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Varieties of Feminism investigates the development of German feminism by contrasting it with women's movements that arise in countries, like the United States, committed to liberalism. With both conservative Christian and social democratic principles framing the feminist discourses and movement goals, which in turn shape public policy gains, Germany provides a tantalizing case study of gender politics done differently. The German feminist trajectory reflects new political opportunities created first by national reunification and later, by European Union integration, as well as by historically established assumptions about social justice, family values, and state responsibility for the common good. Tracing the opportunities, constraints, and conflicts generated by using class struggle as the framework for gender mobilization-juxtaposing this with the liberal tradition where gender and race are more typically framed as similar-Ferree reveals how German feminists developed strategies and movement priorities quite different from those in the United States.
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Reviews
"In light of her unmatched body of work on the comparative development of feminism in Germany and the U.S., I assumed that Ferree had exhausted her insights on the topic. I was wrong. In this extraordinary book, she pulls together, integrates, and provides historical context for her prior work."
Doug McAdam, Stanford University
"Breaking new ground in the study of comparative feminisms, this beautifully written and engaging book situates feminist activism in relation to changing gender regimes and gender orders within Germany, the US, the EU, and the UN system itself. Ferree's astute analyses...guarantee that this book will become a feminist classic."
Mary Hawkesworth, Rutgers University
"In Varieties of Feminism Myra Marx Ferree provides a compelling history of contemporary German feminism, which she contrasts with the history of the American women's movement. . . Ferree's comparative strategy is successful. . . . This is an impressive book that will appeal to practitioners as well as scholars of the women's movement and social movements more generally."
Suzanne Staggenborg, Mobilization