Some female historians urged a reconsideration of gender as a category of analysis and looked for
new ways to redefine gender as an element that signifies relationships of power
culturally and symbolically. The role of women in history continued to be of interest to historians uncovering stories that had been silenced by the white male hegemony. Joan Scott
asked, “Why (and since when) have women been invisible as historical subjects,
when we know they participated in the great and small events of human history?” 1 Kimberle Crenshaw illustrated how the
experiences of American women of color had been erased by historians that used
race as an analytical category as well as by those that used gender. She asserted that feminist views had divided people
of color and gave examples of how they “suppressed information that could have
attempted to confront the problem of domestic violence in communities color." 2 Afsaheh Najmabadi
objected to gender theory being presented in universities as a modern American category of
analysis and bravely began writing about same sex gender issues within Iranian Muslim culture. Jeanne Boydston's study of gender issues led her to conclude that the key issue was reject “the fixing of the binary opposition of male
and female as the only possible relationship and as a permanent aspect of the human
condition." 3 Najmabadi and Crenshaw
both recognized the importance of the "intersectionality" of gender with race or culture. The intersection of religious belief with gender could also be studied, race or culture could also be studied. Scott pointed out that Judeo-Christian beliefs
had historically reinforced the binary opposition between male and female, but
she did not develop this idea further. Mary
Poovey acknowledged the power of the feminine ideal to shape the moral
character of the British empire. 4 However, none of the texts contributed
to a deeper understanding of the way religious beliefs intersect with gender today,
nor did they provide a new way to redefine women’s role in the destiny of
humanity.
1 Joan W. Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of
Historical Analysis,” American Historical Review 91, No. 5
(1986): 1074.
2 Kimberle Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color,” Stanford Law Review 43 (1991): 1253.
3 Jeanne Boydston, “Gender as a Question of Historical Analysis,” Gender and History 20, no. 3 (November 2008): 563.
4 Mary Poovey, Uneven Developments: The Ideological Work of Gender in Mid-Victorian England. (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1988), 9.
2 Kimberle Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color,” Stanford Law Review 43 (1991): 1253.
3 Jeanne Boydston, “Gender as a Question of Historical Analysis,” Gender and History 20, no. 3 (November 2008): 563.
4 Mary Poovey, Uneven Developments: The Ideological Work of Gender in Mid-Victorian England. (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1988), 9.
