Constructive feminism : women's spaces and women's rights in the American city / Daphne Spain.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Spain, Daphne, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feminism--United States--History--20th century.

Feminism.

Women's rights--United States--History--20th century.

Women's rights.

Public spaces--United States--History--20th century.

Public spaces.

Urban women--United States--History--20th century.

Urban women.

Women and city planning--United States--History--20th century.

Women and city planning.

Feminism and architecture--United States.

Feminism and architecture.

Feminist geography--United States.

Feminist geography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, New York ; London, [England] : Cornell University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Constructive Feminism, Daphne Spain examines the deliberate and unintended spatial consequences of feminism's second wave, a social movement dedicated to reconfiguring power relations between women and men. Placing the women's movement of the 1970s in the context of other social movements that have changed the use of urban space, Spain argues that reform feminists used the legal system to end the mandatory segregation of women and men in public institutions, while radical activists created small-scale places that gave women the confidence to claim their rights to the public sphere.Women's centers, bookstores, health clinics, and domestic violence shelters established feminist places for women's liberation in Boston, Los Angeles, and many other cities. Unable to afford their own buildings, radicals adapted existing structures to serve as women's centers that fostered autonomy, health clinics that promoted reproductive rights, bookstores that connected women to feminist thought, and domestic violence shelters that protected their bodily integrity. Legal equal opportunity reforms and daily practices of liberation enhanced women's choices in education and occupations. Once the majority of wives and mothers had joined the labor force, by the mid-1980s, new buildings began to emerge that substituted for the unpaid domestic tasks once performed in the home. Fast food franchises, childcare facilities, adult day centers, and hospices were among the inadvertent spatial consequences of the second wave.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Spatial Consequences of the Second Wave

1. Feminist Practice: Social Movements and Urban Space

2. Women's Centers: Nurturing Autonomy

3. Feminist Bookstores: Building Identity

4. Feminist Health Clinics: Promoting Reproductive Rights

5. Domestic Violence Shelters: Protecting Bodily Integrity

6. After the Second Wave: Necessary Spaces

Appendix A: Data Sources for Figure 3

Appendix B: Women's Centers, 1973

Appendix C: Feminist Bookstores, ca. 1980

Appendix D: Feminist Health Clinics, 1975

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781501704123

1501704125

9781501704130

1501704133

OCLC:

945976530