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The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-seventy
The Creation of Feminist Consciousness sweeps over more than 1000 years of Western history - from the Dark Ages to the revolutionary and industrialized nineteenth century. It was under patriarchal hegemony in thought, values, institutions, and resources that women had to struggle to form their own feminist consciousness. The book discusses such topics as the educational disadvantaging of women; the role of women mystics; the concept of motherhood as a means for female bonding; feminist Bible criticism; creative literary women (with special emphasis on Mary Wollstonecraft and Emily Dickinson); the struggle for equal education; female support groups and salons; and the search for women's history.
The book reinterprets Western history from a woman's perspective and shows the difficult and often heroic struggles women faced to secure their place in society. Lerner emphasizes how denial of educational opportunies was a crucial barrier women had to overcome. But equally difficult were the steps women had to take to reclaim their place in history. The book represents a perceptive and path-breaking examination of the role of women in Western history.
The book reinterprets Western history from a woman's perspective and shows the difficult and often heroic struggles women faced to secure their place in society. Lerner emphasizes how denial of educational opportunies was a crucial barrier women had to overcome. But equally difficult were the steps women had to take to reclaim their place in history. The book represents a perceptive and path-breaking examination of the role of women in Western history.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
35 people are currently reading
2469 people want to read
About the author
Gerda Lerner
34 books273 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 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 21, 2014
Reading both of Gerda Lerner's books on Women & History has been… consciousness-raising does not do the experience justice. It is as if I have been asleep my entire life, where development, achievement and mere survival have required slogging through a frustrating, nonsensical, exhausting Kafkaesque dream. Now that I am fully awake I can clearly see the inconsistencies, contradictions and constructs of a male-dominated nightmare built upon, attained and maintained by the "systematic silencing of other voices." The shock of waking up is complex: I am both relieved and outraged, inspired and embittered, empowered and rebellious, determined and eager to fight. Lerner has inspired a new era in my own life and self-development, as she has done for countless others in the decades since her first publication.
Though I have copied entire paragraphs throughout the book, the final chapter is one long insightful quote. I will 'limit' my selection to the following paragraphs.
----
"History shows that for women the right to learn, to teach and to define has always come as the result of political struggle. The structuring of society in such a way that women were to millennia excluded from the creation of the cultural product has more decisively disadvantaged women in their economic and political rights than any other factor. Unlike men, whose intellectual advancement on the part of men of genius were supported and furthered by institutions, the advances made by individual women of great talent, even in those cases where they were not entirely thwarted and buried without a trace, did not translate into advances for the entire sex. Women as-a-group have made intellectual and educational advances only as a result of organized struggle."
"This new movement for Women's Studies and the integration of women into the curriculum have made spectacular advances in the United States and in the world… While the development is uneven, depending as it does on the existence of women's movements, it is also reversible. Once the basic fallacy of patriarchal thought—the assumption that a half of humankind can adequately represent the whole—has been exposed and explained, it can no more be undone than was the insight that the earth is round, not flat."
"Feminist consciousness consists (1) of the awareness of women that they belong to a subordinate group and that, as members of such a group, they have suffered wrongs; (2) the recognition that their condition of subordination is not natural, but societally determined; (3) the development of a sense of sisterhood; (4) the autonomous definition by women of their goals and strategies for changing their condition; and (5) the development of an alternate vision of the future."
"Throughout historical time, women have been discriminated against and disadvantaged economically, politically, legally and sexually. They have, depending on their class, race and ethnic affiliations with men also participated in discriminating against, disadvantaging and exploiting men and women different from themselves by race and class and religion. In short, they have, while being victimized by patriarchy, continued to support the system and helped perpetuate it. They have done so because their consciousness of their own situation could not develop in a manner commensurate with their advancement in other aspects of their lives. Thus, the systematic educational disadvantaging of women and their definition as being persons 'out of history' have been truly the most oppressive aspect of women's condition under patriarchy."
"Human beings have always used history in order to find their direction toward the future: to repeat the past or to depart from it. Lacking knowledge of their own history, women thinkers did not have the self-knowledge from which to project a desired future. Therefore, women have, up until very recently, not been able to create a social theory appropriate to their needs. Feminist consciousness is a prerequisite for the formulation of the kind of abstract thought needed to conceptualize a society in which differences do not connote dominance.
"The hegemony of patriarchal thought in Western civilization is not due to its superiority in content, form and achievement over all other thought; it is built upon the systematic silencing of other voices. Women of all classes, men of different races or religious beliefs from those of the dominant, those defined as deviants by them—all these had to be discouraged, ridiculed, silenced. Above all they had to be kept from being part of the intellectual discourse. Patriarchal thinkers constructed their edifice the way patriarchal statesmen constructed their states: by defining who was to be kept out. The definition of who was to be kept out was usually not even made explicit, for to have made it explicit would have meant to acknowledge that there was a process of exclusion going on. Those to be kept out were simply obliterated from sight, marginalized out of existence."
"It appears then, that there were women as great as the greatest male thinkers and writers, but their significance and their work have been marginalized and obscured. It appears most likely also that there were many others of equal potential who have been totally silenced and remain forgotten in the long forward march of male dominance over Western civilization. Most important, the female questions, the woman's point of view, the paradigm which would include the female experience has, until very recently, never entered the common discourse.
