assumption on the part of English language readers that pre-modern Japan was all blossom, tea ceremonies and mysterious half-smiles... Tsuneno is interesting and admirable precisely because she was of her time and had to make the best of the hand she had been dealt. It is her ordinariness, and her multiple failures at not getting what she wanted, that make her story so deeply absorbing * Guardian *A visit to the past that is a refreshing antidote to the histories of great men-and the occasional great woman-at times of flux... Tsuneno's life was not a heroic one. The heroism lies rather in Ms Stanley's efforts to decipher her story... the paper trail Tsuneno left behind is remarkable * Economist *

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Book Synopsis'Haunting, wild, and quiet at once. A shimmering look at motherhood, in all gothic pain and glory. I could not stop reading.' Lisa Taddeo, author of Three WomenA harrowing account of one woman's reckoning with life, death and choice in Trump's America. For readers of Educated and Hillbilly Elegy.In 2017, Christa Parravani had recently moved her family from California to West Virginia. Surviving on a teacher's salary, she was already raising two young children with her husband, screenwriter Anthony Swofford.Another pregnancy, a year after giving birth to her second child, came as a shock. Christa had a history of ectopic pregnancies and was worried that she wouldn't be able to find adequate medical care. She immediately requested a termination - but her doctor refused to help. The only doctor who would perform an abortion made it clear that this would be illicit, not condoned by her colleagues or their community.In exploring her own choice, or rather in discovering her lack of it, Christa reveals the desperate state of female healthcare in contemporary America.'A brutally honest, rollercoaster of a journey that left me championing her bravery.' Esther Freud'I will never forget this book. Read it. This is all I can say.' Rachel Louise Snyder'Stunningly good' The Bookseller'Everyone should read this book' Sarah MansugoTrade ReviewEDITOR'S CHOICE: The writing is stunningly good * The Bookseller *Haunting, wild, and quiet at once. A shimmering look at motherhood, in all gothic pain and glory. I could not stop reading. * Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women *Unflinchingly honest, Christa Parravani lays bare the terrors, exhaustion and the great sacrifice of a parent trying to provide a healthy life for her family. An inspired memoir - and a reminder of the serious metal required of every ordinary woman. -- Stephanie Danler, New York Times bestselling author of the novel 'Sweetbitter' and the memoir 'Stray'The book burrowed into some secret place in me, a place where it will exist not for weeks, or months, or even years, but forever. In my life, I will never forget this book. Read it. This is all I can say. You must read it -- Rachel Louise Snyder, award-winning author of No Visible Bruises and What We’ve Lost is NothingA searing testimony from the frontlines of American womanhood. -- Kate Manning, author of A Notorious LifeChrista Parravani is one of our great memoirists. Loved and Wanted is a breathtaking book of life and death. -- Scott McClannahan, author of The Sarah Book and CrapalachiaEveryone should read this book -- Sarah Manguso, author of 300 Arguments and OngoingLoved and Wanted paints an utterly necessary, groundbreaking portrait of so much more than one woman's choice, offering a fierce and essential explication of the many forces that constrain reproductive freedom... Loved and Wanted challenges us to pay attention, to hold complexity, and to understand why we have to do better. -- Merritt TierceA brutally honest, rollercoaster of a journey that left me championing her bravery. * Esther Freud *One of the best new books for the autumn...A harrowing critique of the US health system. * The i newspaper *What emerges is not simply a portrait of Parravani's difficult marriage, painful health issues and stressful financial burdens but a complex picture of the unsayable circumstances that shape one woman's relationship to her body, to her choice to have children or not and to the cost of that decision. In saying the unsayable, Parravani is unflinching and brave. * Bookpage *

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Book SynopsisIn the wake of Texas enacting a bill to deny abortions after 6 weeks, Loved and Wanted shines a light on motherhood and the right to choose. For readers of Educated and Hillbilly Elegy.In 2017, after becoming unexpectedly pregnant, Christa Parravani requested a termination. With two children already to care for and a history of ectopic pregnancies, she was worried she would not be able to find adequate medical care.However, when she asked for help, her doctor refused. The only doctor who would perform an abortion made it clear that this would be illicit, not condoned by her colleagues or their community.In exploring her own choice, or rather in discovering her lack of it, Christa reveals the desperate state of female healthcare in contemporary America, and examines her own reckoning with life, death and choice.Trade Review'The writing is stunningly good' - The Bookseller'A brutally honest, rollercoaster of a journey that left me championing her bravery.' - Esther Freud'Christa's writing is fearless and beautiful. Loved and Wanted is about women's reproductive freedoms, and lack of them, but it's also a book about motherhood, identity, marriage, home and belonging. Extraordinary, incredibly powerful, and breathtakingly honest.' - Clover Stroud

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Book SynopsisTake courage, empowerment and advice from 45 rebel muses with this inspirational deck. Meet 45 rebel women, artists, thinkers, politicians, writers and musicians from across the globe. Their weapons: power, art, science, literature and music. Most of them were stigmatized or misunderstood, but in the end – who wants to be normal? These women broke the mould and blazed a trail, and now you can too. These stylishly illustrated cards allow you to channel Frida Kahlo, Marilyn Monroe, Nina Simone and other muses from around the world – they will give you their messages on four different areas: life, work, love and learning. Marie Curie life advice? It is time to see what happens when you stop listening to others. Nina Simone's tip on work: If it doesn't open, it wasn't your door. Love according to Lady Di? Beware: the prince of your dreams can steal them. Frida Kahlo on learning: Don't stumble twice over the same stone. The accompanying booklet contains mini biographies of each woman, along with an important quote. There are also three different suggested card layouts to gain insight and inspiration.

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Book SynopsisThe Liberian civil wars of the 1990s and 2000s became notorious for their atrocities, and for the widespread use of child soldiers. Girls and young women accounted for up to 40 per cent of these soldiers, but their unique perspective and experiences have largely been excluded from accounts of the conflict. In Liberia’s Women Veterans, Leena Vastapuu uses an innovative auto-photographic methodology to tell the story of two of Africa’s most brutal civil wars through the eyes of 133 female former soldiers. Incorporating their testimonies alongside a series of vivid illustrations by Emmi Nieminen, the book provides an in-depth account of these women’s experiences of trauma, stigma, and the challenges of reintegration into post-war society, as well as their hopes and aspirations for the future. Vastapuu argues that these women, too often been perceived merely as passive victims of the conflict, can in fact play an important role in post-war reconciliation and peace-building. Overturning gendered perceptions of warfare and militarism, the book provides a unique take on humanitarian practices and post-conflict societies, making essential reading for policymakers as well as students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences.Trade ReviewA beautiful meditation on the ways in which young female veterans in Liberia navigate life after war. Employing a set of unique methodologies, Liberia’s Women Veterans will become a key text in its field. * Annick T.R. Wibben, University of San Francisco *Fresh. Daring. Artistic. Humane. Its breakthrough methods and a willingness to operate outside the box result in fascinating accounts of women who fought in Liberia's wars. * Christine Sylvester, University of Connecticut *Vastapuu and Nieminen have compelled me to think afresh about female veterans' post-war lives. Anyone curious about the complex lives of women during and after wars will be gripped by this eye-opening book. * Cynthia Enloe, author of The Big Push: Exposing and Challenging the Persistence of Patriarchy *Vastapuu makes a compelling case for gender to be mainstreamed in post-conflict reconstructive spaces. This book is among the very best to be written on youth, militarization, and coming of age. * Mark A. Drumbl, Washington and Lee University *Vastapuu not only offers a harrowing account of suffering as well as triumph over adversity, but also advances a truly innovative approach that makes this book highly relevant to a wide set of readers interested in questions of gender, violence and politics. * Roland Bleiker, University of Queensland *Table of ContentsPreface: Liberia at War Introduction: Hell is the Absolute Lack of Being Heard 1. Auto-Photographing Rivers of Insecurities 2. Young Female Soldiers in Liberia’s Civil Wars 3. DDR: Disarmament, Disillusionment and Remarginalization 4. Social Rafting in Post-War Liberia 5. Let my Children’s Future be Alright Conclusion Epilogue: ‘When I sing, I can forget about my problems’

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Book SynopsisA fascinating, forgotten story of the six brilliant women who launched modern computing. As the Cold War began, America’s race for tech supremacy was taking off. Experts rushed to complete the top-secret computing research started during World War II, among them six gifted mathematicians: a patriotic Quaker, a Jewish bookworm, a Yugoslav genius, a native Gaelic speaker, a sophomore from the Bronx, and a farmer’s daughter from Missouri. Their mission? Programming the world’s first and only supercomputer—before any code or programming languages existed. These pioneers triumphed against sexist attitudes and huge technical challenges to invent computer programming, yet their monumental contribution has never been recognised—until now. Over a decade, Kathy Kleiman met with four of the original six ENIAC Programmers and recorded their stories. Here, with a light touch and a serious mind, she exposes the deliberate erasure of their achievements and restores the women to their rightful place as revolutionaries, bringing to life their camaraderie, their determination, and their rapidly changing world. As big tech struggles with gender inequality and momentum builds in restoring women to history, the time has come for this engrossing story to be uncovered and celebrated.Trade Review'Kleiman has a novelist’s gift for crafting a page-turning narrative, and the one on offer is both revelatory and inspiring. Fans of Dava Sobel’s The Glass Universe and Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures are in for a treat.' -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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Book SynopsisMedia images shape and are shaped by society. They reflect the ways in which the social order changes and stays the same. The contributors to Gender and the Media: Women’s Places consider a variety of media to explore the impact of what is there, as well as what is missing. Their focus is on women. Networks of the cyberbullying of women of color are rendered graphically and the agency claimed by women in Western Sahara refugee camps is shown in photos. How college women and men respond to the masculinity reflected in hip-hop lyrics and videos, and what it feels like to be a woman in a comic book store are conveyed in excerpts from interviews. Contributors detail how publications discuss rape in India and trafficking in Moldova and ponder the absence of the topic of anorexia in U.S. cinema. Social change is reflected in how trade publications discuss the increasing number of women in the funeral industry. The relation of the local to the global and female invisibility is considered in an analysis of Portuguese punk fanzines. An examination of advice books for American tween girls documents not only the subject matter, but also the racial, ethnic and religious homogeneity and heteronormativity assumed in the text and illustrations. Finally, a comparison of the critical response to identical music recorded by female and male artists provides the opportunity to see the role gender plays in criticism of aesthetic materials.Trade ReviewThis volume brings together 11 chapters by sociologists and communication and other specialists from the US, Brazil, and Portugal, who examine the various forms of women's place in media. They address agency-affirming places, such as funeral trade journal publications, Portuguese punk music, hip-hop, and photos of refugee camps; overtly hostile or agency-denying places, such as comic book culture, the internet, media coverage of protests in the aftermath of a rape case in India, and images of trafficked women; and covertly negating places in which women are not represented, such as the absence of anorexia in US mainstream movies, the absence of diversity in American Girl advice books, and critical music reviews. -- Annotation ©2018 * (protoview.com) *Table of ContentsIntroduction. GENDER AND THE MEDIA: WOMEN'S PLACES; Vasilikie Demos and Marcia Texler Segal PART I: Agency Affirming Places Chapter 1. WAR, CULTURE AND AGENCY AMONG SAHRAWI WOMEN REFUGEES: A PHOTO-ESSAY; Amira Karaoud Chapter 2. FROM "OLD BOY" TO "GENDER PROGRESSIVE": THE SHIFTING GENDER STORY OF FUNERAL WORK IN TRADE PUBLICATIONS; Sarah B. Donley Chapter 3. PUNK FAIRYTALE: POPULAR MUSIC, MEDIA, AND THE (RE)PRODUCTION OF GENDER; Paula Guerra, Luiza Bittencourt and Gabriela Gelain Chapter 4. "TRAPPIN' AIN'T SHIT TO ME": HOW UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS CONSTRUCT MEANING AROUND RACE, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY WITHIN HIP HOP; Andrea N. Hunt PART II: Overtly Hostile or Agency Denying Places Chapter 5. TRUTH, JUSTICE, BOOBS: GENDER IN COMIC BOOK CULTURE; Trisha L. Crawshaw Chapter 6. WHAT A B!TCH: CYBER AGGRESSION TOWARDS WOMEN OF COLOR; Diane Felmlee, Paulina Inara Rodis and Sara Chari Francisco Chapter 7. MAINSTREAMING GENDER, ENDANGERED, UNGENDERED? ANALYSIS OF MEDIA REPORTS OF THE 2012 CASE OF RAPE IN INDIA; Soma Chaudhuri, Preethi Krishnan and Mangala Subramaniam Chapter 8. IMAGES OF TRAFFICKED WOMEN: A CASE STUDY OF MEDIA AND SOCIAL SCIENCE DISCOURSE IN MOLDOVA, 2003-2008; Rodica Lisnic and Anna Zajicek PART III: Covertly Negating Places Chapter 9. MORTALITY SALIENCE, TERROR MANAGEMENT, AND HOLLYWOOD FILM: THEORIZING ON THE ABSENCE OF ANOREXIA AS A SUBJECT IN U.S. MAINSTREAM MOVIES; Tina L. Margolis, Julie Lauren Rones, and Ariela Algaze Chapter 10. WHO IS THE AMERICAN GIRL? ANALYZING DIFFERENCE IN AMERICAN GIRL ADVICE BOOKS; Victoria G. Velding and Alexis P. Hilling Chapter 11. GENDER AND CRITICAL EVALUATION IN POPULAR MUSIC; Vaughn Schmutz, Sarah H. Pollock, and Jordan S. Bendickson

