Writing gender history - Laura Lee Downs

How has feminist scholarship changed historical writing? The fields of women's and gender history have expanded dramatically over the second half of the twentieth century, showing great vigour and variety in the breadth of subjects tackled and the range of methodologies explored. Moreover, feminist historians have played a central role in the often searing theory wars that have divided the discipline for the past twenty-five years. Hence, not only has gender become a widespread tool of historical analysis but feminist critics and historians have also played a vital part in the recent evolution of the historical discipline itself. As the twentieth century gives way to the twenty-first, it is clear that scholars no longer imagine that it is possible to write history, whether of the political, military, social, economic or intellectual varieties, without taking gender into account.



Writing Gender History explores the evolution of historical writing about women and gender from the early 1930s until the beginning of the twenty-first century. The discussion moves from womens history to gender history, and then to poststructuralist challenges to womens and gender history. Designed to be accessible to students, discussion focuses neither on abstract theory nor on historiography per se, but rather upon the practical application of theory in historical scholarship on women and gender.