A decade and a half into the 21st century, there are more single women in the U.S. than ever before. When journalist Rebecca Traister (Big Girls Don't Cry) began researching her second book in 2010, she was one of them--and she thought the phenomenon was relatively new. But single women have long been a force for social change, and their growing numbers are altering the public perception of what it means to be single and female. In All the Single Ladies, Traister (now married) explores the history and variety of single womanhood, the ways single women have made their voices heard, and the challenges they still face.
Traister's provocatively titled chapters, such as "Watch Out for That Woman" and "Single Women Have Often Made History," signal a major theme: the deep fear of single women often held by those in power (particularly white men). Traister showcases single women who have boldly spoken up for their rights and blasts the social structures that favor men and married women over single women. Drawing on role models that include Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Bradshaw, Traister calls for "a complete rethinking of who women are and who men are."
Although "single women are taking up space in a world that was not built for them," Traister argues that the world must shift to "make room for free women," no matter their connubial status. All the Single Ladies is a clarion call for the treatment of women--all women--as fully human. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams