Second World, Second Sex: Socialist Women's Activism and Global Solidarity During the Cold War

In Second World, Second Sex, Kristen Ghodsee argues that international ideological competition between capitalism and socialism throughout the Cold War profoundly shaped the world women inhabit today. Drawing on interviews and archival research across three continents, Ghodsee traces Eastern European and African women during the 1975 United Nations International Year of Women and subsequent Decade for Women (1976-1985). Focusing on case studies of state socialist Bulgaria and nonaligned but socialist-leaning Zambia, Ghodsee examines the feminist networks that developed between the Second and Third Worlds and shows how alliances between socialist women challenged American women’s leadership of the global women’s movement. (Duke University Press)