Debating Gender: A History from the Ancient World to the Modern Day

by April Haynes, Peter N. Stearns (Editor)

This concise volume surveys global debates about the relationship between gender, power and historical change from the ancient world to the modern period. Contextualizing contemporary thought and political controversies, it introduces students to the terms and methods of eight critical debates in gender and women's history, answering questions such as what is gender and when did it start? How did ancient societies organize gender and power, and how did gender become 'modern'?

Blending a broadly chronological organization with a thematic emphasis on major debates, Debating Gender historicizes topics such as intersectionality, non-binary gender identities and environmental feminism. Defining gender as a set of diverse historical processes related to power, religion, labour, sexuality and belonging, it traces the historical development of gender as a contested process, questioning historical definitions, comparing historical systems of patriarchy/matriarchy and analyzing gendered dimensions of religion, colonialism and slavery. Taking the debate up to the modern day, Haynes raises questions about gender within economic and political modernity, and outlines the proliferation of feminisms across the twentieth century world. It concludes with two debates; how should women and gender be framed in history? And what might the future hold for women and gender?

This exceptionally practical approach teaches students to combine historical interpretation and gender analysis and, in doing so, prepares them to participate in ongoing debates about women and gender in active and informed ways.

Genres: Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2022