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The Majority Finds Its Past: Placing Women in History
Lauded for its contribution to the theory and conceptualization of the field of women's history and for its sensitivity to the differences of class, ethnicity, race, and culture among women, The Majority Finds Its Past became a classic volume in women's history following its publication in 1979. This edition includes a foreword by Linda K. Kerber, introducing a new generation of readers to Gerda Lerner's considerable body of work and highlighting the importance of the essays in this collection to the development of the field that Lerner helped establish.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Gerda Lerner
34 books272 followersGerda Lerner was a historian, author and teacher. She was a professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a visiting scholar at Duke University.
Lerner was one of the founders of the field of women's history, and was a former president of the Organization of American Historians. She played a key role in the development of women's history curricula. She taught what is considered to be the first women's history course in the world at the New School for Social Research in 1963. She was also involved in the development of similar programs at Long Island University (1965–1967), at Sarah Lawrence College from 1968 to 1979 (where she established the nation's first Women's History graduate program), at Columbia University (where she was a co-founder of the Seminar on Women), and from 1980 until her retirement as Robinson Edwards Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
(from Wikipedia)
Lerner was one of the founders of the field of women's history, and was a former president of the Organization of American Historians. She played a key role in the development of women's history curricula. She taught what is considered to be the first women's history course in the world at the New School for Social Research in 1963. She was also involved in the development of similar programs at Long Island University (1965–1967), at Sarah Lawrence College from 1968 to 1979 (where she established the nation's first Women's History graduate program), at Columbia University (where she was a co-founder of the Seminar on Women), and from 1980 until her retirement as Robinson Edwards Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 11, 2013
I'm a passionate feminist and an avid reader of feminist texts. I'll give almost anything a chance, even if I disagree with it.
But this is actually the first feminist book that I have given up on. Gerda Lerner starts the book off with some shaky, incoherent historiography. Her analysis of just about everything is so lazy and superficial that one has to wonder how she ever became a historian in the first place.
For example, she assumes that if women are working in a particular field at some point in history, that that's automatically a good thing, and proves that women's status is high at the time. She avoids just about all of the important questions, like: What kinds of work are women actually doing? Are those female-dominated fields actually contributing something important to the economy, or are women just doing auxiliary work, while men do all of the real work that keeps the economy running? Are women being paid fair wages? Are their working conditions decent? Do women actually have reasonable alternatives in terms of choosing their field of work, or are they indirectly forced, via poverty / capitalism and sex-class segregation, into shitty fields? Do they have recourse for dealing with sexual harassment, if and when it occurs?
Although Lerner often mentions working-class women and women of colour and pays lip service to their needs, her analysis remains very much steeped in the worldview of a middle-class white woman, who assumes that all women throughout the world have as much freedom and choice as she does. There is very little recognition on her part that maybe, just maybe, capitalist patriarchy limits women's choices in more way than one.
In the next section, she begins to talk about the radical feminist movement of the 1960's and 70's in the US, and that's when the shit really hits the fan. After much analysis and deliberation, Lerner's erudite, well-thought out criticism of radical feminists is that we're... wait for it... "man haters". I kid you not. Tons and tons of intricate, nuanced criticisms of masculinity (as a gender role) and male chauvinism is dismissed - by someone who calls herself a "feminist"! - as simply being hatred for men.
It was at that point that I closed the book for good. I've read her other, more famous book, "The Creation of Patriarchy", and was very disappointed with her incoherent analysis there, as well. I bought this book in the hope that she would shed some more light on feminist historiography in general; needless to say, that didn't happen.
Gerda Lerner should be exiled from the academic community and forced to plant as many trees as it takes for her to make up for all of the trees that were needlessly murdered to print and publish her stupid books. I'm serious. I may never get back the time I wasted reading them, but for goddesses' sake, won't somebody please think of the trees?
But this is actually the first feminist book that I have given up on. Gerda Lerner starts the book off with some shaky, incoherent historiography. Her analysis of just about everything is so lazy and superficial that one has to wonder how she ever became a historian in the first place.
For example, she assumes that if women are working in a particular field at some point in history, that that's automatically a good thing, and proves that women's status is high at the time. She avoids just about all of the important questions, like: What kinds of work are women actually doing? Are those female-dominated fields actually contributing something important to the economy, or are women just doing auxiliary work, while men do all of the real work that keeps the economy running? Are women being paid fair wages? Are their working conditions decent? Do women actually have reasonable alternatives in terms of choosing their field of work, or are they indirectly forced, via poverty / capitalism and sex-class segregation, into shitty fields? Do they have recourse for dealing with sexual harassment, if and when it occurs?