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Book SynopsisWhether Queen or commoner, the lives of women throughout history is a fascinating study. Elizabeth Woodville, 'The White Queen', managed to make the transition from commoner to Queen and became the epitome of medieval heroines – the commoner who married a King. When she became the wife of Edward IV her actions changed the life of her entire family. Vilified both by their contemporaries and by many historians since, the Woodville family were centre stage during the reigns of Edward IV and Richard III. Elizabeth Woodville became the ancestress of future Kings and Queens. This book takes a fresh look at the lives of Elizabeth's sisters. Although information on them is scarce, by looking at the men they married, their families, the places they lived and the events that they lived through we can catch a glimpse of their lives. Each sister has their own story to tell and they may not have achieved the dizzying heights that their sister did, but they are all fascinating women.

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Book SynopsisAs a collective, the lives of the Princesses of York span across seven decades and the rule of five different Kings. The daughters of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, they were born into an England that had been ruled over by the great Plantagenet Kings for almost three hundred years. Their young years were blighted by tragedy: the death of their beloved father, followed by the disappearance and possible murder of their two brothers, Edward and Richard of York, forever now known to history as the infamous Princes in the Tower. With their own futures uncertain during the reign of their uncle, Richard III, and their mother held under house arrest, the Princesses had to navigate their way through the tumultuous years of the 1480s before having to adjust to a new King and a new dynasty in the shape of Henry VII, who would bring about the age of the Tudors. Through her marriage to Henry, Elizabeth of York rebuilt her life, establishing herself as a popular, if not hugely influential Queen. But she did not forget her younger siblings, and even before her own mother’s death, she acted as a surrogate mother to the younger York princesses, supporting them both financially and emotionally. The stories of the York Princesses are entwined into the fabric of the history of England, as they grew up, survived and even thrived in the new Tudor age. Their lives are played out against a backdrop of coronations and jousts, births and deaths, marriages and divorces and loyalties and broken allegiances. From the usurpation of Richard III, to the Battle of Bosworth, the brilliance of the court of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, to the rise of Anne Boleyn, the York Princesses were there to witness events unfold. They were the daughters, sisters and aunts of Kings, and this is their story. The York Princesses is a natural follow-up to Sarah J. Hodder's first book, The Queen's Sisters, which told the stories of the lives of the sisters of Elizabeth Woodville.

