Gender studies: women and girls Books

Book Synopsis Not the Whole Story is a compilation of sixteen stories narrated by single mothers in their own way and about their own lives. Each story is unique, but the same issues appear again and again. Abuse, parenting as single mothers, challenges in the labour market, mental health and addictions issues, a scarcity of quality childcare, immigration and status vulnerability, struggles with custody, and poverty - these factors, combined with a lack of support, contribute to their continued struggles. The themes that recur across stories illustrate that the issues the women face are not just about individual struggle; they demonstrate that major issues in Canada's social system have been neglected in public policy. In order for these issues to be addressed we need to challenge the flawed public policies and the negative discourse that continue to marginalize single mothers - in terms of the opportunities in their own lives and in terms of how they are understood by other Canadians. The first-person narratives of the struggles and issues faced by low-income single mothers provide narrative richness and are augmented by introductory and concluding chapters that draw the narrative themes together and offer overarching discussion and analysis. Trade Review"How do single mothers break the cycle of poverty and what got them there in the first place? What are the barriers they face and how can we assist in breaking them down? How do they maintain hope as they try desperately to put food on the table at the end of the month? The real-life experiences of these tough, resilient, and resourceful mothers provide a road map and inspiration to reform our social and financial policies. Read their stories, and then work for change." -- Olivia Chow, former Toronto city councillor and Member of Parliament"The stories of the lone mothers depicted in the book are often horrifying, but the women are not defeated. They are realistic about the so-called choices available to them, but all can see a future. Caragata's text vividly captures the violence and poverty that shape these women's lives. She counterpoints participants' words to academic language. The result is not discordance but rather a wonderful analytic balance wherein the two voices resonate and reinforce each other." -- Sheila M. Neysmith, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of TorontoTable of ContentsTable of Contents for Not the Whole Story: Challenging the Single Mother Narrative edited by Lea Caragata and Judit AlcaldeAcknowledgementsIntroduction Lea CaragataWorkfare and Precarious WorkThe Making of This BookMethodologyIssues Shaping Poverty, Single Motherhood, and Social StatusFormat of the VolumeOn the Process of Creating This Book and on the Stories That Needed Telling RobinThe Individual StoriesSara's StoryMartha's StoryMary's StoryAnne's StoryMadison's StoryStacey's StoryRobin's StoryEmily's StoryCatrina's StoryLucy's StoryChristina's StorySusan's StoryMiriam's StoryVictoria's StoryIzabela's StoryJenna's StoryMaking Meaning Lea Caragata and Judit AlcaldeStory SummariesPulling It TogetherConclusion Lea CaragataReferences

