The book examines gender roles, gender inequity, and the impacts of both unintentional and purposeful efforts to undermine women's equal treatment in the United States, documenting what women have faced in the past and still face in America today. Although women's rights is a worldwide issue, this book examines how in the United States, an alleged "war on women" is still occurring. Are there only forces opposing women's equality that aim to subvert women's advancement, or are defensive strategies employed as well? What has been the offensive response from women and supportive groups of women? Is there actually substantial evidence of a "war on women," or is the idea primarily political rhetoric? Are the actions and behaviors contributing to gender inequality intentional or unintentional? In this unique collection, experts from multiple disciplines analyze the U.S. women's rights movement, developments, progress, and obstacles. The chapters extend the analogy of this fight for equal rights with a war to document how women's struggle for gender equality is simultaneously a health issue, a political issue, and a wider issue of social justice—a formidable challenge in which women's lives are sometimes literally at stake and at risk. The book's contributors and editors take the unique angle of eyeing the fight for equality on the same level as a war, analyzing this "war" on historical/social/cultural levels (the "battlefield"); identifying policy, political, and legal issues ("major battles"); and explaining how to best fight on personal or individual levels ("skirmishes"). The coverage includes current federal and state initiatives that have fueled concern that women's rights are under continued assault. All of the nearly 162 million women in the United States—and their family members, regardless of sex—are affected by the issues addressed in this book.

In consideration of UN Resolution 1325 (which called for women's equal participation in promoting peace and security and for greater efforts to protect women exposed to violence during and after conflict), this volume takes stock of the current state of knowledge on women, peace and security issues, including efforts to increase women's participation in post-conflict reconstruction strategies and their protection from wartime sexual violence.

"A stunning portrayal of a tragedy endured and survived by women." --David W. Blight, author of Frederick Douglass "Readers expecting hoop-skirted ladies soothing fevered soldiers' brows will not find them here...It explodes the fiction that men fight wars while women idle on the sidelines." --Washington Post "As McCurry points out in this gem of a book, many historians who view the American Civil War as a 'people's war' nevertheless neglect the actions of half the people." --James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom "In this brilliant exposition of the politics of the seemingly personal, McCurry illuminates previously unrecognized dimensions of the war's elemental impact." --Drew Gilpin Faust, author of This Republic of Suffering The idea that women are outside of war is a powerful myth in western culture, one that shaped the Civil War and still determines how we write about it today. Through three dramatic stories that span the course of the war, this groundbreaking reconsideration invites us to see America's bloodiest conflict for what it was: not just a brothers' war but a women's war. When Union soldiers faced the unexpected threat of female partisans, saboteurs, and spies, long held assumptions about the innocence of enemy women were suddenly thrown into question. Stephanie McCurry shows how the case of Clara Judd, imprisoned for treason, transformed the writing of Lieber's Code, leading to lasting changes in the laws of war. Black women's fight for freedom had no place in the Union military's emancipation plans. Facing a massive problem of governance as former slaves fled to their ranks, officers re-classified black women as "soldiers' wives"--whether or not they were married--placing new obstacles on their path to freedom. Finally, Women's War offers a new perspective on the epic human drama of Reconstruction through the story of one slaveholding woman, Gertrude Thomas, whose losses went well beyond the material to intimate matters of family, love, and belonging. Thomas's response mixed grief with rage, recasting white supremacy in new, still relevant, terms.

This book examines gender roles, gender inequity, and the real-world impacts of both unintentional and purposeful efforts to undermine women's equal treatment in the United States, documenting what women have faced in the past and still face living in America today. It explores how in the United States, an alleged "war on women" is still occurring.

Introduction -- American Girls and National Identity -- Fighting Femininity on Home Soil in Civil War Films, 1908 to -- American Revolution and Other Wars -- Featuring Preparedness and Peace; or, America and the European War, Part I -- From Serial Queens to Patriotic Heroines; or, America and the European War, Part II -- The American Girl and Wartime Patriotism -- Conclusion.

List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments 1: The Context of the World War II Mothers' Movement 2: Elizabeth Dilling and the Genesis of a Movement 3: The Fifth Column 4: The National Legion of Mothers of America 5: Cathrine Curtis and the Women's National Committee to Keep the U.S. Out of War 6: Dilling and the Crusade against Lend-Lease 7: Lyrl Clark Van Hyning and We the Mothers Mobilize for America 8: The Mothers' Movement in the Midwest: Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Detroit9: The Mothers' Movement in the East: Philadelphia and New York 10: Agnes Waters: The Lone Wolf of Dissent 11: The Mass Sedition Trial12: The Postwar Mothers' Movement 13: The Significance of the Mothers' Movement Epilogue: "Can We All Get Along?" Notes Bibliographical Essay Index Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.