"But now, the period of patriarchal hegemony over culture has come to an end… [T]he theoretical insights modern feminist scholarship has already achieved have the power to shatter the patriarchal paradigm. Marginalization, ridicule, name-calling, budget-cutting and other devices designed to halt the process of redefining the mental constructs of Western civilization will all, in the long run, have to fail. They can temporarily retard the ongoing process of intellectual transformation, but they cannot stop it…
"More than thirteen hundred years of individual struggles, disappointments and persistence have brought women to the historic moment when we can reclaim the freedom of our minds as we reclaim our past. The millennia of women's pre-history are at an end. We stand at the beginning of a new epoch in the history of humankind's thought, as we recognize that sex is irrelevant to thought, that gender is a social construct and that woman, like man, makes and defines history."
Though I have copied entire paragraphs throughout the book, the final chapter is one long insightful quote. I will 'limit' my selection to the following paragraphs.
----
"History shows that for women the right to learn, to teach and to define has always come as the result of political struggle. The structuring of society in such a way that women were to millennia excluded from the creation of the cultural product has more decisively disadvantaged women in their economic and political rights than any other factor. Unlike men, whose intellectual advancement on the part of men of genius were supported and furthered by institutions, the advances made by individual women of great talent, even in those cases where they were not entirely thwarted and buried without a trace, did not translate into advances for the entire sex. Women as-a-group have made intellectual and educational advances only as a result of organized struggle."
"This new movement for Women's Studies and the integration of women into the curriculum have made spectacular advances in the United States and in the world… While the development is uneven, depending as it does on the existence of women's movements, it is also reversible. Once the basic fallacy of patriarchal thought—the assumption that a half of humankind can adequately represent the whole—has been exposed and explained, it can no more be undone than was the insight that the earth is round, not flat."
"Feminist consciousness consists (1) of the awareness of women that they belong to a subordinate group and that, as members of such a group, they have suffered wrongs; (2) the recognition that their condition of subordination is not natural, but societally determined; (3) the development of a sense of sisterhood; (4) the autonomous definition by women of their goals and strategies for changing their condition; and (5) the development of an alternate vision of the future."
"Throughout historical time, women have been discriminated against and disadvantaged economically, politically, legally and sexually. They have, depending on their class, race and ethnic affiliations with men also participated in discriminating against, disadvantaging and exploiting men and women different from themselves by race and class and religion. In short, they have, while being victimized by patriarchy, continued to support the system and helped perpetuate it. They have done so because their consciousness of their own situation could not develop in a manner commensurate with their advancement in other aspects of their lives. Thus, the systematic educational disadvantaging of women and their definition as being persons 'out of history' have been truly the most oppressive aspect of women's condition under patriarchy."
"Human beings have always used history in order to find their direction toward the future: to repeat the past or to depart from it. Lacking knowledge of their own history, women thinkers did not have the self-knowledge from which to project a desired future. Therefore, women have, up until very recently, not been able to create a social theory appropriate to their needs. Feminist consciousness is a prerequisite for the formulation of the kind of abstract thought needed to conceptualize a society in which differences do not connote dominance.
"The hegemony of patriarchal thought in Western civilization is not due to its superiority in content, form and achievement over all other thought; it is built upon the systematic silencing of other voices. Women of all classes, men of different races or religious beliefs from those of the dominant, those defined as deviants by them—all these had to be discouraged, ridiculed, silenced. Above all they had to be kept from being part of the intellectual discourse. Patriarchal thinkers constructed their edifice the way patriarchal statesmen constructed their states: by defining who was to be kept out. The definition of who was to be kept out was usually not even made explicit, for to have made it explicit would have meant to acknowledge that there was a process of exclusion going on. Those to be kept out were simply obliterated from sight, marginalized out of existence."
"It appears then, that there were women as great as the greatest male thinkers and writers, but their significance and their work have been marginalized and obscured. It appears most likely also that there were many others of equal potential who have been totally silenced and remain forgotten in the long forward march of male dominance over Western civilization. Most important, the female questions, the woman's point of view, the paradigm which would include the female experience has, until very recently, never entered the common discourse.
"But now, the period of patriarchal hegemony over culture has come to an end… [T]he theoretical insights modern feminist scholarship has already achieved have the power to shatter the patriarchal paradigm. Marginalization, ridicule, name-calling, budget-cutting and other devices designed to halt the process of redefining the mental constructs of Western civilization will all, in the long run, have to fail. They can temporarily retard the ongoing process of intellectual transformation, but they cannot stop it…
"More than thirteen hundred years of individual struggles, disappointments and persistence have brought women to the historic moment when we can reclaim the freedom of our minds as we reclaim our past. The millennia of women's pre-history are at an end. We stand at the beginning of a new epoch in the history of humankind's thought, as we recognize that sex is irrelevant to thought, that gender is a social construct and that woman, like man, makes and defines history."
December 30, 2024
Even extraordinary women, talents which occur once or twice a century, had to struggle against this notion which deprived them of authenticity and authority. Each thinking woman had to spend inordinate amounts of time and energy apologizing for the very fact of her thinking.
