Moving through the world as a woman

Pearce, R. (2019) Moving through the world as a woman. In: Crimmins, G. (ed.) Strategies for Resisting Sexism in the Academy: Higher Education, Gender and Intersectionality. Series: Palgrave studies in gender and education. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 17-34. ISBN 9783030048518 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-04852-5_2)

Abstract

The category of womanhood is often under-analysed within academic ‘gender equality’ schemes, which can lead to the implicit exclusion of women who experience multiple intersecting forms of marginalisation from anti-sexist campaigns. This chapter offers an exploration of what it might mean to be (or not be) a woman, drawing on the author’s own experiences while also centring perspectives from black, disabled and trans writers. Reading across critical theory and feminist philosophy, it accounts both for the instability and incoherency of ‘womanhood’, and its continuing importance as a category for the conceptualisation of inequality and oppression. The chapter concludes by proposing the notion of ‘moving through the world’ as a model for conceptualising experiences of womanhood.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Pearce, Dr Ruth
• Authors: Pearce, R.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• ISBN: 9783030048518
• Published Online: 24 January 2019