An Ideal Prison?

Critical Essays on Women’s Imprisonment in Canada

Edited by Kelly Hannah-Moffat, Margaret Shaw

Ten years after the publication of Creating Choices, a remarkable report on women’s imprisonment in Canada, this book sets out to reflect on attempts to reform prison. In a series of critical essays, the contributors stimulate reflection and discussion. They explore the effects of punishment and penality on women’s lives, the impact of feminist reforms on the lives of women in prison and the systemic barriers which limit change in the context of both provincial and federal prisons. Each… (more information)

Between Hope and Despair

Women Learning Politics

Donna M. Chovanec

This book is an empirical account of political learning in social movements based on a study of a women’s movement in Arica, Chile. In the first part of the book the author tells the story of how the women of Arica organized to oppose the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. This gripping narrative, told through the women’s own words and experiences, paints a graphic picture of their courage and determination. The second part focuses on the political learning and educational processes… (more information)

Criminalizing Women

Gender and (In)justice in Neoliberal Times

Edited by Gillian Balfour, Elizabeth Comack

This book introduces readers to the key issues addressed by feminists in their engagement with criminology over the past four decades. It explores the narratives of women’s lives as “errant females,” sex trade workers, “gang” members and drug traffickers to map out the connections between the choices women make and the conditions of their lives. It shows how criminalized women and girls have been disciplined, managed, corrected and punished as prisoners, patients, mothers… (more information)

Divorce and Disengagement

Patterns of Fatherhood Within and Beyond Marriage

Edward Kruk

This book’s purpose is to better portray divorced fatherhood and to provide family practitioners and policy-makers with an empirically-based understanding of the impact of divorce on non-custodial fathers, and of fathers’ disengagement from their children after divorce. (more information)

Ecofeminism as Politics

Nature, Marx and the Postmodern

Areil Salleh

This book explores the philosophical and political challenge of ecofeminism. It shows how the ecology movement has been held back by conceptual confusion over the implications of gender difference, while much that passes in the name of feminism is actually an obstacle to ecological change and global democracy. The author argues that ecofeminism reaches beyond contemporary social movements, being a political synthesis of four revolutions in one: ecology is feminism is socialism is post-colonial struggle… (more information)

Feminism and the Politics of Difference

Sneja Gunew, Anna Yeatman

Among the issues posed for feminism by the politics of difference are ones of voice and representation; who is authorised to speak for whom? Increasingly, “western: feminism is being challenged to confront the multiple characters of dominations and exploitation, usually conceived of as gender, class, race and ethnicity. This innovative and timely collection reveals exciting contemporary theorising raising and exploring the problems posed by identity politics and the possibilities for… (more information)

Feminist Post-Development Thought

Rethinking Modernity, Post-Colonialism and Representation

Kriemild Saunders

Is development still women’s best hope of social progress and equality? In this groundbreaking collection with its diverse perspectives feminist thinkers explore whether Third World women ought to continue along the path of development or abandon full-scale modernization and seek post-development alternatives instead. It represents the first attempt to ascertain the possibilities, and limitations, of the post-development path for women. (more information)

Gendered Intersections

An Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies, 2nd Edition

Edited by C. Lesley Biggs, Pamela Downe, Susan Gingell

Following the structure of the successful first edition of Gendered Intersections, this second edition examines the intersections across and between gender, race, culture, class, ability, sexuality, age and geographical location from the diverse perspectives of academics, artists and activists. Using a variety of mediums — academic research, poetry, statistics, visual essays, fiction, emails and music — this collection offers a unique exploration of gender through issues such as Aboriginal… (more information)

Good Girls, Good Sex

Women Talk about Church and Sexuality

Sonya Sharma

What happens when a woman’s identities as a Christian and as an embodied sexual woman collide? What impact does a conventional Christian view of sexuality have on women’s sexual lives? Through conversations with thirty-six Protestant women, Good Girls, Good Sex explores how both religious values and communities shape women’s sexual experiences and the role of social class and race in this shaping. In their stories, the women reflect on how they handle conflicts between their religious… (more information)

Healing Wounded Hearts

Fyre Jean Graveline

Healing Wounded Hearts brings together stories, poems and artwork that illustrate the struggles and strengths that Fyre Jean has, as a Métis Woman, living everyday in intersecting, parallel, sometimes colliding, socio-cultural realities. Baring her Heart and Soul, she shares personal, painful, spiritual discoveries of how life and worlds work, through Stories that have grown her into who she is. Through a blend of original research, reflective journals and creative use of dialogue, people… (more information)

In the Other Room

Entering the Culture of Motherhood

Fiona Nelson

Becoming a mother impacts every aspect of a woman’s life. Often, it is other mothers with whom a new mother is able to articulate, debate and negotiate dimensions of her mothering experiences, from the physical/social aspects of pregnancy, through the daily work of new mothering, to the competing cultural constructions of motherhood. A diverse group of first-time mothers discussed and examined their experiences with what many have called “the mommies’ club.” Through interactions… (more information)

Making Space for Indigenous Feminism

Edited by Joyce Green

The majority of scholarly and activist opinion by and about Aboriginal women claims that feminism is irrelevant for them. Yet, there is also an articulate, theoretically informed and activist constituency that identifies as feminist. By and about Aboriginal feminists, this book provides a powerful and original intellectual and political contribution demonstrating that feminism has much to offer Aboriginal women in their struggles against oppression. The contributors are from Canada, the USA, Sami… (more information)

