(350 Pages, published October 2021)
Want to understand the ERA better?
By engaging deeply with American legal and political history as well as the increasingly rich material on gender history, Gendered Citizenship illuminates the ideological contours of the original struggle over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) from 1920 to 1963. A comprehensive, full-length history of that struggle, this book grapples not only with the battle over women's constitutional status but also with the more than forty-year mission to articulate the boundaries of what it means to be an American citizen. DeWolf explores how this conflict around the ERA ultimately became the defining narrative for the changing nature of American citizenship in the era.
"This changes the game, in terms of what we have at our disposal now to talk about the forces that have historically supported or rejected not only the ERA but the ideological positions that coalesce to support or reject the ERA...the book is important because it is an original way of looking at a topic that many folks think has been fully covered, but DeWolf’s book proves has been missing major pieces. The attention paid to this particular historical time period, and the particular lens of looking at the topic from the vantage point of emancipationism and protectionism, is extremely valuable as a contribution to the field. It is meticulously historically researched, using relevant primary source archives, and appropriate secondary sources where needed." LAURA D'AMORE
Rebecca DeWolf is a writer and a historian with a PhD in American history. Her research has won recognition through grants and fellowships, including the Dirksen Congressional Research Grant. Her articles have appeared in the Washington Post, Frontiers, and New America Weekly.
read more about Rebecca DeWolf here: https://www.rebeccadewolf.com/about-me