In this vividly written and amply illustrated book, Gay L. Gullickson analyzes the representations of women who were part of the insurrection known as the Paris Commune. The uprising and its bloody suppression by the French army is still one of the most hotly debated episodes in modern history. Especially controversial was the role played by women, whose prominent place among the Communards shocked many commentators and spawned the legend of the pétroleuses, women who were accused of burning the city during the battle that ended the Commune. In the midst of the turmoil that shook Paris, the media distinguished women for their cruelty and rage. The Paris-Journal, for example, raved: "Madness seems to possess them; one sees them, their hair down like furies, throwing boiling oil, furniture, paving stones, on the soldiers." Gullickson explores the significance of the images created by journalists, memoirists, and political commentators, and elaborated by latter-day historians and political thinkers. The pétroleuse is the most notorious figure to emerge from the Commune, but the literature depicts the Communardes in other guises, too: the innocent victim, the scandalous orator, the Amazon warrior, and the ministering angel, among others. Gullickson argues that these caricatures played an important role in conveying and evoking moral condemnation of the Commune. More important, they reveal the gender conceptualizations that structured, limited, and assigned meaning to women as political actors for the balance of the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century.

"Based on previously unpublished French archival records as well as published primary sources from France, its enemies, and its allies from the early 1700s until the Great War, Intrepid women is the first serious ... study of a previously ignored aspect women's and military history. Thomas Cardoza shows that these women were far more numerous and far more important to French logistics and morale than previously recognized, and suggests that their suppression was both premature and ultimately counterproductive. He also paints ... a complete picture of these women's daily lives: social origins, recruitment, business dealings, behavior on the battlefield, marriage and family life, retirement, and death"--Jacket.

Women's bodies and their portrayals in the media remain at the center of every debate on women's rights worldwide. This study examines the domains of public and private space--and the interstices between them--with a focus on how women advance in the public arena, drawing on the domestic politics of the private realm in their drive for social justice and equality. The author examines the visual culture of first-wave feminists in Edwardian England and feminist developments in France. Late 20th century and 21st century women's movements are discussed in the context of how they continue to honor first-wave suffrage history.

This compelling study traces the changes in women's lives in France from 1789 to the present. Susan K. Foley surveys the patterns of women's experiences in the socially-segregated society of the early nineteenth century, and then traces the evolution of their lifestyles to the turn of the twenty-first century, when many of the earlier social distinctions had disappeared. Focusing on women's contested place within the political nation, Women in France since 1789 examines: - The on-going strength of notions of sexual difference - Recurrent debates over gender - The anxiety created by women's perceived departure from ideals of womanhood - Major controversies over matters such as reproductive rights, significant cultural changes, and women's often under-estimated political roles By addressing and exploring these key issues, Foley demonstrates women's efforts over two centuries to create a place in society on their own terms.

This history of professional women in positions of administrative responsibility illuminates women's changing relationship to the public sphere in France since the Revolution of 1789. Linda L. Clark traces several generations of French women in public administration, examining public policy and politics, attitudes towards gender, and women's work and education. Women's own perceptions and assessments of their positions illustrate changes in gender roles and women's relationship to the state. With seniority-based promotion, maternity leaves and the absence of the marriage bar, the situation of French women administrators invites comparison with their counterparts in other countries. Why has the profile of women's employment in France differed from that in the USA and the UK? This study gives unique insights into French social, political and cultural history, and the history of women during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It will interest scholars of European history and also specialists in women's studies.

Original Scholarly Monograph

France and Women, 1789-1914 is the first book to offer an authoritative account of women's history throughout the nineteenth century. James McMillan, author of the seminal work Housewife or Harlot, offers a major reinterpretation of the French past in relation to gender throughout these tumultuous decades of revolution and war. This book provides a challenging discussion of the factors which made French political culture so profoundly sexist and in particular, it shows that many of the myths about progress and emancipation associated with modernisation and the coming of mass politics do not stand up to close scrutiny. It also reveals the conservative nature of the republican left and of the ingrained belief throughout french society that women should remain within the domestic sphere. James McMillan considers the role played by French men and women in the politics, culture and society of their country throughout the 1800s.