This book challenges the common suffrage narrative or the narrative that Mary Wollstonecraft somehow singlehandedly started feminism. Don't get me wrong Mary Wollstonecraft is an absolute badass, but feminism doesn't start with her, nor does it start with fight for voting rights for women. As you might surmise from the title this book follows the creation of feminist consciousness, starting at the Middle Ages. I suppose you could say that the book follows a proto-feminist history, although there is more to it and anyway I think that talking about proto-feminism is a bit problematic and misleading, because it creates this idea of hierarchy, even if I know it's not the intention. That said Gerda Lerner doesn't use the term proto-feminism, she talks about feminist consciousness and I was very on board with that.
The core of the book basically is the question of creating the feminist/women's movement, why did it take so long? And the answer to that is very complex but also actually quite simple. Lerner shows us women writers, women mystics, women critics, women who wanted to educate themselves and how incredibly hard it was for them to connect to the mass of "women's knowledge". Is this essentialist you ask? No, it isn't! Because the first step in the patriarchal society always has to be defending your own existence, your own intellect, your right to contribute into a debate. And Lerner shows us, how each woman had to start from the beginning (you can say, from the invention of the wheel) arguing for her own worthiness. Which in the culture that was based on humbleness (before God etc.) not only for women, but also for men, could be a tricky business.
However, there is a common misconception that there were NO women writers in Middle Ages, or at least no feminist ones. Well, I guess it does depend on how you define feminism, but I for once think that Christine de Pizan is pretty dang amazing, as is Marie de France and the mountains of authors I didn't read yet: Hildegard de Bingen, the Beguine mystics like Marguerite Porete, Julian of Norwich, Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, Isotta Nogarola and so many others that I just don't have the space to mention!
But I feel like I let myself be distracted with the shiny objects here, just a little bit... So, one of the parts of the answer is arguing for your own worthiness without knowing the arguments of your predecessors and therefore spending a huge amount of effort and time on arguments that were already made. Which links back to the core issue, which is that the women, especially in the earlier stages of Middle Ages didn't hear about one another! They had no idea that women like them existed. But sadly this can also be said about the more recent feminists like Mary Astell or Mary Wollstonecraft who argue with their male adversaries but don't engage with any female thinkers. As Lerner says:
Mary Wollstonecraft argued with Burke and Rousseau, when arguing with Makin, Astell and Margaret Fell might have sharpened her thought and radicalised her. Emma Goldman argued for free love and new sort of communal life against the models of Marx and Bakunin a dialogue with the Owenite feminists Anna Wheeler and Emma Martin might have redirected her thinking and kept her from reinventing "solutions" which have already proven unworkable fifty years earlier.
And she does go on and on. It is so sad when you think about this and I just mourn the alternative reality where some of the connections had been made. Where the works that are completely lost to us survived, where people read the pieces that were completely obscure for most of the history. Where we know the authors of works by the Anonymous, because a lot of those are women, queer people, people of marginalised ethnicities and otherwise marginalised authors.
One kind of cost for her daring to think and write was exacted from one Gaudairenca, wife of the troubadour Raimon de Miraval.
"Miraval... said to his wife, he did not want a wife who could write poetry; she should prepare to return to the house of her father, because he no longer considered her his wife." What became of the offending poet we do not know. What we do know is that none of her poems survived.
Nevermind, I clearly have a severe issue with keeping my mind on track with this one. Where was I?
Oh, yes, educational inequality. That is also a big one, although Lerner more than admits that that is also largely a class issue. Actually, since we touched this. This book was published in 80s and it does better job at intersectionality than a lot of the contemporary books! I'm not saying that it's perfect. I will point the places where it isn't but it deals with history, with Middle Ages and so many books just don't even try there. Lerner repeatedly mentions African-American women as well as Jewish women as well as other religious minorities. This is largely functional because religion to big extent determined women's options. But still there are sections devoted to those groups. And as hinted above, Lerner is very aware of the element of class.
One servant woman learned to read at age eighteen, when she made it part of her employment contract in service that she should get a reading lesson each day.
Queer women are included, although sometimes in a bit unsatisfactory ways? Lerner seems to think that every queer woman she mentions is bisexual? Which, you know, I'm biased, I'm kind of into that, but I also feel a bit... really? But I don't know enough about either of these women to really content that.
Going to mention them here real quick in case someone is interested: Emily Dickinson (obviously...), Bettina Brentano Von Armin (kind of want to read Correspondence of Fräulein Günderode and Bettine Von Arnim / Die Günderode now...) and Rahel Levin Varnhagen von Ense. Both Bettina and Rahel married men though, which especially in Bettina's case, I couldn't really read as a success Lerner was trying to make it? Lerner is making an argument that Bettina is the only woman of her circle who managed to have it all - successful career, husband and children, but... I don't know, can we be sure that was what she wanted? Another thing is that when Lerner menions Public Universal Friend she refers to them with she/her pronouns. Which is unfortunate considering that she otherwise doesn't really include trans, non-binary or genderqueer people much, or at all? Honestly, I read this book across such a long period of time that I cannot be sure. Well, let's just say that it's not great but kind of understandable considering publishing date and the focus of the book. I thought that this book aged pretty well.
