Paths to Gender. European Historical Perspectives on Women and Men.

This is the fourth “Transversal Theme” volume produced by CLIOHRES, the Sixth Framework Network of Excellence for History and Citizenship. As authors, editors, discussants and/or participants in ‘gender workshops’, almost the entire Network of 180 researchers – men, women, senior staff and doctoral candidates – have been involved. The result is a broad and novel look at the impact of gender perspectives on historical research, and how the historical dimension con- tributes to knowledge of gender. The CLIOHRES Thematic Work Group 4 on 'Work, Gender and Society', brought together on this basis, took on the task of guiding the entire Network, largely of ‘mainstream’ historians – more or less prepared to address gender themes, but few of them gender ‘experts’ – though a two year ‘thought’ and ‘re- search experiment’. The path proposed included a common reading list, group discussions, followed by proposals for chapters in the form of abstracts presented to and discussed by other members; drafting of the chapters taking into account the feed-back; production of revised versions; and a new round of discussions, providing more suggestions to take on board. Then came anonymous peer review, and in its wake further modifications, and care to contextualise the problem addressed for readers not necessarily having specialised knowledge. Taken together the volume offers the reader a glimpse of the various ways historians at the begin- ning of the 21st century find paths to gender. They study topics with the instruments offered by advanced European gender studies and the advantages of transnational historical scholarship. The authors explore and suggest new and old approaches to gender. They show how diverse the field has become and in doing so they invite other researchers to explore other paths to gender: via the sources and via politics, via men and via women, via national and transnational research agendas. We hope the paths discovered here not only lead to new histories, but also bring history to new audiences: readerships within and beyond a growing Europe.