Faithful and fearless: moving feminist protest inside the church and military

Women in unifrom and women active in the church are devoted to their callings. Yet it is shown that these women often feel isolated and demeaned, confronted by challenges as subtle as condescension and as blatant as career obstruction. Many have proved fearless in their attempts to reshape them. Drawing on interviews this text gives voice to the struggles and vision of these women as they have moved protest into the mainstream. Mary Fainsod Katzenstein demonstrates that women in the military have turned to courts and Congress, whereas feminism in the church have used discursive protest, to rethink in radical ways the meaning of faith and justice. She argues that these different strategies reflect how the law regulates the military but leaves the church alone. It calls attention to protest within institutions as a new stage in the history both of feminism and of social movements in America.