Citizen Woman: An Illustrated History of the Women’s Movement

Historians Gerhard (The Dinner Party) and Tucker (editor, The Hamilton Collection) deliver a concise and visually appealing survey of the international fight for gender equality. Employing carefully selected images and sure-footed prose, the authors establish the relationship between the suffrage movement and the struggle for reproductive rights, highlighting arguments made by 19th-century activists Victoria Woodhull and Lily Braun that birth control, abortion, and infant and maternal care are essential to women’s ability to function as citizens. Gerhard and Tucker also note that industrialization brought more women into the workplace, contributing to the evolution of marriage, divorce, and property laws, and document the prominent role women have played in labor unions. They explore how male standards of beauty have been used to marginalize women; examine the intersection of class, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation in modern feminism; and link AIDS activism in the 1980s to 21st-century campaigns for same-sex marriage rights and medical and legal assistance for transgender people. Gerhard and Tucker unearth meaningful connections between various aspects of the women’s movement, and clarify how its goals and methods continue to evolve. Eye-catching photographs complement the brisk treatments of milestone moments and figures. This attractive and informative history serves as excellent primer on the battle for equal rights. (May)