Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives

This interdisciplinary, multicultural text-reader provides an introduction to women’s studies by examining the diversity of U.S. women’s lives across categories of race-ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability, and age, and within a global context. The chapter introductions provide background information on each chapter’s topic and include explanations of key concepts and ideas, statistical information, and references to the subsequent reading selections. “Questions to frame your reading” follow the introductory sections and precede the readings, providing an easy transition for the student.

Gwyn Kirk is a founder member of the East Asia-US-Puerto Rico Women's Network Against Militarism. She has taught women's studies courses at a range of U.S. academic institutions, including Antioch College where she chaired the Women's Studies Program (1992-1995). She held the Jane Watson Irwin Visiting Chair in Women's Studies at Hamilton College (1999-2001), a joint appointment with Margo Okazawa-Rey. She received a Rockefeller Fellowship in Women's Studies (University of Hawaii, 2002). Current research concerns the impact of military operations on the environment. Key interests include grassroots activism for sustainability and genuine security. Gwyn Kirk holds a Ph.D. in political sociology from the London School of Economics.

Margo Okazawa-Rey is currently director of the Women's Leadership Institute and Visiting Professor of Women's Studies at Mills College, Oakland, California. Before Mills, she was professor of Social Work at San Francisco State University School of Social Work. She works in university, public school, and community settings to address issues related to sexism, racism, and other forms of oppression through activist scholarship, education, and political organizing. Current research examines interconnections between militarism and globalization of the economy. Margo Okazawa-Rey has served on editorial boards of several academic journals (Social Justice, Journal of Negro Education, Harvard Educational Review) and has worked with grassroots organizing groups in Boston and the San Francisco Bay area. She holds an Ed.D from Harvard Graduate School of Education.