The Women's Movement Inside and Outside the State

“The story of the historic role federal employees played in bringing about the legal revolution in women’s rights in this country has never been told before. Lee Ann Banaszak tells it now in her book, The Women’s Movement Inside and Outside the State. I hope it will be read widely in the U.S. and throughout the world. It is an object lesson in making a legal revolution.”
-Sonia Pressman Fuentes, Co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW)

“‘Inside’ and ‘Outside’ are often-invoked concepts in they study of social movements and the state. Banaszak explores this distinction both theoretically and empirically with exceptional care and eloquence. The Women’s Movement Inside and Outside the State makes an absolutely major advance in the study of feminism in the United States and in the discussion of the relationship between movement and state.”
-Mary Fainsod Katzenstein, author of Faithful and Fearless; Moving Feminist Protest inside the Church and Military

“In The Women’s Movement Inside and Outside the State, Lee Ann Banaszak makes an outstanding contribution to scholarship on American political development, women’s history and state theory. In an intellectual tour de force based on exhaustive research Banaszak provides a ground breaking study of how American women have encountered and worked in the American state to advance feminist aims, and why such efforts succeed or fail. She shows how feminist activists in federal agencies from the Kennedy to the Clinton administration used their high level positions and educational training to shape policy in positive ways for women. Among the book’s many achievements are its dazzling contribution to the political sociology of the American state and its highly original account of how the feminist movement and state overlap in complicated ways to reflect the distinct boundaries between society and state in the United States. Superbly organized and clearly written Banazsak’s book will be essential reading for scholars of American politics and feminism.”
-Desmond King, University of Oxford

“This book fills an important gap in women’s movement history by concentrating on the powerful -- though often hidden -- leadership of courageous and committed women in the federal government from the 1960s until today. Their lone voices brought feminist perspectives to their agencies and brought policy expertise to their movement sisters. Lee Ann Banaszak’s careful analysis demonstrates how their ‘inside/outside’ strategy brought feminists together to create the changes in law and policy that are the hallmark of our movement’s early success. For many of us, our tenure ‘inside’ the federal government prefigured our roles on the ‘outside’ as advocates and activists, another untold story.”
-Leslie R. Wolfe, Center for Women Policy Studies

“A landmark study, The Women‘s Movement Inside and Outside the State will redirect the study of social movements’ encounter with the state.”
-Mayer Zald, University of Michigan

"Anyone interested in how to make change from within would do well to read this book."
-Jo Freeman, www.seniorwomen.com