Synopses & Reviews
Although an array of commentary and analyses focus on the New Right, little has been done to tell us who the women are on this side of the political spectrum. Are they social conservatives who call for the reassertion of traditional family values as promulgated by the federal government? Or do they align themselves with laissez-faire conservatives who abhor government intervention yet, like social conservatives, favor increased defense spending, and condemn communism and secular humanism. Rebecca E. Klatch provides the first coherent picture of who joins such movements and how they think.
This book draws upon a rich data source which includes in-depth interviews and field research at right-wing conferences and meetings. Rather than the image of right-wing women as a monolithic group of angry housewives who oppose feminism, the author finds a fundamental division among women of the New Right, with one constituency of women actually supporting part of the feminist vision. Analyzing varying perceptions of women of the New Right, the book examines their beliefs and values, their vision of America, their interpretations of Communism, big government, and feminism, as well as their view of themselves as women and as political actors.
In the series Women in the Political Economy, edited by Ronnie J. Steinberg.
Review
"Klatch moves us beyond the association of right-wing women and anti-feminist activities to a better understanding of how women in the New Right understand the political debates of our times.... This is an important book."
Gender and Society
Review
"[Women of the New Right offers] ...valuable insights into symbols and arguments that have given the Right so much of its power. Rebecca Klatch paints a telling portrait of the right-wing ideology she discovered among 30 women active in a broad spectrum of conservative causes.... Its major strength is that it forces us to take women of the New Right seriously. The book counters the standard, sexist dismissal of such women as monomaniacal, anti-feminist reactionaries. They arent. The women Klatch portrays are not easily stereotyped: what they say reveals them to be women struggling to articulate their worldview in a political way."
The Womens Review of Books
About the Author
Rebecca E. Klatch is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.