This work is one of two volumes presenting selected histories from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. It discusses issues within a female context and features political and economic issues, marriage practices, motherhood and enslavement, religious beliefs and spiritual development.

Thematic emphases in this text include the contacts between European women and those outside European frontiers, sexuality and its importance for the construction of gender over the centuries, and the role of women in the great events and movements in European history and the impact of such events...

A spirited defense of feminism, arguing that the lack of support for working mothers is less a failure of second-wave feminism than a rejection by reactionaries of the sweeping changes they campaigned for. When people discuss feminism, they often lament its failure to deliver...