Jewish Gender Studies and Contemporary Literary Criticism

My starting point for this discussion is my work in literary criticism, especially in terms of my ongoing research which focuses on contemporary British Jewish writing. So, drawing from a contemporary cultural context, in the following, I situate gender studies in relation to the ways in which it impacts on readings of recent Jewish literature. Rather than trying to sum up five decades of thinking about gender, I suggest a few moments in the development of gender studies, in terms of some of the achievements, challenges and changes we have seen since the 1970s; and then, in brief, I look forward to future developments.