At Women’s Expense

State Power and the Politics of Fetal Rights

Cynthia R. Daniels

$61.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Harvard University Press
01 September 1996

Gender studies: women; Sociology: birth; Human rights; Constitutional & administrative law

"Some say the fetus is the ""tiniest citizen."" If so, then the bodies of

women themselves have become political arenas-or, recent cases suggest,

battlefields. A cocaine-addicted mother is convicted of drug trafficking

through the umbilical cord. Women employees at a battery plant must

prove infertility to keep their jobs. A terminally ill woman is forced

to undergo a cesarean section. No longer concerned with conception or

motherhood, the new politics of fetal rights focuses on fertility and

pregnancy itself, on a woman's relationship with the fetus. How exactly,

Cynthia Daniels asks, does this affect a woman's rights? Are they

different from a man's? And how has the state helped determine the

difference? The answers, rigorously pursued throughout this book, give

us a clear look into the state's paradoxical role in gender politics-as

both a challenger of injustice and an agent of social control.

In

benchmark legal cases concerned with forced medical treatment, fetal

protectionism in the workplace, and drug and alcohol use and abuse,

Daniels shows us state power at work in the struggle between fetal

rights and women's rights. These cases raise critical questions about

the impact of gender on women's standing as citizens, and about the

relationship between state power and gender inequality. Fully

appreciating the difficulties of each case, the author probes the

subtleties of various positions and their implications for a deeper

understanding of how a woman's reproductive capability affects her

relationship to state power. In her analysis, the need to defend women's

right to self-sovereignty becomes clear, but so does the need to define

further the very concepts of self-sovereignty and privacy.

The

intensity of the debate over fetal rights suggests the depth of the

current gender crisis and the force of the feelings of social

dislocation generated by reproductive politics. Breaking through the

public mythology that clouds these debates, At Women's Expense makes a hopeful beginning toward liberating woman's body within the body politic."

By: Cynthia R. Daniels
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 272g
ISBN: 9780674050440
ISBN 10: 0674050444
Pages: 191
Publication Date: 01 September 1996
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Cynthia R. Daniels is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University.

Reviews for At Women’s Expense: State Power and the Politics of Fetal Rights

The strength of [this book], which should make it a classic in the field, is Daniels's use of very dramatic case studies to draw the reader into a complicated theoretical discussion of what is at stake for women's equality and citizenship.--Wendy Sarvasy Contemporary Sociology