Since this review got completely out of hand, I think I should get to the question of whether I would recommend it and how hard a read it is. I totally would recommend it, this read brought me a lot, I'm so happy to own a physical thoroughly annotated copy of this. It isn't a book everyone needs to read though. History is personally really important to me, trying to root myself in those women and people is really important to me. But I understand that not everybody is like this, so if this doesn't sound like your jam, you just need to know this "feminism was long in the making, history isn't upward motion, women and other marginalised people always wrote and were otherwise active in questions of social justice, it's just that the system suppressed them and silenced them". Is this book hard to read? I'm really not the best person to answer this question, I found the book to be very readable. And once I did read it, it was easy for me to go through 40 pages in one sitting. That said, it is quite information heavy and if you are super avers to reading about Bible criticism and mysticism and just Christianity stuff in general, I guess reconsider reading this, because there is A LOT of that. But the book does show how women can liberate themselves through religion and I think that is quite powerful message considering how feminism and religion often seem to stand in oppositions nowadays.
Overall, this was a great book for me, even though it took me eternity to finish. I didn't read The Creation of Patriarchy yet, so I guess I should get to that one next... Probably after I finish my Masters though...
P.S. The book is only 283 pages (the rest of the pages up to 395 are sources, bibliography and index)! In case someone was intimidated by the length...
Picture of Cosmos by Hildegard de Bingen... self-explanatory, I think.
May 10, 2020
Gerta Lerner was instrumental in the movement to make women's history studies part of the academic community. Without her, I probably wouldn't be doing a PhD in women's studies now. Excellent. An essential documentation of the thousands of years of struggle that lie beneath the assumptions of cultural and political entitlement *many American* women take for granted today.
February 27, 2024
“La hegemonía del pensamiento patriarcal en la civilización occidental no se debe a la superioridad de su contenido, forma o éxito sobre los demás pensamientos; está construida sobre el silenciamiento sistemático de otras voces. Las mujeres de todas las clases, los hombres de razas o creencias religiosas diferentes de las dominantes, aquellos definidos como anormales”.
Esta es una de las conclusiones a las que llega la historiadora Gerda Lerner en su segundo libro (después de su maravilloso libro La creación del Patriarcado) y en ella se ve el recorrido y análisis profundo que hace alrededor de este tema, ¿en qué momento de la historia las mujeres empezamos a tomar consciencia de que las situaciones a las que éramos sometidas, no eran normales, sino parte de una estrategia sistemática para acallarnos y dominarnos?.
Lerner es una autora e investigadora juiciosa y rigurosa; me encanta como poco a poco nos va llevando por tópicos que podrían ser pesados o incluso aburridos para mí como por ejemplo, las mujeres místicas, pero ella sabe hacerlo y nos engancha contándonos cómo estas mujeres desde la Edad Media, no querían dejarse arrebatar el derecho divino a hablar con Dios directamente, aunque la Iglesia y sus sacerdotes se lo apropiaran, esto era ya una muestra de independencia y de pensamiento propio.
El despertar de las mujeres en el sentido de tomar consciencia de su situación fue lento, ha tomado unos 1300 años, pero ¿cómo iba a ser posible si durante todo ese tiempo la mitad de la población mundial era analfabeta por obligación y aquí me refiero específicamente a las mujeres que se les prohibía todo, incluso ser ellas mismas?.
Pero lo más importante según Lerner, es la falta de conexión que existió durante todo ese tiempo entre las mujeres para formar un gran movimiento que les permitiese salir de ese letargo. El hecho de que no estuvieran vinculadas a instituciones como universidades o no pudieran participar en la vida pública, creó un vacío de información acerca de lo que tantas mujeres estaban haciendo (o hicieron) a pesar de las prohibiciones que el sistema patriarcal les imponía; muchas escribieron, contaron sus historias, escribieron poesía, novelas, ensayos, investigaban a hurtadillas, etc., pero nada de esto era de conocimiento en un nivel en el que otras pudieran enterarse de lo hecho y así continuar una cadena actuaciones que les permitieran seguir construyendo sobre lo construido, nada de eso existió o muy poco y en círculos muy cerrados, esto condujo a un desarrollo muy lento del movimiento por los derechos de las mujeres.
Pero a pesar del lastre que llevamos, las cosas empezaron a cambiar siendo definitiva la posibilidad de ser educadas (cosa que no fue fácil). Poco a poco la toma de consciencia llevo a un cambio efectivo, cambio que aún se está desarrollando pero que ya no tiene vuelta atrás.
Yo soy un poco pesimista y creo que el tiempo de los humanos en este planeta tal como lo conocemos, no durará mucho y que más fácil se nos acabará la dicha de vivir en él que el patriarcado se acabe pero por algo hay que empezar.
Esta es una de las conclusiones a las que llega la historiadora Gerda Lerner en su segundo libro (después de su maravilloso libro La creación del Patriarcado) y en ella se ve el recorrido y análisis profundo que hace alrededor de este tema, ¿en qué momento de la historia las mujeres empezamos a tomar consciencia de que las situaciones a las que éramos sometidas, no eran normales, sino parte de una estrategia sistemática para acallarnos y dominarnos?.