Although Lerner often mentions working-class women and women of colour and pays lip service to their needs, her analysis remains very much steeped in the worldview of a middle-class white woman, who assumes that all women throughout the world have as much freedom and choice as she does. There is very little recognition on her part that maybe, just maybe, capitalist patriarchy limits women's choices in more way than one.
In the next section, she begins to talk about the radical feminist movement of the 1960's and 70's in the US, and that's when the shit really hits the fan. After much analysis and deliberation, Lerner's erudite, well-thought out criticism of radical feminists is that we're... wait for it... "man haters". I kid you not. Tons and tons of intricate, nuanced criticisms of masculinity (as a gender role) and male chauvinism is dismissed - by someone who calls herself a "feminist"! - as simply being hatred for men.
It was at that point that I closed the book for good. I've read her other, more famous book, "The Creation of Patriarchy", and was very disappointed with her incoherent analysis there, as well. I bought this book in the hope that she would shed some more light on feminist historiography in general; needless to say, that didn't happen.
Gerda Lerner should be exiled from the academic community and forced to plant as many trees as it takes for her to make up for all of the trees that were needlessly murdered to print and publish her stupid books. I'm serious. I may never get back the time I wasted reading them, but for goddesses' sake, won't somebody please think of the trees?
January 18, 2021
delicious excellent gerda has done it again!
March 31, 2024
It is helpful -- if not a bit depressing -- to read Gerda Lerner's essays from the 1970s and see still how appropriate much of this is... and to understand how much we have to lose...
July 22, 2012
I was a little surprised, as I went over this book in preparation for the review, how inspirational I found it. I'm not a Women's Historian, after all, not even a woman, so why should a group of "foundational" essays about Women's History matter to me? I think that this book represents something larger, in fact. I think what is inspiring about it is that it demonstrates the ability of an individual to change her world, just by being serious about what concerns her and working at it honestly and tirelessly for years. Also that Lerner represents a "non-traditional" graduate student who really made something of her graduate education, again just by being focused and aware of herself.
Gerda Lerner was a middle-aged mother and published fiction writer when she decided to start studying history, and she was simply interested in finding out a bit more about two women who had been connected to abolitionism and women's rights, but in the process discovered that "history" as it had been defined up to that point really meant the history of men. She also discovered that the new wave of feminism taking place at the time was hungry for a more informed sense of the feminisms that had preceded it, and of women’s actual past in general. There was a tremendous opportunity to fill a “gap” in the scholarship – a gap that included more or less half (probably the majority) of human beings who had ever lived.
This relatively slim book includes most of her important early historical essays, including general theoretical works and focused historical research papers. It begins with a remarkable autobiographical Introduction, which may be the most valuable piece in the book. Her work focuses on the United States, but her theories have been applied to the study of history throughout the world. She speaks not only about women’s oppression, but also the divisions among women that have prevented effective feminist unity, including especially race and class issues. Because the essays are presented sequentially, they present a sort of progressive view – as the progress so did the acceptance of Women’s History into the broader historical dialogue.
On the whole, this is a great book for anyone who is interested in history to read, whether you are interested in Women’s History or feminism or not. It doesn’t require any specialized knowledge or interest, just a belief that studying history matters, or can matter.
Gerda Lerner was a middle-aged mother and published fiction writer when she decided to start studying history, and she was simply interested in finding out a bit more about two women who had been connected to abolitionism and women's rights, but in the process discovered that "history" as it had been defined up to that point really meant the history of men. She also discovered that the new wave of feminism taking place at the time was hungry for a more informed sense of the feminisms that had preceded it, and of women’s actual past in general. There was a tremendous opportunity to fill a “gap” in the scholarship – a gap that included more or less half (probably the majority) of human beings who had ever lived.
This relatively slim book includes most of her important early historical essays, including general theoretical works and focused historical research papers. It begins with a remarkable autobiographical Introduction, which may be the most valuable piece in the book. Her work focuses on the United States, but her theories have been applied to the study of history throughout the world. She speaks not only about women’s oppression, but also the divisions among women that have prevented effective feminist unity, including especially race and class issues. Because the essays are presented sequentially, they present a sort of progressive view – as the progress so did the acceptance of Women’s History into the broader historical dialogue.
On the whole, this is a great book for anyone who is interested in history to read, whether you are interested in Women’s History or feminism or not. It doesn’t require any specialized knowledge or interest, just a belief that studying history matters, or can matter.
May 20, 2013
There are no words for this amount of spice.
Everyone who's anyone (sideslash has an opinion on gender roles) should read the essay "Just a Housewife".
Everyone who's anyone (sideslash has an opinion on gender roles) should read the essay "Just a Housewife".
May 11, 2025
I have to learn to stop picking up these old second-wave feminist books because all of the information and theory in them is so old/outdated haha
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews