Handbook of Gender and Activism

This innovative Handbook examines how gender shapes social activism and is shaped by activism. With a unique interdisciplinary focus, it explores the effects of the gender binary on experiences of activism, considering how different movements negotiate and, at times, challenge these traditional conceptions. The Handbook then moves beyond the binary with ground-breaking work from a range of scholars.

Expert authors discuss the impact and limitations of the gender binary, using examples such as the MeToo movement to demonstrate how viewing men and women as separate, monolithic categories results in countless differences being overlooked. Chapters present a range of global and intersectional case studies such as the gender hierarchies in Swedish activism, Black women’s involvement in abolition movements, and feminist campaigns in Saudi Arabia. The Handbook also moves beyond the binary, adopting a transfeminist approach in relation to the experiences of trans, intersex, and non-binary people, and crucially advocating for the conceptualization of a more expansive gender system and the ways in which gender aids activism and impedes it.

This thought-provoking Handbook is a vital resource for students and scholars of gender politics, social movements, discrimination, and social inequality. It is also an enlightening read for academics interested in employing intersectional and transfeminist perspectives in their research.