Women on the Right - by Clarisse Berthezène & Laura Lee Downs & Julie V Gottlieb (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Women on the Right explores the complex relationships between conservative and right-wing politics, social action, and women actors from the late 19th to the late 20th century. Edited by Clarisse Berthezène, Laura Lee Downs, and Julie V. Gottlieb, each essay examines the spectrum of women's engagement with right-wing politics, from centrist and 'progressive conservatism' groups, to authoritarianism and fascism.

This book uses local and national case studies to explore a wide range of women's social and political mobilizations. Using a bottom-up perspective, it stays focused on the ideas, ambitions, and practices of the actors themselves. Key points of comparison include: the very different roles played by religious institutions and associations, the broader regional and national contexts, and the dynamics that favour - or not - the eventual construction of welfare states. Women on the Right consistently adopts a multinational and multidimensional approach, by bringing together a team of expert contributors to engage in a discussion of the comparative and transnational features of right-wing women's political thought and practice. The result is a unique contribution to the historical understanding of women's participation in - and ideas about - conservative activism.

Review Quotes

This fascinating and wide-ranging collection illuminates the understudied phenomenon of women's right wing political action across Europe. The collection extends as far eastward as Tukey and as far south as Spain, drastically expanding the parameters of Women's History, often narrowly focused on Western Europe. Moving the lens away from traditional feminist politics, the authors instead examine the way ideas of tradition, family, and religion became tools with which to mobilize women through social action on the Right. This volume should be essential reading to anyone teaching in the field of Women's History or examining the rise of the New Right in Europe today.
Nicoletta F. Gullace, Associate Professor of History, University of New Hampshire, USA

About the Author

Clarisse Berthezène is Professor of Modern History at the University of Paris, France.
Laura Lee Downs is Directrice d'études at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France and Professor of History at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.
Julie Gottlieb is Professor of Modern History at University of Sheffield, UK.