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Book SynopsisThis Spot of Ground: Spiritual Baptists in Toronto represents the first detailed exploration of an African-Caribbean religion in the context of contemporary migration to Canada. Toronto is home to Canadas largest black population, a significant portion of which comprises Caribbean migrants and their descendants. This book shows how the development of the Spiritual Baptist religion in Canada has been shaped by the immigration experiences of church members, the large majority of whom are women, and it examines the ways in which religious experiences have mediated the members' experiences of migration and everyday life in Canada. This Spot of Ground is based on a critical ethnography, with in-depth interviews and participant observations of church services and other ritual activities, including baptism and pilgrimage and field research in Trinidad that explores the transnational linkages with Spiritual Baptists there. The book addresses theoretical and methodological issues also, including the development of perspectives suitable for examining diasporic African religious and cultural expressions characterized by transnational migration, an emphasis on oral tradition as the repository of cultural history, and linguistic and cultural hybridity. This Spot of Ground contributes new information to the study of Caribbean religion and culture in the diaspora, providing a detailed examination of the significance of religion in the immigration process and identity and community formations of Caribbean people in Canada.Trade Review``This Spot of Ground is a groundbreaking study.... [In it] Duncan has employed a range of methodological approaches in order to provide a compelling religio-cultural account of the Spiritual Baptists in Toronto. Of particular import is the presence of the narrative voice of the research subjects at the heart of the book.... [It] deserves to become an essential resource, in the first instance, for all religious scholars who profess some interest in Diasporan African religions, particularly those that are Caribbean in origin.'' -- Anthony G. Reddie, Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education,Birmingham, UK -- Black Theology: An International Journal, Vol. 7, #3, 2009, 200910``Carol Duncan's...stated goal was to produce a "speakerly" book (15), and she does an outstanding job of capturing the subtleties of West Indian speech patterns.... Duncan explores ways in which church members experience racism in their daily lives and provides an insightful overview of multiculturalism in Canada. Judiciously selected quotations give a feel for Spiritual Baptist perceptions of race and racism in Canada (which seems to take milder forms than in the United States). Duncan's book is exceptionally well-organized and as-as befits its title-covers a great deal of ground.... This Spot of Ground contributes new and useful information on the study of Caribbean religions and cultures, provides a much needed, detailed examination of the significance of migrant religions, and deftly charts the formation of identity and community among Caribbean people abroad. Highly recommended.'' -- Stephen D. Glazier, University of Nebraska, Lincoln -- Nova Religio``This excellent, thorough, and very accessible study of Toronto's Spiritual Baptists examines the religious and secular lives of Caribbean primarily female immigrants to Toronto, who came to Canada mostly as domestic workers after 1975.... This Spot of Ground adds immeasurably to the feminist study of religion, an area that has been in the past often ignored.... This fascinating and sensitive book provides the missing material to illuminate how these women not only survived, but managed to surmount immigration experiences that were hard, discriminatory, and potentially soul destroying.'' -- Johanna Stuckey, Professor Emerita of Women's Studies, Religious Studies, andHumanities at York University -- Canadian Woman Studies``The book's critical ethnography includes participant-observation of regular activities of two Toronto churches, including worship, social events, and pilgrimages, as well as in-depth interviews with leaders and lay members in Toronto and leaders in Trinidad. This approach highlights continuities and differences between the religion as practised in Canada and in the Caribbean. Duncan also incorporates her own experiences: of immigrating as a child, first to Britain and then to Canada; of growing up in Caribbean-Canadian communities in Toronto; and of correspondence with relatives, such as her grandmother, who continued to live in the Caribbean. These varied methods allow the author to convey Spiritual Baptists' life-worlds in detailed and textured ways.... In exploring different meanings and articulations of mothering within Spiritual Baptist communities, Duncan also demonstrates strong links between federal domestic worker schemes and stereotypes with which her participants continue to struggle.... Duncan argues that Spiritual Baptist women continue a historical tradition of valuing multiple types of mothering practices. This reclaiming of maternal identities broadly devalued within broader Canadian culture extends to rehabilitating the raced and gendered Mammy stereotype of Aunt Jemima. Duncan's thoughtful exploration of her own resistance to recognizing the importance of the figure within the spiritual lives of some of her participants is poignant and provocative. Aunty Jemima's seemingly unlikely presence demonstrates powerfully that the Spiritual Baptist faith is inherently dynamic, grounded in the life experiences of its members, who readily adapt it to meet their needs.'' -- Laurel Zwissler -- University of Toronto Quarterly, Volume 79, Number 1, Winter 2010Table