The Rise of Public Woman

Author of "Just a Housewife" (OUP/USA 1987)

"A valuable and immensely readable new contribution to American studies."--San Francisco Chronicle"In breaking down the well-known history of the effort to win equality for women into four quite specific elements, Glenna Matthews has given that vital story a novel meaning as well as a closer analysis. The women's movement now means the achieving of new space, new power, new laws, and a new culture for women. Once again, as in her earlier, path-breaking study recognizing the American housewife, Matthews has thrown a bright, fresh light on a subject oncethought to be all too familiar."--Carl Degler, Stanford University"Glenna Matthews' account of women's evolving public voice is a tremendously enjoyable book--both moving and illuminating. It helped me put my own experience as an elected woman in the context of over 300 years of women's insistence on expanding their opportunities to shape the public world."--Loni Hancock, Mayor, City of Berkeley"A wise, selective history as informative as her earlier Just a Housewife....She has found a way to hold the attention of readers who may not ordinarily stay with a historical theme."--Christian Century"In an era when debate about women's place--in the home or in the White House--occupies politicians no less than theorists, historians of women have much to say. Drawing on this rich historical literature, Glenna Matthews surveys the efforts of diverse American women over three centuries to establish a public role commensurate with that of men. General readers especially will find The Rise of Public Woman an accessible and useful introduction both tothe new scholarship and to the complex, ongoing struggle to reconfigure the gendered domains of public and private."--Jane Sherron De Hart, coauthor of Sex, Gender, and the Politics of ERA"An unprecedented expansion in women's presence and influence in the public arena has taken place since the early 1970's. This expansion did not spring from an historical tabula rasa. In The Rise of Public Woman, Glenna Matthews begins to uncover and lay out the antecedents for today's movement of women into positions of visible leadership. This is an extremely worthwhile study which makes a long overdue contribution to our heretofore slim knowledgeof the circumstances and events which facilitated women's growing participation in US public life."--Ruth Mandel, Director, Center for the American Woman and Politics, Rutgers University"The material is fascinating. The sweep of the subject matter makes this an important book to have. The footnotes alone are worth the price."--Penelope Power, KLIATT