A Preview Interview with Dr. Dorothy Sue Cobble

Drawing on her acclaimed new book, For the Many: American Feminists and the Global Fight for Democratic Equality, Dorothy Sue Cobble will discuss how American women moved the nation and the world toward inclusion and equality. 

For the Many: American Feminists and the Global Fight for Democratic Equality presents an inspiring look at how U.S. women and their global allies pushed the nation and the world toward justice and greater equality for all. Reclaiming social democracy as one of the central threads of American feminism, Dorothy Sue Cobble offers a bold rewriting of twentieth-century feminist history and documents how forces, peoples, and ideas worldwide shaped American politics. Cobble follows egalitarian women’s activism from the explosion of democracy movements before World War I to the establishment of the New Deal, through the upheavals in rights and social citizenship at midcentury, to the reassertion of conservatism and the revival of female-led movements today. Putting women at the center of US political history, For the Many reveals the powerful currents of democratic equality that spurred American feminists to seek a better life for all.

DOROTHY SUE COBBLE is Distinguished Professor of History and Labor Studies Emerita at Rutgers University. Her many books include The Sex of Class, Feminism Unfinished, and The Other Women’s Movement.

This event is currently intended to be held in-person at McCord Auditorium, Dallas Hall. However, this may be subject to change as the COVID-19 crisis continues. Any updates will be announced here and across CPH’s social media.

Further Reading

Here, you’ll find more resources to feed your interest in the topics covered at this event.

Secondary Resources

“1909 N.Y. Shirtwaist Workers Strike.” KERA, PBS Learning Media, 2013. https://kera.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/amex24.socst.ush.triangle/1909-ny-shirtwaist-workers-strike/

Blackburn, Christine, Parker, Gerald W., and Wendelbo, Morten. “How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Helped Advance Women’s Rights.” Smithsonian Magazine, 2 March 2018. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-1918-flu-pandemic-helped-advance-womens-rights-180968311/

Coastan, Jane. “The Intersectionality Wars.” Vox News, 28 May 2019. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination

Eschner, Kat. “The American Garment Workers Who Helped Inspire International Women’s Day.” Smithsonian Magazine, 8 March 2017. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/american-garment-workers-who-helped-inspire-international-womens-day-180962364/

Kempf, Justin. “Dorothy Sue Cobble on the Full Rights Feminists.” Democracy Paradox Podcast, 29 June 2021. https://democracyparadox.com/2021/06/29/dorothy-sue-cobble-on-the-full-rights-feminists/

National Parks Service. “Women in the Labor Movement.” National Parks Service, 6 May 2021. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/womenshistory/women-in-the-labor-movement.htm

UN Women. “Intersectional feminism: what it means and why it matters right now.” UN Women, 1 July 2020. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/6/explainer-intersectional-feminism-what-it-means-and-why-it-matters

More from Dr. Cobble

Cobble, Dorothy Sue. “From Equal Rights to Full Rights.” Princeton University Press, 18 May 2021. https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/from-equal-rights-to-full-rights

Cobble, Dorothy Sue. The Other Women’s Movement. Princeton University Press, 2005.

See her article at Dissent, “The Feminist Struggle for Time to Care”. An excerpt from her article: “Time and money are at the center of the family policy we need. The best policies would lift household income by raising pay and social wages. They would value work wherever it takes place and make family-friendly jobs a priority. Only then will it be possible for all families to flourish.”