Defining Females

The Nature of Women in Society, Vol. 4

Browse Return to Previous Page       Related Subjects All Subjects Anthropology Feminist theory/Women's studies

Edited by Shirley Ardener

Berg Publishers

Due/Published November 1997, 216 pages, paper

ISBN 0854967273

To what are we referring when we speak of women? What is the nature of women in society; what is the nature of women in society? These are the central questions of this collection of essays, which has become firmly established as a classic, by writers on areas such as England, Greece, Mongolia, Africa. The essays consider the structural position of women, how they are defined by reference to physiological and social markers, and how they are required to behave, and present and assess certain theories about women by anthropologists, sociologists, ethnologists, neurologists and psychologists. The essays also consider some ways in which different cultures identify and deal with such 'natural' aspects of women as virginity, sexuality and childbearing. The broad variety of geographical perspectives reveals dissimilar as well as similar ideas about women - in their use of language and of space, matrifocality, and life trajectories.