Lerner es una autora e investigadora juiciosa y rigurosa; me encanta como poco a poco nos va llevando por tópicos que podrían ser pesados o incluso aburridos para mí como por ejemplo, las mujeres místicas, pero ella sabe hacerlo y nos engancha contándonos cómo estas mujeres desde la Edad Media, no querían dejarse arrebatar el derecho divino a hablar con Dios directamente, aunque la Iglesia y sus sacerdotes se lo apropiaran, esto era ya una muestra de independencia y de pensamiento propio.
El despertar de las mujeres en el sentido de tomar consciencia de su situación fue lento, ha tomado unos 1300 años, pero ¿cómo iba a ser posible si durante todo ese tiempo la mitad de la población mundial era analfabeta por obligación y aquí me refiero específicamente a las mujeres que se les prohibía todo, incluso ser ellas mismas?.
Pero lo más importante según Lerner, es la falta de conexión que existió durante todo ese tiempo entre las mujeres para formar un gran movimiento que les permitiese salir de ese letargo. El hecho de que no estuvieran vinculadas a instituciones como universidades o no pudieran participar en la vida pública, creó un vacío de información acerca de lo que tantas mujeres estaban haciendo (o hicieron) a pesar de las prohibiciones que el sistema patriarcal les imponía; muchas escribieron, contaron sus historias, escribieron poesía, novelas, ensayos, investigaban a hurtadillas, etc., pero nada de esto era de conocimiento en un nivel en el que otras pudieran enterarse de lo hecho y así continuar una cadena actuaciones que les permitieran seguir construyendo sobre lo construido, nada de eso existió o muy poco y en círculos muy cerrados, esto condujo a un desarrollo muy lento del movimiento por los derechos de las mujeres.
Pero a pesar del lastre que llevamos, las cosas empezaron a cambiar siendo definitiva la posibilidad de ser educadas (cosa que no fue fácil). Poco a poco la toma de consciencia llevo a un cambio efectivo, cambio que aún se está desarrollando pero que ya no tiene vuelta atrás.
Yo soy un poco pesimista y creo que el tiempo de los humanos en este planeta tal como lo conocemos, no durará mucho y que más fácil se nos acabará la dicha de vivir en él que el patriarcado se acabe pero por algo hay que empezar.
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December 30, 2022Al igual que el primer volumen, muy didáctico y denso. Con este libro Gerda Lerner demuestra y conceptualiza que el feminismo no "empezó" en el siglo XVII con Mary Wollstonecraft, sino que hubo muchas otras mujeres antes de ella que desafiaron el status quo, aunque desgraciadamente hayan sido olvidadas. Aunque la obra se centra, eso sí, exclusivamente en la sociedad occidental.
Estamos en el comienzo de una nueva época en la historia del pensamiento de la humanidad, a medida que reconocemos que el sexo es irrelevante para el pensamiento, que el género es un constructo social y que la mujer, al igual que el hombre, hace y define la historia.
August 27, 2016
This is an important book, however I only give it three stars. It's because I found some of the details a bit too boring, fact-citing, etc. The part about the nuns was also kind of heavy. I can read only so much of texts talking about our Lord the Savior without falling asleep. I enjoyed when the book went more into details of some of the included women's lives. Because they were truly amazing.
Still - I take many great points from this volume. And I can't help but admire the women, who, without any feminist movement, found the courage and strength to make their voices heard. They had to struggle with themselves all the time - their inner (and outer) voices telling them that they are not important enough, etc. I know many women (me included), who still feel this way, and this book can give us courage - I mean, if Hrosvitha did it in 6th century, then we can, too! Right?
And also, I want to remember this sentence: "The definition of
those to be kept out was usually not even made explicit, for to have
made it explicit would have meant to acknowledge that there was a
process of exclusion going on. Those to be kept out were simply
obliterated from sight, marginalized out of existence"
Still so relevant.
Still - I take many great points from this volume. And I can't help but admire the women, who, without any feminist movement, found the courage and strength to make their voices heard. They had to struggle with themselves all the time - their inner (and outer) voices telling them that they are not important enough, etc. I know many women (me included), who still feel this way, and this book can give us courage - I mean, if Hrosvitha did it in 6th century, then we can, too! Right?
And also, I want to remember this sentence: "The definition of
those to be kept out was usually not even made explicit, for to have
made it explicit would have meant to acknowledge that there was a
process of exclusion going on. Those to be kept out were simply
obliterated from sight, marginalized out of existence"
Still so relevant.
August 6, 2023
Increíble, no tengo palabras. Increíble el análisis histórico que hace, la recopilación enorme de mujeres que han estado silenciadas y las interpretaciones que hace.
La importancia de conocer a las mujeres que nos precedieron y lucharon en contra de la dominación masculina, la importancia de entender el surgimiento de la conciencia feminista más allá de la tradicional narración sobre el comienzo del feminismo en el S. XIX. Demuestra lo necesario que es conocer el (nuestro) pasado en la mayor medida posible para encaminarnos hacia el futuro
La importancia de conocer a las mujeres que nos precedieron y lucharon en contra de la dominación masculina, la importancia de entender el surgimiento de la conciencia feminista más allá de la tradicional narración sobre el comienzo del feminismo en el S. XIX. Demuestra lo necesario que es conocer el (nuestro) pasado en la mayor medida posible para encaminarnos hacia el futuro
January 18, 2025
«Resulta útil distinguir entre la historia -los acontecimientos del pasado- y la Historia que se ha escrito -los acontecimientos del pasado tal y como los interpretaron las generaciones posteriores de historiadores-. (...) Es precisamente en esta Historia que se ha escrito donde las mujeres han sido anuladas o marginadas» p.25 💜
July 24, 2014
Back in the day, even though brilliant academic women had much to say, they were required to say it in within the confines of the stiff academic fashion of the time. So even though I am learning a lot, it is hard work to sift through the crouched, guarded patriarchal formalities with the language.
