Living Feminism

In this rich, evocative and challenging 1997 book, Chilla Bulbeck examines the impact of feminism on ordinary Australian women. She argues that the impact of feminism on women's lives has been significant, even though many of the women whose lives have changed because of its influence shun the term 'feminist', or find feminism irrelevant. The lives of sixty women, whose own words and experiences make up most of this book, are set against broader changes in Australian society since the 1950s. These women reveal their attitudes to feminism, but the book's focus is on other aspects of their lives: growing up, education, work, marriage and divorce, motherhood and children, and sex and sexuality. Women of all ages, from various ethnic backgrounds, from cities and the country tell their stories. Partly a history of feminism, the book also unflinchingly considers whether feminism is only relevant to white, middle-class women.