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Book Synopsis How are girls represented in written and graphic texts, and how do these representations inform our understanding of girlhood? In this volume, contributors examine the girl in the text in order to explore a range of perspectives on girlhood across borders and in relation to their positionality. In literary and transactional texts, girls are presented as heroes who empower themselves and others with lasting effect, as figures of liberating pedagogical practice and educational activism, and as catalysts for discussions of the relationship between desire and ethics. In these varied chapters, a new notion of transnationalism emerges, one rooted not only in the process through which borders between nation-states become more porous, but through which cultural and ethnic imperatives become permeable.Trade Review “Ann Smith’s collection provides both inspiration and a challenge to readers, writers, and researchers of girls and girls themselves to transverse physical and conceptual borders critically to write their own transnational girl into lived and textual existence.” • Girlhood Studies “The anthology brings forward important voices and perspectives to the field of Girlhood Studies, by raising some pertinent questions about textual interactions. Most significantly, it elucidates the importance of textual reading in a predominantly social science-oriented field like Girlhood Studies.” • Children and SocietyTable of Contents Introduction: The Girl in the Text: Representations, Positions, and Perspectives Ann Smith Chapter 1. Naughtiest Girls, Go Girls, and Glitterbombs: Exploding Schoolgirl Fictions Lucinda McKnight Chapter 2. “This Is My Story”: The Reclaiming of Girls’ Education Discourses in Malala Yousafzai’s Autobiography Rosie Walters Chapter 3. The Girl: Dead 39 Fiona Nelson Chapter 4. Girl Constructed in Two Nonfiction Texts: Sexual Subject? Desired Object? Mary Ann Harlan Chapter 5. Perfect Love in a Better World: Same-Sex Attraction between Girls Wendy L. Rouse Chapter 6. Narrating Muslim Girlhood in the Pakistani Cityscape of Graphic Narratives Tehmina Pirzada Chapter 7. Confronting Girl-bullying and Gaining Voice in Two Novels by Nicholasa Mohr Barbara Roche Rico Chapter 8. “Like Alice, I was Brave”: The Girl in the Text in Olemaun’s Residential School Narratives Roxanne Harde Chapter 9. Girl, Interrupted and Continued: Rethinking the Influence of Elena Fortún's Celia Ana Puchau de Lecea Chapter 10. Lolita Speaks: Disrupting Nabokov’s “Aesthetic Bliss” Michele Meek Chapter 11. Hope Chest: Demythologizing Girlhood in Kate Bernheimer’s Trilogy Catriona McAra Chapter 12. The Girl in the GIF: Reading the Self into Girlfriendship Akane Kanai Chapter 13. Girls’ Perspectives on (Mis)Representations of Girlhood in Hegemonic Media Texts Paula MacDowell Chapter 14. Using Fiction, Autoethnography, and Girls’ Lived Experience in Preparation for Playwriting Genna Gardini

