|
|
Title: |
State of Struggle |
| Sub-title: |
Feminism and Politics in Alberta |
Search Result:
| By (author): |
Lois Harder |
| ISBN10-13: |
0888644019 : 9780888644015 |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Size: |
228x152x17mm |
| Pages: |
256 |
| Weight: |
.360 Kg. |
| Published: |
University of Alberta Press - July 2003 |
| List Price: |
29.99 Pounds Sterling |
| Availability: |
In Stock
Qty Available: 4 |
| Subjects: |
Gender studies: women : Politics & government : Alberta |
| The political struggle for women's equality in Alberta has faced determined resistance from three successive Alberta Conservative governments. Lois Harder examines the evolving dynamic between feminists and the Alberta state under the regimes of Peter Lougheed, Don Getty, and Ralph Klein. In Harder's analysis, Alberta has responded to feminist challenges with various strategies. During the oil boom of the 1970s, the province successfully stonewalled demands by women's groups. Then, with declining oil prices, the implementation of the federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and changing public opinion, Alberta began to reluctantly implement initiatives that addressed issue regarding women's rights. However, with Ralph Klein's ascent to power, and under the guise of deficit reduction, Alberta has adopted a neoliberal ideology that actively seeks to shrink the province's role as a guarantor of equality. Pointed social history, and cogent political analysis, Dr. Harder has written the definitive study on politics in Alberta, as seen through the lens of women's political struggles. |
| Reviews: |
|
"Alberta women have done not too badly in this hostile climate and this text could be a useful template in all provinces." -- The Barrister, Issue No. 69, Sept 2003.
|
|
"This work examines four periods of feminist claims -making strategies and provincial governmental resistance in Alberta...Harder provides a useful analysis of feminist strategies under difficult conditions. Recommended." J.G. Everett, University of Colorado at Denver, CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Vol. 41, No.06.
|
|
"[Harder's book] examines the ways in which Alberta women's groups tried, with mixed results, to influence provincial policy on "women's issues' in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Harder sees a definite trajectory in the province's response to feminist claims.... Harder's book is a grim reminder of the human cost of neo-liberal ideology." Alex Rettie, Alberta Views.
|
|
"...State of Struggle makes an important contribution both to our understanding of Alberta politics and to knowledge of feminist organizing in Canada. In terms of the former, Harder's conceptualization of state forms is an important corrective to the notion of the Alberta provincial government as Conservative hegemon. Like any other state, its permeability changes with changing social, economic, and political conditions. In terms of the latter, Harder's careful history of feminist organizing in the province is a model for the kinds of provincial-level studies that are necessary to understanding the diversity of feminism in our highly decentralized federation. It is required reading for anyone with an interest in political economy or provincial politics." - University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 1, Winter 2004/5
|
|
"Overall, for those committed to human rights struggles, Harder's study is grim reading. But it is also an important contribution to a critical understanding of Alberta's place in the national and international movement for human rights. It is curious that as we approach our provincial centenary, we seem to move further and further away from the progressive political culture that made Alberta a model of social experimentation during its formative years... Harder's study is a must-read for anyone interested in the state of human rights in Alberta." Catherine Cavanaugh, Legacy, Winter, 2003
|
|
"This book explores the negative effect on women of the mega majority governments of Lougheed, Getty and Klein. It describes the resistance of these oil financed governments to women's struggle for equality. An interesting chapter is entitled Oil, Sex and Power. Alberta women have done not too badly in this hostile climate and this text could be a useful template in all provinces." Ronald F. MacIsaac, The Barrister
|
|
"...the book is a vital reminder that if it weren't for the activism of feminists, our society would not be nearly as comfortable a place as it is today." Lorraine Turchansky, The Edmonton Journal
|
|
"This book presents a comprehensive account of feminist activism in Alberta from 1970 to the late 1990s. Actually, Harder prefers the term 'claimsmaking' to describe the activity of making claims on public policy and institutional structure. The provincial focus is welcome because so much has been written about the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) and its struggles with Ottawa. After all, the provinces have jurisdiction over the actual implementation of policies that matter to women." Louise Carbert, Atlantis Journal, January 30, 2005
|
|
|
Item added to 
.png "Click here for catalogues")
