Gender Relations
Chapter 6  Further reading and weblinks

Baber, Kristine M. and Allen, Katherine R. (1992) Women and Families: Feminist Reconstructions, The Guilford Press, New York
This book offers easy access to an impressive range of research literature on women's lives. The chapters - including adult relationships, sexualities, reproductive experiences, caregiving, work and empowerment - cover a broader territory than the title might suggest.

Collins, P. H. (1990) Black Feminist Thought, Unwin Hyman, London
Vivid and persuasive writing about the experience of black American women. Chapter 4 (Mammies, matriarchs and other controlling images) and Chapter 8 ('Sexual politics of Black womanhood') provide poignant examples of the concrete ways in which race, class and gender oppression become intertwined.

Connell, R. W. (1987) Gender and Power, Polity Press, Cambridge
This remains a wonderful starting-point for the analysis of gender. Some chapters are too difficult for introductory students; but Chapter 1 ('Introduction: some facts in the case') is an accessible discussion of how gender operates as a social phenomenon to shape individuals' lives. Chapter 6 (Gender regimes and the gender order) is a must; it provides a starting-point for a truly sociological analysis of gender.

Thorne, B. (1993) Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School, Open University Press, Buckingham.
Deploying rich ethnographic data from primary schools in the United States, Barrie Thorne (who is, incidentally, a woman) demonstrates that gender differences are perhaps more complex than early educational researchers tended to think. Chapter 6 ('Do girls and boys have different cultures?') raises crucial questions about the interpretation of gender differences. Chapter 3 ('Boys and girls together… but mostly apart') and Chapter 4 ('Gender separation: why and how') are written in such a way that most students will find them both accessible and challenging.