Missing Women, Missing News

Covering Crisis in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

David Hugill

Missing Women, Missing News examines newspaper coverage of the arrest and trial of Robert Pickton, the man charged with murdering 26 street-level sex workers from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It demonstrates how news narratives obscured the complex matrix of social and political conditions that made it possible for so many women to simply ‘disappear’ from a densely populated urban neighborhood without provoking an aggressive response by the state. Grounded in a theory of ideology… (more information)

Muriel Duckworth

A Very Active Pacifist

Marion Douglas Kerans

”Muriel is an extraordinary woman whose life and work has enriched many–through her faith and her practice. A feminist, a pacifist and a compassionate Canadian, her life is an example of what love and selfless intelligence can do.”–Ursula M. Franklin C.C. FRSC ”Muriel Duckworth inspires me. She is living, walking proof that age need not destroy one’s commitment to progressive social ideals. Muriel is a true humanitarian who freely gives herself to others regardless… (more information)

Politics on the Margins

Restructuring and the Canadian Women’s Movement

Janine Brodie

“Janine Brodie’s thoughtful and insightful analysis of the impact of international restructuring on the women’s movement asks all the right questions. Her challenge to develop new strategies in the face of the destruction of the welfare state should be taken up by feminists everywhere.” - Judy Rebick (more information)

Reclaiming Self

Issues and Resources for Women Abused by Intimate Partners

Edited by Carolyn Goard, Leslie M. Tutty

Abuse of women by intimate partners is a significant problem in Canadian society. The critical issues facing abused women include the resources, such as shelters, and support groups available to assist them in being safe. This book considers the many aspects of supporting and providing safety for women who experience abuse. The authors focus on the impact of government policies, such as the criminal justice response and child protection services, on a woman’s ability to safely leave an abusive… (more information)

Reinventing Political Science

A Feminist Approach

Jill Vickers

This book provides an alternate version of political science for students who want to make space for themselves and for the political activities they want to study. Vickers presents a framework which builds bridges between political science and feminism, allowing for a women-centred analysis of both formal and informal politics. It incorporates radical redefinitions of politics which can open up space to study identity politics, oppression, exploitation and the struggles against sexism, racism,… (more information)

Smoke Screen

Women’s Smoking and Social Control

Lorraine Greaves

Smoke Screen looks at the range of ways in which tobacco affects women: the evolution of cultural pressures on women’s smoking; the meanings of smoking to women; the benefits for socities of keeping women smoking; and the impact of health and tobacco policy on women’s smoking prevention and cessation. (more information)

The Fourth World

An Indigenous Perspective on Feminism and Aboriginal Women’s Activism

Grace Ouellette

This book is not about feminism. Rather, feminism is the basis of the discussion, an example of how understanding oppression must consider a number of barriers. Euro-Canadian feminists rarely address the circumstances that are unique to First Nations’ women, instead working with the assumption that all women are a part of a similar struggle. Ouellette attempts to confront these barriers. Throughout interviews with a number of women, she highlights the following four questions. To what extent… (more information)

The Illusion of Inclusion

Women In Post Secondary Education

Jackie Stalker

Women have had limited access to some higher education in Canada for over a century, but their participation has never been equal to that of men. Both as students and as faculty, women continue to be discriminated against on Canadian campuses in ways ranging from the most systemic and institutional to the most interpersonal and subjective. Contributors to this anthology explore and explain various dimensions of the “illusion of inclusion,” the contradiction between the widespread belief… (more information)

The University as Text

Women and the University Context

Carol Schick

This book is an excellent analysis of how male-centric approaches and methods dominate university life. “Schick effectively raises stimulating questions that challenge the status quo of university education.” - Britta Santowski, Canadian Book Review Annual (more information)

The Women, Gender & Development Reader

2nd Edition

Edited by Lynne Duggan, Laurie Nisonoff, Nalini Visvanathan, Nan Wiegersma

Third World women were long the undervalued and ignored actors in the development process but are now recognized as playing a critical role. This book is a comprehensive reader presenting the best of the now vast body of literature that has grown up alongside this acknowledgement. Divided into five parts, this book incorporates readings from the leading experts and authorities in each field. The first part acts as an introduction to the field, examining the key theoretical debates and discourses… (more information)

White Femininity

Race, Gender & Power

Katerina Deliovsky

This book contributes to the emerging field of white studies — an examination of the notion that whiteness is not an invisible category, but is itself a category of race. Looking at hegemonic white femininity in particular, the author examines the ways in which white women are coerced and compelled to demonstrate an allegiance to whiteness through their choice of intimate partners,sexual orientation, participation in racial inequality and complicity with white feminine beauty standards. This… (more information)

Women Fishes These Days

Brenda Grzetic

As the fisheries have dramatically changed in Newfoundland and Labrador, so has the work and learning experiences of women fishers. Restructuring, work and learning are not gender neutral. Women Fishes These Days explores women’s lives in the restructured fishery, their workload and work responsibilities, work relations, professionalization and training. It also, through a series of interviews with women fishers, looks at the impact on their identity, their autonomy and, particularly, their… (more information)

Women’s Rights

Geraldine Terry

All over the world, women and girls are being denied their social, economic, political and civil rights. Women are being systematically discriminated against because of their gender. The aim of this book is to expose this structural discrimination across a range of areas where it occurs—in education, access to public services, in reaping benefits from trade and elsewhere. The book also explores violence against women and looks at how the hiv/aids epidemic in Africa is linked to the denial… (more information)