Still, gems are everywhere and I consider this book well worth the effort. I assign myself 4-5 pages a day and am always well-rewarded.
I have learned so much about the oppression of women and the courageous crawl out.
Eleanor Cowan, author of : A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
Still, gems are everywhere and I consider this book well worth the effort. I assign myself 4-5 pages a day and am always well-rewarded.
I have learned so much about the oppression of women and the courageous crawl out.
Eleanor Cowan, author of : A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
July 26, 2019
An excellent resource that provides a well-researched and documented account of how women have been denied their humanity in every possible way along with the heroic stories of women throughout time who've fought against impossible odds. Lerner explicitly states that her analysis is for Western culture and acknowledges that women of other cultures have their own stories and heroes as well, but her text focuses only on Western culture. I don't have too much of an issue with this because Western culture is the dominant culture after all that has consumed and exploited all the others, so it now sits supreme. Still, I'm looking to read about women from other cultures in the very near future.
August 27, 2014
Even though I finished, I know I'll be paging through it again as reference. Specifically the chapter the highlights criticisms regarding the biblical patriarchy.
March 18, 2024
Este libro es la continuación de la obra de Lerner sobre el feminismo, el cual comenzó con La creación del patriarcado en donde establece cómo el patriarcado surge y domina a la humanidad en todos sus aspectos. Con esta base, en este libro ya habla sobre cómo se desarrolló el feminismo en occidente, analizando la historia de EUA y Europa desde la edad media hasta la década de 1870.
En esta investigación que cubre un largo periodo histórico, muestra como se marginó a las mujeres de la educación y de la creación de argumentos sobre sí mismas. La manera en que revirtieron esta situación fue encontrando espacios u oportunidades que su misma posición social les ofrecía, como fue el recurrir al misticismo, a los conventos, a la idea de la maternidad e incluso revirtiendo los argumentos religiosos para darse autoridad, entre otras muchas maneras. Así, lograron poder desarrollar ideas independientes sobre la mujer. Esto lo desarrolla a lo largo de 12 capítulos, siendo uno de conclusiones en donde resumen lo anterior.
Uno de los puntos a destacar de este libro de Lerner es que durante siglos hubo muchas pensadoras que desarrollaron argumentos, ideas y pensamientos, las cuales no se socializaron a más mujeres a través del tiempo, por lo que cada nueva pensadora tenía muchas veces que partir de cero. Esto sin duda debido a las múltiples barreras que las sociedades patriarcales a lo largo del tiempo impusieron. Lo que implico un gran desperdicio de energía y de retrasos históricos en la formación de una conciencia de clase feminista.
Como nota importante del libro, y que guía al mismo, Lerner se refiere a conciencia feminista como el "acto en que las mujeres se percatan de que pertenece a un grupo subordinado; de que como grupo soportan injusticias; de que su condición de subordinación no es natural, sino determinada socialmente; de que tienen que unirse a otras para remediar estas injusticias y, en definitiva, de que pueden y tienen que aportar una visión alternativa de organización social en la que tanto las mujeres como los hombres disfrutaran de su autonomía y su autodeterminación". (P. 37).
Es realmente hasta el siglo XIX, después de muchos esfuerzos y pensadoras aisladas, que surgen grupos de mujeres pensadores, redes y espacios sociales en donde las ideas elaboradas por mujeres son difundidas a más mujeres de manera consistente; lo que da lugar al surgimiento a los primeros movimientos feministas modernos en occidente.
Este libro es una investigación muy valiosa para el feminismo y, por ende, para los movimientos emancipatorios y de izquierda. Altamente recomendable.
En esta investigación que cubre un largo periodo histórico, muestra como se marginó a las mujeres de la educación y de la creación de argumentos sobre sí mismas. La manera en que revirtieron esta situación fue encontrando espacios u oportunidades que su misma posición social les ofrecía, como fue el recurrir al misticismo, a los conventos, a la idea de la maternidad e incluso revirtiendo los argumentos religiosos para darse autoridad, entre otras muchas maneras. Así, lograron poder desarrollar ideas independientes sobre la mujer. Esto lo desarrolla a lo largo de 12 capítulos, siendo uno de conclusiones en donde resumen lo anterior.
Uno de los puntos a destacar de este libro de Lerner es que durante siglos hubo muchas pensadoras que desarrollaron argumentos, ideas y pensamientos, las cuales no se socializaron a más mujeres a través del tiempo, por lo que cada nueva pensadora tenía muchas veces que partir de cero. Esto sin duda debido a las múltiples barreras que las sociedades patriarcales a lo largo del tiempo impusieron. Lo que implico un gran desperdicio de energía y de retrasos históricos en la formación de una conciencia de clase feminista.