of Contents This Spot of Ground: Spiritual Baptists in Toronto by Carol B. Duncan Preface Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION The Research Setting The Study as a ""Talking Book"" Travessao Book Overview 1. ""A PASSPORT TO HEAVEN'S GATE"" Introduction ""Heaven's Gate"": Canada in the North American and Caribbean Black Imaginary Church-Ship: Spiritual Voyaging Spiritual Baptists in Multicultural Canada: Considering Religious and National Identities in Migration Countercultures of Modernity and the Problem of Multiculturalism A Historical Overview of Multiculturalism in Canada Multiculturalism in the Spiritual Baptist Church Spiritual Baptist Perceptions and Experiences of Multiculturalism in Canada Conclusion 2. ""THIS SPOT OF GROUND"": THE EMERGENCE OF SPIRITUAL BAPTISTS IN TORONTO Introduction Origins of the Spiritual Baptist Church in the Caribbean ""This Spot of Ground"": The Spiritual Baptist Church as ""Homeplace"" in Toronto The Founding of the First Spiritual Baptist Church in Toronto (1975-1980) Toronto Spiritual Baptist Church Organization Conclusion 3. ""SO SPIRITUALLY, SO CARNALLY"": SPIRITUAL BAPTIST RITUAL, THEOLOGY, AND THE EVERYDAY WORLD IN TORONTO Introduction ""So Carnally, So Spiritually"" Ritual as Performance and Social Commentary Joining the Spiritual Baptist Church in Toronto Coming to Canada Work Experiences ""It Hurt Me Feelings"": Naming Racism ""I Say You Can Call Me 'Damn Bitch'...Just Don't Call Me 'Madam'!"": Challenging Sexist Racism The Church as Community: Support Networks in the Spiritual Baptist Church Conclusion 4. ""AFRICALAND"": ""AFRICA"" in TORONTO SPIRITUAL BAPTIST EXPERIENCE Introduction Africaland Sacred Space and Place in the Spiritual Baptist Church Sacred Time in the Spiritual Baptist Church Travelling to Africaland Africa as Eden Africaland and the African Diaspora Conclusion 5. ""DEY GIVE ME A HOUSE TO GATHER IN DI CHIL'REN"": MOTHERS AND DAUGHTER IN THE SPIRITUAL BAPTIST CHURCH Introduction An Overview of Domestic Service in Canada The Mothers of the Church Family in the Spirit: Extended Family in the Spiritual Baptist Church ""If You Don't Come to Me, I'm Coming to You"": Ancestral Mother ""Dey Give Me a House to Gather in di Chil'ren"": Spiritual Mother/Carnal Mother ""God Has Work for You to Do"": Nation Mother ""It Makes You Feel Like Home"": Spiritual Daughter Conclusion 6. AUNT(Y) JEMIMA IN TORONTO SPIRITUAL BAPTIST EXPERIENCES: SPIRITUAL MOTHER OR SERVILE WOMAN? Introduction ""Seeing"" Aunt Jemima (Re)Turning the Gaze on Aunt(y) Jemima Re-reading Aunt(y) Jemima and the Creole Woman Tie-head Woman Head-ties and the Social Construction of Identity Conclusion CONCLUSION ""To Pick It Up and Take It Forward"" Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA Brief History of Women in Quebec examines the historical experience of women of different social classes and origins (geographic, ethnic, and racial) from the period of contact between Europeans and Aboriginals to the twenty-first century to give a nuanced and complex account of the main transformations in their lives.Themes explored include demography, such as marriage, fecundity, and immigration; women's work outside and inside the home, including motherhood; education, from elementary school to post-secondary and access to the professions; the impact of religion and government policies; and social and political activism, including feminism and struggles to attain equality with men. Early chapters deal with New France and the first part of the nineteenth century, and the remaining are devoted to the period since 1880, an era in which women's lives changed rapidly and dramatically.The book concludes that transformation in the means of production, women's social and political activism (including feminism), and Quebec nationalism are three main keys to understanding the history of Quebec women. Together, the three show that women's history, far from being an adjunct to ""general history,"" is essential to a full understanding of the past. Originally published in French with the title Brève histoire des femmes au Québec. Table of Contents A Brief History of Women in Quebec by Denyse Baillargeon and translated by W. Donald Wilson Introduction 1. Amerindian and French Women during the French Colonial Period 2. The Early Years of British Rule (1780-1840) 3. A Society on the Path to Industrialization (1840-1880) 4. A New Capitalist Industrial Order (1880-1920) 5. Women in a ""Modern"" Society (1920-1940) 6. A Society Undergoing Profound Transformation (1940-1965) 7. The Feminist Revolution (1966-1989) 8. Women in a Neoliberal Society (1990-2012) Conclusion Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA warm, wise, and urgent guide to parenting in uncertain times, from a longtime reporter on race, reproductive health, and politics In We Live for the We, first-time mother Dani McClain sets out to understand how to raise her daughter in what she, as a black woman, knows to be an unjust -- even hostile -- society. Black women are more likely to die during pregnancy or birth than any other race; black mothers must stand before television cameras telling the world that their slain children were human beings. What, then, is the best way to keep fear at bay and raise a child so she lives with dignity and joy? McClain spoke with mothers on the frontlines of movements for social, political, and cultural change who are grappling with the same questions. Following a child''s development from infancy to the teenage years, We Live for the We touches on everything from the importance of creativity to building a mutually supportive community to navigating one''s relationship with power and authority. It is an essential handbook to help us imagine the society we build for the next generation.

