Women at Work: Rhetorics of Gender and Labor

by David Gold (Editor), Jessica Enoch (Editor)

Overview

Women at Work presents the field of rhetorical studies with fifteen chapters that center on gender, rhetoric, and work in the US in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Feminist scholars explore women’s labor evangelism in the textile industry, the rhetorical constructions of leadership within women’s trade unions, the rhetorical branding of a twentieth-century female athlete, the labor activism of an African American blues singer, and the romantic, same-sex collaborations that supported pedagogical labor. Women at Work also introduces readers to rhetorical methods and approaches possible for the study of gender and work. Contributors name and explore a specific rhetorical concern that animates their study and in so doing, readers learn about such concepts as professional proof, rhetorical failure, epideictic embodiment, rhetorics of care, and cross-racial coalition building.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822945888
Publisher:	University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Series:	Composition, Literacy, and Culture
Edition description:	1
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jessica Enoch is professor of English at the University of Maryland. Enoch is director of academic writing and is an affiliate member of the women’s studies department.
David Gold is Associate Professor of English, Education, and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan.


 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Working Women in(to) Rhetorical History Jessica Enoch David Gold 3

1 Republicanism, Religiosity, and the Rhetoric of Women's Labor Reform in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1830-1850 Amy J. Wan 17

2 From Slave to Seamstress: Elizabeth Keckley's Rhetoric of Emotional Labor Patty Wilde 31

3 Louisa May Alcott's Work: A New True Working Woman Nancy Myers 42

4 "Opulent Friendships," Rhetorical Emulation, and Belletristic Instruction at Leache-Wood Seminary Pamela Vanhaitsma 56

5 Resituating Rhetorical Failure: The Case of Nineteenth-Century Metallurgist Carrie Everson Sarah Hallenbeck 69

6 Professional Proof: Arguing for Women Photographers at the Fin de Siècle Kristie S. Fleckenstein 84

7 Making Use of the Mundane: The Women's Trade Union League's Fight to Give Working Women a Voice Marybeth Poder 102

8 Figuring Vice: Sex, Women, and Work in Kate Waller Barrett's Exhibitionist Rhetoric Heather Brook Adams Jason Barrett-Fox 116

9 Bodies of Praise: Epideictic Figures in the Independent Woman Risa Applegarth 130

10 To Labor with Dignity: Alberta Hunter's Respectability and Resistance Rhetoric Coretta M. Pittman 144

11 Profiting from Rhetorical Domesticity: Fashion Magnate Nell Donnelly Reed's Discursive Seams, 1916-1956 Jane Greer 158

12 Babe Didrikson Zaharias's Rhetorical Branding: When It's Not Enough to Be the World's Greatest Woman Athlete Lisa J. Shaver 172

13 In Rosie's Shadow: World War II Recruitment Rhetoric and Women's Work in Public Memory Michelle Smith 186

14 "Other Peoples' Kitchens": Invisible Labor and Militant Voice during the Early Cold War Jennifer Keohane 209

15 Gossard Girls Are Good Girls: Labor Activism at a 1949 Garment Factory Strike Carly S. Woods Kristen Lucas 224

Notes 239

Works Cited 251

Contributors 277

Index 283

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating, rich collection.  Gold and Enoch present the best of what’s been written about gender, rhetoric, and work. The editors include a broad spectrum of sites, subjects, and contributors, from emerging scholars to well-known researchers. Inspiring and smart, at times sobering or haunting, these tight, readable chapters reveal the hidden history of women at work. The volume is a must-read for scholars in rhetoric, writing studies and women’s studies.—Gesa Kirsch, Bentley University
 


“Women at Work offers an expansive historical understanding of U.S. women's labor and rhetorical agency across time periods, communities, and occupations. Contributors examine how diverse women workers have negotiated complex power relations and social roles, often advocating for improvements in working conditions, representation, and recognition. This collection is a vital contribution to the scholarship on women’s rhetorical agency in the workplace.”
—Eileen E. Schell, Syracuse University
 

From the Publisher