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Book SynopsisThis book looks at the representation of female characters in French comics from their first appearance in 1905. Organised into three sections, the book looks at the representation of women as main characters created by men, as secondary characters created by men, and as characters created by women. It focuses on female characters, both primary and secondary, in the francophone comic or bande dessinée, as well as the work of female bande dessinée creators more generally. Until now these characters and creators have received relatively little scholarly attention; this new book is set to change this status quo. Using feminist scholarship, especially from well-known film and literary theorists, the book asks what it means to draw women from within a phallocentric, male-dominated paradigm, as well as how the particular medium of bande dessinée, its form as well as its history, has shaped dominant representations of women. This is the first book to study the representation of women in the French-language drawn strip. There are no other works with this specific focus, either on women in Franco-Belgian comics, or on the drawn representation of women by men. This is a very useful addition to both general discussions of French-language comics, and to discussions of women’s comics, which are focused on comics by women only. As it is written in English, and due to the popularity of comic art in Britain and the United States, this book will primarily appeal to an Anglo-American market. However, the cultural and gender studies approach this text employs (theoretical frameworks still not widely seen in non-Anglophone studies of the bande dessinée) will ensure that the text is also of interest to a Franco-Belgian audience. With a focus on an art-form which also inspires a lot of public (non-academic) enthusiasm, it will also appeal to fans of the bande dessinée (or wider comic art medium) who are interested in the representation of women in comic art, and to comics scholars on a broad scale.Trade Review'[Invisible Presence] is a fundamental book for comics scholars, whether or not their research is focused on gender studies. Catriona MacLeod’s detailed analysis of BD, and its male and female authors, is a very valuable source of information especially the vast and varied descriptive level of characters, vignettes, plots and actions. [...] I have to highlight the importance of the vindicating aspect of this volume, namely highlighting the void regarding female characters and female authors that persists in encyclopedic and historiographical volumes on BD; the difficulty of creating genealogy about 20th-century pioneering female authors, and the gaps in the creation of female characters other than by straight white women.' -- María Márquez López, International Journal of Comic Art'Catriona MacLeod's work does not rely on archival funds: that is not her perspective. However, in terms of a culturalist method of analysis nourishing a history of representations, Invisible Presence appears to be exemplary of what gender studies can bring to the study of comics.' -- Sylvain Lesage, Genre & HistoireTable of ContentsIntroduction – Women Problems SECTION 1: PRIMARY WOMEN CHARACTERS Chapter 1 – Bécassine to Barbarella…But What Came in Between? An Introductory History of Female Primary Characters in the Francophone Bande Dessinée Chapter 2 – Bécassine: The First Lady of Bande Dessinée? Chapter 3 – Barbarella: Study of a Sex-Symbol Chapter 4 – Solving the Mystery of Adèle Blanc-Sec SECTION 2: SECONDARY WOMEN CHARACTERS Preface: A Brief Consideration of the Minor Chapter 5 – Beyond Bonemine: An Introductory History of Female Secondary Characters in the Francophone Bande Dessinée Chapter 6 – A Study of Stereotypes: The Secondary Female Characters of Astérix Chapter 7 – Secondary Women in Urban Realism: La Vie de ma mère Chapter 8 – Black Secondary Women in the Works of Warnauts and Raives: The Eroticization of Difference Chapter 9 – Secondary Women in the BD New Wave: The Female Figures of Le Combat ordinaire SECTION 3: WOMEN CHARACTERS BY WOMEN CREATORS Chapter 10 – The Women that Women Draw: An Introductory History of Female Characters Drawn by Women Artists in the Francophone Bande Dessinée Chapter 11 – The Rise and Fall of Ah! Nana: France’s first and only all-female illustré Chapter 12 – Murdering the Male Gaze: Chantal Montellier’s Odile et les crocodiles Chapter 13 – Everyday extremes: Aurélia Aurita’s Fraise et chocolat Conclusion – Problem Solved? Figures Bibliography

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Book Synopsis In the Netherlands, girls and young women are increasingly active in women-only kickboxing. The general assumption, in the Netherlands and in western Europe more broadly, is that women’s sport is a form of secular, feminist empowerment. Muslim women’s participation would then exemplify the incongruence of Islam with the modern, secular nation-state. Punching Back provides a detailed ethnographic study that contests this view by showing that young Muslim women who kickbox establish agentive selves by playing with gender norms, challenging expectations, and living out their religious subjectivities.Trade Review “Jasmijn Rana has written an engaging, well-crafted and long-anticipated ethnography of the intersectionally gendered and racialized experience of Muslim Dutch women, drawn from her own apprenticeship in women-only kickboxing venues in the southern neighbourhoods of The Hague.” • Paul Silverstein, Reed College “I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and feel that it makes a very important contribution to the fields of sport studies, martial arts studies, migration studies and the anthropology of Islam in Europe.” • Alex Channon, University of BrightonTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. A Place for Us: Neighbourhood and Nation in a Kickboxing Gym Chapter 2. Punching, Kicking and Belonging through Learning Together Chapter 3. Crafting Gendered Subjectivities in Kickboxing Chapter 4. To Fight or not to fight: Religious Sensibilities in Sports Chapter 5. Fighting your way in: Competitive Kickboxing Against the Odds Conclusion References Index

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