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Book SynopsisDr. Linda J. Lumsden analyzes the First Amendment components of the women's suffrage movement, in particular their right to assembly as they organized pageants, parades, open air meetings and public demonstrations. The book opens with a woman-centered essay on the freedom of expression before the 20th century. The first chapter describes the heroism it took for women in the 19th century to gather in mass meetings, delegations and conventions. Chapter 2 explores Open-Air campaigns; Chapter 3 on petitioning as a political tool. Chapter 4 is on parades, starting with the first suffrage parades in 1908 (New York City; Boone, Iowa; and Oakland, California) and ending with the last one in 1917. Pageants are featured in chapter 5, and the chapter 6 is on picketing. The concluding chapter develops her position that suffrage assemblies provided the leverage for later protestors who sought a public arena to decry their political dissent. Four appendices then follow: a list of suffrage organizations; prominent suffragists in the 1910s; a chronology of major events in the U.S. suffrage movement; and, finally a list of when and where women won the vote. There is a brief mention of the 1913 suffrage paraders in Louisville, but generally the book focuses on states other than Kentucky.

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Book Synopsis“Doyle demonstrates that Alcott kept up a running dialogue with her distinguished British counterpart, both contesting and adapting BrontË’s treatments of woment’s spiritual, social, and vocational lives so as to develop her own distinctively American talent.” —Elizabeth Keyser, author of Whispers in the Dark: The Fiction of Louisa May Alcott“Doyle provides an illuminating discussion of the full range of Louise May Alcott’s writing. Comparisons with Charlotte BrontË spark keen insights into literary traditions and cultural events. General readers will enjoy this book; Alcott and BrontË scholars will need it.” —Beverly Lyon Clark, author of Regendering the School Story: Sassy Sissies and Tattling TomboysThe work and life of British author Charlotte BrontË fascinated America’s Louisa May Alcott throughout her own literary career. As a nineteenth-century writer struggling with many of the same themes and issues as BrontË, Alcott was drawn toward her British counterpart, but cultural differences created a literary distance between them sometimes as wide as the Atlantic. In this comparative study, Christine Doyle explores some of the intriguing parallels and differences between the two writers’ backgrounds as she traces specific references to BrontË and her work—not only in Alcott’s children’s fiction, but also in her novels for adults and “sensation fiction.” Doyle compares the treatment of three themes important to both writers—spirituality, interpersonal relations, and women’s work—showing how Alcott translated BrontË’s British reserve and gender- and class-based repression into her own American optimism and progressivism.In her early career, Alcott was so fascinated by BrontË’s works that she patterned many of her characters on those of BrontË; she later adapted these British elements into a more recognizably American form, producing independent, strong heroines. In observing differences between the writers, Doyle notes that Alcott expresses less anti-Catholic sentiment than does BrontË. She also discusses the authors’ attitudes toward the theater, showing how for BrontË drama is associated with falseness and hypocrisy, while for Alcott it is a profession that expresses possibilities of power and revelation.Throughout her insightful analysis, Doyle shows that Alcott responds as a uniquely American writer to the problems of American literature and life while never denying the powerful transatlantic influence exerted by BrontË. Doyle’s work reflects a wide range of scholarship, solidly grounded in an understanding of the Victorian temperament, nineteenth-century British and American literature, and recent Alcott criticism and gives fuller voice to the multiple dimensions of Alcott as a nineteenth-century writer.

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Book SynopsisFrom its inception in the nineteenth century, the Wesleyan/Holiness religious tradition has offered an alternative construction of gender and supported the equality of the sexes. In Holy Boldness, Susie C. Stanley provides a comprehensive analysis of spiritual autobiographies by thirty-four American Wesleyan/Holiness women preachers, published between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. While a few of these women, primarily African Americans, have been added to the canon of American women’s autobiography, Stanley argues for the expansion of the canon to incorporate the majority of the women in her study. She reveals how these empowered women carried out public ministries on behalf of evangelism and social justice.The defining doctrine of the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition is the belief in sanctification, or experiencing a state of holiness. Stanley's analysis illuminates how the concept of the sanctified self inspired women to break out of the narrow confines of the traditional “women's sphere” and engage in public ministries, from preaching at camp meetings and revivals to ministering in prisons and tenements. Moreover, as a result of the Wesleyan/Holiness emphasis on experience as a valid source of theology, many women preachers turned to autobiography as a way to share their spiritual quest and religiously motivated activities with others.In such writings, these preachers focused on the events that shaped their spiritual growth and their calling to ministry, often giving only the barest details of their personal lives. Thus, Holy Boldness is not a collective biography of these women but rather an exploration of how sanctification influenced their evangelistic and social ministries. Using the tools of feminist theory and autobiographical analysis in addition to historical and theological interpretation, Stanley traces a trajectory of Christian women’s autobiographies and introduces many previously unknown spiritual autobiographies that will expand our understanding of Christian spirituality in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America.The Author: Susie C. Stanley is professor of historical theology at Messiah College. She is the author of Feminist Pillar of Fire: The Life of Alma White.