Como nota importante del libro, y que guía al mismo, Lerner se refiere a conciencia feminista como el "acto en que las mujeres se percatan de que pertenece a un grupo subordinado; de que como grupo soportan injusticias; de que su condición de subordinación no es natural, sino determinada socialmente; de que tienen que unirse a otras para remediar estas injusticias y, en definitiva, de que pueden y tienen que aportar una visión alternativa de organización social en la que tanto las mujeres como los hombres disfrutaran de su autonomía y su autodeterminación". (P. 37).
Es realmente hasta el siglo XIX, después de muchos esfuerzos y pensadoras aisladas, que surgen grupos de mujeres pensadores, redes y espacios sociales en donde las ideas elaboradas por mujeres son difundidas a más mujeres de manera consistente; lo que da lugar al surgimiento a los primeros movimientos feministas modernos en occidente.
Este libro es una investigación muy valiosa para el feminismo y, por ende, para los movimientos emancipatorios y de izquierda. Altamente recomendable.
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August 8, 2025O livro explora a formação e o desenvolvimento do movimento feminista ao longo da história, analisando as raízes culturais, sociais e religiosas que moldaram as percepções de gênero. A obra aborda como as ideias patriarcais, muitas vezes sustentadas por doutrinas religiosas e estruturas institucionais, estabeleceram uma divisão de funções entre homens e mulheres, reforçando desigualdades e justificando a exclusão social das mulheres, especialmente nos âmbitos da educação, do trabalho e da participação política.
A obra também investiga o papel da educação na perpetuação dessas desigualdades, destacando que, durante séculos, as mulheres tiveram acesso limitado ou restrito ao ensino formal, muitas vezes restrito a funções domésticas ou religiosas. Essas restrições impactaram seu reconhecimento social, suas capacidades de autonomia e sua participação em processos de decisão. Além disso, o livro destaca exemplos históricos de mulheres que, apesar das barreiras, buscaram a educação e contribuíram significativamente, muitas vezes de forma invisibilizada na narrativa oficial.
Outro aspecto central é a reflexão sobre como os desejos e as aspirações femininas foram moldados socialmente, questionando a naturalidade de certos papéis de gênero e ressaltando a construção social de conceitos como o casamento tradicional ou a submissão. A obra também discute os avanços trazidos por movimentos de emancipação, bem como os obstáculos que ainda persistem na luta por igualdade de direitos, incluindo o controle da sexualidade, o acesso à educação e a participação política.
Por fim, o livro propõe uma análise crítica do papel do pensamento religioso na manutenção das desigualdades de gênero, ao mesmo tempo em que evidencia a importância de reconhecer as histórias de mulheres que desafiaram o status quo e contribuíram para a criação de uma consciência feminista, fortalecendo a compreensão de que a emancipação passa por compreender as raízes culturais e sociais que sustentaram a opressão de gênero ao longo do tempo.
A obra também investiga o papel da educação na perpetuação dessas desigualdades, destacando que, durante séculos, as mulheres tiveram acesso limitado ou restrito ao ensino formal, muitas vezes restrito a funções domésticas ou religiosas. Essas restrições impactaram seu reconhecimento social, suas capacidades de autonomia e sua participação em processos de decisão. Além disso, o livro destaca exemplos históricos de mulheres que, apesar das barreiras, buscaram a educação e contribuíram significativamente, muitas vezes de forma invisibilizada na narrativa oficial.
Outro aspecto central é a reflexão sobre como os desejos e as aspirações femininas foram moldados socialmente, questionando a naturalidade de certos papéis de gênero e ressaltando a construção social de conceitos como o casamento tradicional ou a submissão. A obra também discute os avanços trazidos por movimentos de emancipação, bem como os obstáculos que ainda persistem na luta por igualdade de direitos, incluindo o controle da sexualidade, o acesso à educação e a participação política.
Por fim, o livro propõe uma análise crítica do papel do pensamento religioso na manutenção das desigualdades de gênero, ao mesmo tempo em que evidencia a importância de reconhecer as histórias de mulheres que desafiaram o status quo e contribuíram para a criação de uma consciência feminista, fortalecendo a compreensão de que a emancipação passa por compreender as raízes culturais e sociais que sustentaram a opressão de gênero ao longo do tempo.
August 23, 2023
This was a dense read for me, it covers a massive amount of time and though the authors tries to tack inclusion to the ends of chapters it is still white Euro-North American centric. With that limit in mind, it was a powerful introduction to the history of women under the western patriarchy.
One quote summed up the theme that Lerner emphasized again and again throughout her book: “The women of talent existed, they struggled valiantly, they achieved—and they were forgotten. The women coming after them had to start all over again, repeating the process.” This book was a beautiful introduction to connecting with the cyclical struggle that is the origins of our feminist consciousness.
One quote summed up the theme that Lerner emphasized again and again throughout her book: “The women of talent existed, they struggled valiantly, they achieved—and they were forgotten. The women coming after them had to start all over again, repeating the process.” This book was a beautiful introduction to connecting with the cyclical struggle that is the origins of our feminist consciousness.
March 25, 2025
Una maravilla que repasa como la exclusión de la educación, la marginación social, la imposibilidad de independencia económica y la falta de una historia de la mujer subordinaron a la mitad de la población mundial.
