Figueira-McDonough, Josefina, and Rosemary C. Sarri, eds. Women at the Margins: Neglect, Punishment, and Resistance

International Social Science Review, Fall-Winter, 2004 by Michelle D. Trim

Figueira-McDonough, Josefina, and Rosemary C. Sarri, eds. Women at the Margins: Neglect, Punishment, and Resistance. New York: Haworth Press, 2002. xxiii 432 pp. Cloth, $69.95; paper $34.95.

Women at the Margins: Neglect, Punishment, and Resistance, edited by Josefina Figueira-McDonough and Rosemary C. Sarri, is a collection of articles that addresses a variety of ways in which the intersections of unequal power relations and women's lives often result in their marginalization. The book is organized into six sections and seventeen chapters that address issues ranging from factual approaches to understanding political implications of poverty, mothers in prison, and ageism, to suggestions for reform and future women's advocacy. The thoughtful recognition of women who may often find themselves most distant from dominant culture is in and of itself one of the many positive impacts of this collection of essays. The careful and compassionate investigation of ways in which the dominant society impacts these women's lives is perhaps this volume's greatest contribution to post-modern feminism and sociology.

Section 1, "Increasing the Dual Control of Women and Distorting their Strength," begins with a historical consideration of welfare reform. Subsequent chapters address women in prison and familial culture of African-American women. Sections entitled "Blockages to Autonomy" and "Gender, Age, and Health Interactions" seem especially relevant considering the increasing emphasis that policy organizations are placing on access to healthcare for low-income women. These sections examine some of the negative economic aspects of welfare reform, low-income housing, and impoverished motherhood in ways that do not espouse neo-conservative rhetoric but instead offer liberal critiques of programs with intentions that may not match their outcomes. Section 3, "Gender, Age, and Health Interactions," investigates issues of substance abuse, ageism, and teenage motherhood, while the section entitled "Bad Women, Undeserving Mothers" looks at issues associated with institutionalized poverty and incarceration. Both sections offer substantive knowledge that addresses some of the harmful stereotypes that pervade even liberal approaches to social problems. Final discussions centering on the value of community in addressing issues of social justice, advocacy, and positive action using the legal system provide hopeful suggestions for taking action to improve many of the social problems and problematic social solutions addressed in this volume.

This book should be required reading for both intermediate women's studies courses and introductory sociology courses. For graduate students and researchers, Chapter 9, "Older Women Living in Poverty." and Chapter 13, "Women's Recidivism and Reintegration: Two Sides of the Same Coin," offer excellent examples of two different methodological approaches to social study. The importance of this collection to the project of social justice for women's lives cannot be overemphasized. For decades, the women's movement has been legitimately accused of representing only women who are white, middle-class, and educated. Working class, working-poor, institutionalized, and older/younger women and women of color are frequently rendered invisible in debates on social problems or they are vilified. This collection of essays offers a step in the direction of rectifying that misrepresentation. By identifying marginalized women as individuals worthy of understanding, this collection of essays offers both a modern critique of current women-centered research and an example of ways in which broader and more thoughtful scholarship may produce positive social action.

Michelle D. Trim

Graduate Assistant for Teaching--Rhetoric and Technical Communication

Michigan Technological University

Houghton, Michigan