Educational Catalogue of Resources: Gender

Published in 1887 as a review of August Bebel's Woman: Past, Present and Future in Commonweal, Edward Aveline and Eleanor Marx explored problem of the dual oppression of women, under markets and patriarchy.

In 1896, Clara Zetkin grappled with the divide between bourgeois feminism and working-class women’s struggles.

In 1879, then revised in 1910, August Bebel addressed the oppression and inequality of women under the current social and economic systems, particularly in bourgeois society.

In Woman Suffrage (1910), Emma Goldman deals with the issue of the limited scope of the women's suffrage movement.

In 1912, Rosa Luxemburg addressed the lack of political rights for working women, particularly their exclusion from suffrage, and the broader social and economic injustices that stem from their political disenfranchisement.

In The Woman Question, a speech delivered in 1913, De Cleyre graples with the problem of women's economic dependence and the oppressive nature of traditional marriage. 

In Communism and the Family, Kollontai argues that the traditional bourgeois family is being transformed by socialism, as women gain economic independence and state-supported services begin to replace domestic roles.

Adolf Brand first published Der Eigene (translated as "The Own") in 1896, which began as an rebellious journal, eventually shifting towards becoming the first published gay journal.

In 1935, Margaret Cowl addressed the systemic inequalities faced by women in capitalist societies, arguing that women's oppression was rooted in the exploitation of labour under private property systems.

In 1949, Claudia Jones addresses the intersecting oppression faced by Black women, particularly in how they are negected in both feminist and civil rights movements.

In 1970, the Radicalesbians addressed the marginalization of lesbians within the broader feminist movement and society, focusing on how their identities were shaped by a patriarchal culture.

In 1970, the Trans Liberation movement confronted the widespread discrimination and violence faced by transgender individuals.

In 1973, the Radicalqueens Manifestos addressed the exclusion and marginalization of feminine gay men, drag queens, trans women, and those identifying with the "non-men" label, within both straight and gay communities, highlighting their experiences of oppression, ridicule, and silencing. 

In 1976, Monique Wittig challenged the foundational concept of sex, arguing that it is not a natural biological category but a political construct designed to uphold male dominance.

In The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, Michel Foucault addresses the problem of the widespread belief that sexuality was repressed in the 19th century and that it was only liberated in the 20th century. 

In 1976, Barbara Ehrenreich examined the relationship between feminism and socialism, highlighting the limitations of both radical feminism and mechanical materialism.

In 1978, Audre Lorde explored the concept of the erotic as a powerful and transformative force for women, arguing that it has been suppressed and distorted within patriarchal societies to maintain control over women’s emotions and desires. 

In 1980, Audre Lorde examined the ways in which societal structures oppress marginalized groups by enforcing a "mythical norm" that ignores the complexities of human differences, particularly along lines of race, class, sex, and sexuality.

This article written by Adrienne Rich directly responds to the erasure of lesbian existence within literature, in particular women of colour, due to the double bias of racism and homophobia present.

In 1981, Monique Wittig addressed the problem of how the concept of "woman" as a natural and essential category perpetuates the oppression of women by obscuring its social and political construction.

In 1981, Angela Davis addressed the persistent undervaluation of housework, particularly the way it disproportionately burdens women and remains largely invisible within capitalist economies.

Judith Butler addresses the problem of the rigid and binary understanding of gender within traditional feminist theory. 

In Night to His Day, Judith Lorber unsettles the taken-for-granted belief that gender is natural or inevitable. Instead, she shows how gender is something we do, a continuous and collective performance maintained through norms, institutions, and everyday interactions. 

In Chapter 2 of her book The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability (1996), Susan Wendell argues that disability is not simply located in the body but is produced by the interaction between bodies and social structures.

Sociologist Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí argues that British colonial rule imposed a rigid gender binary on Yorùbá society, which had previously organized roles and status by seniority, lineage, and community rather than biological sex.

Writer and activist Eli Clare reflects on how slurs like “freak,” “cripple,” and “queer” were used against him to shame his body and desires, marking him as unnatural and broken to justify exclusion and control.

Qwo-Li Driskill addressed the problem of the erasure and colonial violence against Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous identities. Driskill critiqued the ways in which colonialism, Christianity, and Western gender norms disrupted and marginalized Indigenous understandings of gender and sexuality.

Diversity often serves as a buffer for inequity rather than a challenge to it. That’s the question philosopher Joy James takes up in this conversation, tracing a century-long pattern of colonial powers co-opting select members of racialized and gendered minorities to defuse radical movements and preserve control.

In her interview "Not So Black and White", legal scholar Dorothy Roberts challenges the deeply rooted assumption that race is a natural category. Drawing on the work of Barbara and Karen Fields, she argues that we focus too much on “race” as if it were a real, stable trait, rather than recognizing it as the product of racism—a system that first imposes unequal treatment, then invents race to justify it.

What makes something what it is—and who gets to decide? That’s the question Abigail Thorn explores in this 12-minute video, using gender as a case study.