tittle@ics.UCI.EDU (Cindy Tittle Moore) (06/02/91)
Review by Cindy Tittle Moore May 21, 1991 This article may be reproduced only in its entirety; which includes preserving the author's name, this notice, and all addresses given at the end. It is freely redistributable as long as all recipients are entitled to do so likewise and no profit is made. Copyright (C) 1991 by Cindy Tittle Moore The Women's History of the World by Rosalind Miles Perennial Library, Harper & Row Publishers, New York ISBN: 0-06-097317-X (trade paperback) Library of Congress: 88-39598 All page numbers given are from the paperback version. This book is a witty, mildly irreverent, extraordinarily intriguing retelling of human history with women as the primary focus. The first chapter alone explodes all the comfortable bases for considering Man the Hunter as the primary force behind the creation of civilization. For example, the argument that the cooperation needed to organize successful hunts was the significant factor in civilization is countered by the argument that ``The need to organize for feeding after weaning, learning to handle the more complex socioemotional bonds that were developing, hte new skills and cultural inventions surrounding more extensive gathering --- all would demand larger brains. Too much attention has been given to skills required by hunting, and too little to the skills required for gather and the raising of dependent young.'' (pg 8) Miles moves through all of history, from the primitive beginnings outlined above, to an examination of Goddess worship before the rise of ``Phallic-centered'' religions, to a discussion of the implications of ``God the Father'' for women. She outlines how and in her view why the roles women have played throughout history have been underestimated and belittled. Her writing style is clear and readable and she writes with a distinct lack of bitterness. For example: ``Not all women, however, lived as victims and died as slaves; it would be historically unjust as well as inaccurate to present the whole of the female sex as passive and defeated in the face of their oppressions.'' (pg 50) In many respects, this book echoes similar themes that _The Gospel According to Woman_ did in its discussion of religion and its effects on women. Miles shows how religion and the (religiously sanctioned) lack of education for women combined to devalue ``women's work'' and to keep women in an inferior position. Uneducated, it was more difficult to fight for justice and to be taken seriously; uneducated, the myth of ``stupid women'' was perpetuated. She touches on the Industrial Revolution as taking away even the importance of work at home: ``With the shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy, from country to town, from home to factory, women lost the previous flexibility, status and control of their work. In its place they were granted the privilege of low-grade, exploited occupations, the double burden of waged and domestic labor, and the sole responsibility for child care that has weighed them down ever since.'' (pg 155) In the nineteeth century, when religion began something of a decline with the `Age of Reason,' women started to make comebacks, particularly in reclaiming their bodies and in disemminating birth control information. Religion was then replaced by philosophy, of which Freud's was so prominent, which was equally successful (though not for as long) in putting women back down, this time as incomplete men with penis envy. Other factors are examined such as the early use of Darwinism against women, the amazing extent of anti-female law codified in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (such as the Code Napoleon). Miles' narrative is logical, connected, compassionate, and never descends into absurdities. It is well worth reading. INTERNET: tittle@ics.uci.edu UUCP: ucbvax!ucivax!tittle BITNET: cltittle@uci.bitnet USmail: PO Box 4188, Irvine CA, 92716