A Fearful Freedom
Women's Flight from Equality

Publisher:  Addison-Wesley
Year Published:  1990
Pages:  250pp   Price:  $24.95   ISBN:  ISBN 0-201-09234-4
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX4521

Abstract: 
Lawyer Wendy Kaminer uses legislation and case examples to examine the changing roles of women and their struggle with the pattern of work, family life and economic inequities. In doing so, she unearths an unsettling search for identity and anxiety about emerging choices for women. Women clamoring for protective laws instead of full rights are compromising the struggle for needed rights.
In making the case for the primacy of equal rights, Kaminer responds to an underlying resistance to egalitarian feminism, the belief that justice for women is incompatible with justice for families and community. According to Kaminer, a commitment to winning full equality is the only way to resolve inequities so that women are free to shape their own lives.
Kaminer examines the Equal Rights Amendment struggle in the United States and equality in the workplace, educational institutions, and the home. Reproductive choice issues and U.S. government resistance to the expansion of civil rights are also included.
A Fearful Freedom adds to our historical perspective on feminism and provides an analysis of its present polarities. Kaminer expresses frustration with the movement's gains and losses but challenges us by insisting on nothing less than full equality.