The Women's Movement Inside and Outside the State

Argues that the mobilization and success of the U.S. women's movement cannot be fully understood without recognizing the presence of feminist activist networks inside the federal government.

Lee Ann Banaszak (Author)

9780521115100, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 December 2009

264 pages, 2 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.4 cm, 0.5 kg

'The author has successfully been able to convey the arguments empirically and in general the book adds value both theoretically and methodologically.' Political Studies

The Women's Movement Inside and Outside the State argues that the mobilization and success of the U.S. women's movement cannot be fully understood without recognizing the presence of feminist activist networks inside the federal government. Utilizing in-depth interviews and historical sources, Lee Ann Banaszak's research documents the significant contributions that these insider activists made to the creation of feminist organizations and the vital roles that they played in the development and implementation of policies in many areas, including education, foreign policy, and women's health. Banaszak also finds that working inside government did not always co-opt or deradicalize these activists. Banaszak's research causes us to rethink our current understanding of many social movement concepts and processes, including political opportunities, movement institutionalization, and confrontational tactics, and it alters our conception of the interests and character of the American state.

1. Blurring the conceptual boundaries between the women's movement and the state
2. Moving feminist activists inside the state: the context of the second wave
3. Who are movement insiders?
4. Mobilizing and organizing the second wave
5. Choosing tactics inside and outside the state
6. How insider feminists changed policy
7. Changing with the times - how presidential administrations affect feminist activists inside the state
8. What insider feminists tell us about women's movements, social movements and the state
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], Sociology [JHB], Gender studies: men [JFSJ2], Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ]