The Big Push: Exposing and Challenging the Persistence of Patriarchy

(Paperback)

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Leading feminist analyst Cynthia Enloe asks why patriarchy is proving to be such a sustainable cultural, institutional and economic system. Decades of feminist campaigning have resulted in real advances - a woman newsreader is no longer unusual; many police departments are equipped with rape kits; more than half of the national legislators in Bolivia and Rwanda are women; a woman candidate won the popular vote in the recent U.S. presidential election. And yet patriarchy continues to thrive. From the institutional acceptance of sexual harassment within major news organizations to the exclusion of Syrian women from international peace negotiations, this book is a fierce and incisive exploration of patriarchal culture and how we are unwittingly sustaining patriarchy - for example, by falling into the celebrity trap, imagining that tourism is without consequence or casually using ungendered concepts (e.g. 'child marriages') to make sense of the world. With grace and energy, and in the most accessible and inviting prose, Cynthia Enloe reflects on examples from her own life and the experiences of women from around the world, to show that only by asking 'where are the women' and making women's experiences visible, can we engage effectively in civic life and make sense of today's global politics.

Reviews

'This is a manual for taking us to the finishing line of gender equality. A jolt of new energy for longstanding feminists and a 'must read' for our new generations. Without understanding the incredible tentacles of patriarchy and its reinventions, we are destined to fight old battles as well as new ones. Cynthia Enloe, a great scholar and source of wisdom, pries open jammed patriarchal doors and nails the continuing reasons for gender inequality. A brilliant critique and a manifesto for our resistance.' - Helena Kennedy QC; 'Cynthia Enloe mixes razor sharp analysis of contemporary patriarchy with profound empathy for women's multiple forms of resistance. Without doubt, she is the pre-eminent global feminist of our age.' - Melissa Benn; 'Physics has unified field theory; feminism has Cynthia Enloe... she gives us powerful tools for understanding and change. And with her usual alchemy, she makes an entertaining page-turner out of a serious subject.' - Sohaila Abdulali; 'Cynthia Enloe is an adventurer, an intellectual with a light touch and inveterate 'feminist curiosity'; here she is again travelling across time and space - revisiting her own great history as an activist scholar, the landscapes of new and old wars, new and old political settlements, new and old trades in banana and bombs; in all of them she shows how thinking about gender, the renewal of patriarchy and women's resistance, is vital to making sense of the world. It is a joy to travel with her.' - Beatrix Campbell; 'Cynthia Enloe is quite simply, brilliant! Her insight, analysis and clarity make this book a must read for politicians and staff of the UN. And it is an absolute delight for those of us who thought we knew how power works, but needed to be reminded. Cynthia weaves it all into an intricate and recognisable web. I loved it.' - Madeleine Rees, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; 'This book is a dream to read... a zeitgeist publication, it marks a moment in international and national politics characterised by a surge of right-wing populist aggression fuelled by toxic masculinities... Cynthia Enloe writes in a pithy, witty, clear, and accessible style that ensures her work is accessible and easily read and absorbed. She has the popular touch. She also has the ability to leave the reader fired to action, not paralysed by the bleak picture that she depicts.' - Gender and Development; 'Cynthia Enloe is a force to be reckoned with and utterly tireless. Her work has long spanned intersectional analyses of gender, race and class. With typical laser focus, she repeatedly questions which things society pays attention to and which we consider insignificant. She emphasises the importance of feminist collaboration and curiosity, and is closely concerned with encouraging and supporting students and younger women. She is an inspiration.' - Laura Bates, The Guardian

Author Bio

Cynthia Enloe is Research Professor in the Department of International Development, Community, and Environment, with affiliations with Womens and Gender Studies and Political Science, all at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her feminist teaching and research have explored the interplay of gendered politics in the national and international arenas, with special attention to how womens labor is made cheap in globalized factories and how womens emotional and physical labor has been used to support many governments war-waging policiesand how diverse women have tried to resist both of those efforts. Racial, class, ethnic and national identity dynamics, as well as ideas about femininities and masculinities, are common threads throughout her studies. Her career has included Fulbrights in Malaysia and Guyana, guest professorships in Japan, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as lectures in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Germany, Portugal, Chile, Vietnam, Korea, Colombia, Bosnia, Turkey, and at universities around the U.S. Her writings have been translated into Spanish, Turkish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Icelandic and German. She has published in Ms. Magazine and The Village Voice, and appeared on National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, C-Span and the BBC. Cynthia Enloes most recent book is The Big Push: Exposing and Challenging the Persistence of Patriarchy, published by Myriad in October 2017. She is the author of many others besides, including Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Womens Lives (2000), The Curious Feminist (2004) and Nimos War, Emmas War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War, (2010), The Real State of America: Mapping the Myths and Truths about the United States (co-authored with Joni Seager) (2011, revised 2014). Seriously! Investigating Crashes and Crises as if Women Mattered appeared in 2013. Enloes thoroughly updated and revised 2nd edition of Bananas, Beaches and Bases was published by University of California Press, 2014. Her new, updated edition of Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link was published in 2016. She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by Union College (2005), the University of Londons School of Oriental and African Studies (2009), Connecticut College (2010), the University of Lund, Sweden (2012), Clark University (2014) and the University of Iceland (2020). Cynthia Enloe was awarded the International Studies Associations Susan Strange Award in 2007, in recognition of a person whose singular intellect, assertiveness, and insight most challenge conventional wisdom and organizational complacency in the international studies community during the previous year. In 2008, she was awarded the Susan B. Northcutt Award, presented annually by the Womens Caucus for International Studies, of the International Studies Association, to recognize a person who actively works toward recruiting and advancing women and other minorities in the profession, and whose spirit is inclusive, generous and conscientious. She has been awarded Clark Universitys Outstanding Teacher Award three times. In 2010, Cynthia Enloe was awarded the Peace and Justice Studies Associations Howard Zinn Lifetime Achievement Award. The American Council of Learned Societies awarded Cynthia its Charles Haskins Award in 2016. Cynthia currently serves on the editorial advisory boards of International Feminist Journal of Politics, Security Dialogue, Women, Politics and Policy, International Political Sociology, Critical Military Studies, and Politics and Gender. She is a member of WILPFs International Academic Network.