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Book SynopsisThe American Arts and Crafts movement, which began in the late 19th century, promoted hand craftsmanship over mass production. In the context of an era that offered women few professional opportunities, Zipf (cultural and historic preservation, Salve Regina U., Newport, Rhode Island) profiles five women who parlayed their involvement in this movement into successful careers. The women and their areas of accomplishment are: Hazel Wood Waterman (architecture), Mary Louise McLaughlin (ceramic pottery), Candace Wheeler (women's business entrepreneurship), and Adelaide Alsop Robineau and Irene Sargent (movement publications).

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Book SynopsisBorn into a relatively privileged family, Geraldyne Pierce Zimmerman earned a reputation as a maverick in her life-long home of Orangeburg, South Carolina, a semi-rural community where race and class were very much governed by the Jim Crow laws. Educated at Nashville’s Fisk University, Zimmerman returned to Orangeburg to teach school, serve her community, and champion equal rights for African Americans and women. She was a woman far ahead of her time. Kibibi V. Mack-Shelton offers a vivid portrayal of the kind of black family seldom recognized for its role in the development of the African American community after the Civil War. At a time when “separate-but-equal” usually meant suffering and injustice for the black community, South Carolina families such as the Tatnalls, Pierces, and Zimmermans achieved a level of financial and social success rivaling that of many white families. Drawing heavily on the oral accounts of Geraldyne Pierce Zimmerman, Mack-Shelton draws the reader into the lives of the African American elite of the early twentieth century. Her captivating narrative style brings to life many complicated topics: how skin color affected interracial interactions and class distinctions within the black community itself, the role of education for women and for African Americans in general, and the ways in which cultural ideas about family and community are simultaneously preserved and transformed over the span of generations. Refreshing and engaging, Ahead of Her Time in Yesteryear is an important contribution to African American and women’s studies, as well as a fascinating biography for any reader interested in a new perspective on small town black culture in the Jim Crow South. Kibibi V. Mack-Shelton held the former Tyler and Alice Haynes Endowed Chair of American Studies at the University of Richmond. She currently teaches at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and is author and editor of numerous scholarly publications, including Parlor Ladies and Ebony Drudges: African American Women, Class, and Work in a South Carolina Community and History And Women, Culture And Faith: Selected Writings Of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Volume 2.

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Book SynopsisSheri Rose Shepherd''s fascinating personal journey is a remarkable testimony to God''s power. She grew up in a divorce-plagued Hollywood home; by her teens Sheri Rose suffered from depression and addiction to food and drugs. Then God intervened -- and today Sheri Rose is a joyful Christian wife and mother, a former Mrs. United States, and a popular author, conference speaker, and media personality. In this contemporary repackage of the bestselling Life Is Not a Dress Rehearsal, Sheri Rose shares her path from misery to victory with the side-splitting humor and active faith that helped sustain her. With passion and poise, she relates how God pursues every person with relentless and life-changing love. An inspirational read!

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking women’s leadership expert and popular conference speaker gives women the practical skills to voice and implement the changes they want to see—in themselves and in the world   In her coaching and programs for women, Tara Mohr saw how women were "playing small" in their lives and careers, were frustrated by it, and wanted to "play bigger." She has devised a proven way for them to achieve their dreams by playing big from the inside out. Mohr’s work helping women play bigger has earned acclaim from the likes of Maria Shriver and Jillian Michaels, and has been featured on the Today show, CNN, and a host of other media outlets.   Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In gave many women new awareness about what kinds of changes they need to make to become more successful; yet most women need help implementing them. In the tradition of Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly, Playing Big provides real, practical tools to help women quiet self-doubt, identify their callings, “unhook” from praise and criticism, unlearn counterproductive good girl habits, and begin taking bold action.   While not all women aspire to end up in the corner office, every woman aspires to something. Playing Big fills a major gap among women’s career books; it isn’t just for corporate women. The book offers tools to help every woman play bigger—whether she’s an executive, community volunteer, artist, or stay-at-home mom.   Thousands of women across the country have been transformed by Mohr’s program, and now this book makes the ideas and practices available to everyone who is ready to play big.

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