Nos demuestra una vez más que la historia y el entendimiento de experiencias comunitarias compartidas son lo único que nos hará entender la opresión y nos dará la esperanza a superarla.
Nos demuestra una vez más que la historia y el entendimiento de experiencias comunitarias compartidas son lo único que nos hará entender la opresión y nos dará la esperanza a superarla.
April 3, 2021
The Creation of Feminist Consciousness by Gerda Lerner. I found this book very informative, thought-provoking, and inspiring, wishing of course I'd read it many years ago. Better late than never! The fact it took me so long to get to this book proves one of the points Lerner makes repeatedly throughout the book, that it has been a repetitive struggle for women to come to consciousness of the deprivations we have experienced throughout patriarchal history because of our sex. In addition, Lerner has sought to demonstrate the complexity of these deprivations and how they have manifest in a variety of ways for women of different time periods, ethnicities, economic groups, religious groups, and in their relationships with men, and so on. This book, which highights the conceptualisation and weaponising of gender as an arbitrary and mostly punitive system, can put a spotlight on contemporary and frankly time and energy wasting questioning about "what" a woman is. Patriarchal thinkers and meaning-makers have always known very well who to exclude from the record and interpretation of History, and when to pit us against each other for their convenience. But in the closing lines of the the book, Lerner reminds us that "the period of patriarchal hegemony over culture has come to an end." [p. 283] The "intellectual emancipation of women has shattered the solid monopoly men have held so long over theory and definition." [p. 283]
Women's struggles are heartbreaking, and this book only scrapes the surface. I would hope more women and men read this work and deeply consider working to abolish gender and nourish the ungendered humanity of us all without falling prey to the idea that our human mammalian sex is itself an outdated concept. The outdated concept is the gender system, regardless of the contemporary trend for inventing arbitrary individualistic varieties. As Lerner indicates regarding any challenges and obstacles for women, they can, when they do arise, potentially stimulate a growth in feminist consciousness.
I am certainly inspired to read more of women's thought, and by thinking and writing myself contribute to the continuing recorded lineage of women's theoretical and practical vision for an alternative world to patriarchy.
Women's struggles are heartbreaking, and this book only scrapes the surface. I would hope more women and men read this work and deeply consider working to abolish gender and nourish the ungendered humanity of us all without falling prey to the idea that our human mammalian sex is itself an outdated concept. The outdated concept is the gender system, regardless of the contemporary trend for inventing arbitrary individualistic varieties. As Lerner indicates regarding any challenges and obstacles for women, they can, when they do arise, potentially stimulate a growth in feminist consciousness.
I am certainly inspired to read more of women's thought, and by thinking and writing myself contribute to the continuing recorded lineage of women's theoretical and practical vision for an alternative world to patriarchy.
December 29, 2023
In 2022 my book club read The Creation of Patriarchy and had such a productive discussion about it that we decided to read Gerda Lerner's second installment. Good choice.
One of the major themes in this book is how women of the past continued to "rediscover" knowledge because it was not passed down.
One of the major themes in this book is how women of the past continued to "rediscover" knowledge because it was not passed down.
May 5, 2025
Maybe not as good as her firts installment but Gerda Lerner provides everything that the book actually denounces, a lack of visibility and access to women's history. A vital book to comprehend the ways in which women not only struggled to be seen, heard and considered and felt equal, but also the ways they slowly an dpainfully overcame those hurdles.
December 24, 2021
Life changing. She unearths the relics of the systems we live in now, even if unconsciously. Understanding these systems and where they come from and how they affect your life is essential to freeing yourself from their power.
June 24, 2019
Excellent book!!!
November 16, 2019
Loved this book. I particularly liked her hopeful and forward-thinking conclusion after so much depressing and bleak history.
June 17, 2021
Speechless!
Gerda Lerner's books should be compulsory for all Secondary Schools!
Gerda Lerner's books should be compulsory for all Secondary Schools!
July 1, 2022
reads like a survey course at times but it will give you a good historical reading list
September 23, 2022
Scholarly and Dense. However a must read in the feminist cannon. It was a beautiful gift access our history that had been denied to us through the high school and university education system.
August 4, 2023
I liked this one even better than the first volume on the creation of patriarchy.
April 12, 2024
Quite powerful, illustrative and entertaining.
May 6, 2015
This book seemed to drag longer than the first volume of work. I think its because there were a lot of examples provided on how women used religion to challenge the patriarchy, but it almost seemed like too much time was spent covering this aspect when compared to her other examples about women's challenges to patriarchy (by motherhood, creativity, and authorship). In retrospect, I think this is because a lot of the challenges to the patriarchy first began in religion through biblical interpretation and religious leadership and claims to women having spiritual relationships with God, and this went on for a long time before the other expressions of challenge to patriarchy were expressed.
June 15, 2015
Just an amazing overview of the development of the 'feminist consciousness' over time, i.e. the development of women's understanding that they suffer oppression as a group. It's made me realise how underrepresented and ignored women are in the history books I read.
August 19, 2007
I want to finish this book someday soon.
November 29, 2009
Brilliant! Must-read! Gives so much perspective of where we came from, and how deeply we are still rooted in the old patriarchy, yet what the pathways for growth have always been.
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