Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Women’s international thought: a new field?

  • The Forum
  • Published:
International Politics Reviews Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This short essay reflects upon the major scholarly contribution represented by two new volumes on the history of women’s international thought. Drawing comparisons with diplomatic history as a field in which women have been similarly marginalised, the essay argues that these volumes succeed brilliantly in deploying gender as an analytical tool in order to radically revision the history of international thought. The essay concludes by posing a challenge to the utility of ‘the canon’ as an organising category for feminist historical projects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. Lucian M Ashworth’s (2021) essay on WILPF in A New History is the only contribution explicitly framed around a group of thinkers, rather than a single figure.

References

  • Ashworth, L.M. (2021). Women of the Twenty Years’ Crisis: The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Problem of Collective Security. In Owens and Rietzler (eds.), Towards a New History. London, pp. 136–157

  • Dawson, H. (ed.). (2021). The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing. London.

  • Hicks, M. (2018). Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing. London.

  • Hutchings, K., & Owens, P. (2021). Women Thinkers and the Canon of International Thought: Recovery, Rejection, and Reconstitution. The American Political Science Review, pp. 347–359.

  • McCarthy, H. (2014). Women of the World: The Rise of the Female Diplomat. London.

  • Oakley, A. (2014). Father and Daughter: Patriarchy, gender and social science. Bristol.

  • Oreskes, N. (1996). Objectivity or heroism? On the invisibility of women in science. Osiris, 11, 87–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Otte, T.G. (2020). The inner circle: what is diplomatic history? (And why we should study it): An inaugural lecture. History, pp. 5–27.

  • Owens, P. & Rietzler, K. (eds.). (2021). Women’s International Thought: A New History. Cambridge.

  • Owens, P. & Rietzler, K. Hutchings, K. & Dunstan, S. C. (eds). (2021). Women’s International Thought: Towards a New Canon. Cambridge.

  • Shilliam, R. (2021). Theorizing (with) Amy Ashwood Garvey. In Owens and Rietzler (eds.), Towards a New History. London, pp. 158–178.

  • Sluga, G. & James, C. (eds). (2016). Women, Diplomacy and International Politics since 1500. London.

  • Steedman, C. (1989). Landscape for a Good Woman. New Brunswick.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, U. (2006). Street strollers: Grounding the theory of black women intellectuals. Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, 30, 153–171.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Helen McCarthy

Authors
  1. Helen McCarthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helen McCarthy.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

McCarthy, H. Women’s international thought: a new field?. Int Polit Rev 9, 251–256 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41312-021-00125-x

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41312-021-00125-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation