Introduction: (In)visible and (Ir)relevant: Setting a Context

We are feminist scholars and educators who live on opposite ends of the ‘pond.’ We are also, when not writing and teaching, mothers, partners, daughters, sisters, and friends to a myriad of people in our lives. Our own experiences as women who work, in a conventional sense, and then work as gendered beings provide a foundation for our approach to this book. We fully recognize the burdens our gender places on us; at the same time we acknowledge the many opportunities that feminism has given us. The historical struggles of the feminist movement have given us the tools, the means, the legislature, and the social context to thrive in the ways that are important to us in our personal and professional lives. In keeping with this, the diversity of this book reflects the many spaces that women occupy and perform gender, and the ways in which these performances translate to cultural norms and conventions about being female.