This guide serves as a basic introduction to information sources for women's studies and gender issues. Hunter Library has a number of excellent subject dictionaries and encylopedias. Click on "Getting Started" to view a list of print resources available in the reference section. Since women and gender issues are important in a number of disciplines, the list is arranged under the headings of "Social Science and General", "History", and "Literature, Art, Music, And Religion".
Below is a listing of some encyclopedias available online.
- Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender
The Encyclopedia of Gender discusses psychological differences in personality, cognition, and behavior, as well as biologically based differences and how those differences impact behavior.
- Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers
The first comprehensive guide to women activists from every part of the world, illuminating the broad range of women's struggles to reform society from the 18th century to the present. This encyclopedia celebrates the lives and achievements of nearly 300 women from around the globe - women who have bravely insisted that the way things are is not the way they have to be.
- The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History
The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History gathers together many articles to offer a diverse, rich, and often neglected panorama of the nation’s past. Written by more than 300 contributors, drawn from various areas of expertise, these narrative and interpretive entries "effectively cover five centuries of women's experiences" (Bloomsbury Review). Here are articles on cowgirls and child care, on the daily lives of single women and the changing notions of motherhood, and more.
- Encyclopedia of Women's Autobiography
Women have been writing autobiographical works for centuries, and these texts are a valuable source of information about their lives and times. They reflect the personal experiences of their authors as well as the larger cultural, political, and intellectual contexts in which they lived and wrote. Multicultural in scope and the first work of its kind, this encyclopedia overviews more than 400 years of autobiographical writing by women.