The gendered kiwi

"This collection of essays analyses the ways Pakeha masculinity and femininity - gender relations - have changed over time. It brings together previously unpublished essays on topics as diverse as 1930s fashion and feminist men in the 1970s. Established scholars such as Charlotte Macdonald reopen the debate about whether colonial New Zealand was really a man's country, while Jock Phillips asks new questions about late-twentieth-century leisure. Other writers canvass the stresses of Depression-era masculinity, men's and women's different use of public space, office politics and power dressing. Gender relations and the family are a theme in several essays, including those about the colonial family, nineteenth-century criminal trials and World War II. The Gendered Kiwi builds on existing work in men's history and women's history and points to new ways of analysing our past."--Jacket.