Women's studies

"Feminist studies" redirects here. For the journal, see Feminist Studies.

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Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective. It critiques and explores societal norms of gender, race, class, sexuality, and other social inequalities.

History

Women's studies were first conceived as an academic rubric apart from other departments in the late 1970s, as the second wave of feminism gained political influence in the academy through student and faculty activism. As an academic discipline, it was modeled on the American studies and ethnic studies (such as Afro-American studies) and Chicano Studies programs that had arisen shortly before it.^{[citation needed]}

The first two Women's Studies Programs in the United States were established in 1970 at San Diego State College (now San Diego State University) and SUNY-Buffalo. The SDSU program was initiated after a year of intense organizing of women's consciousness raising groups, rallies, petition circulating, and operating unofficial or experimental classes and presentations before seven committees and assemblies.^[1] Carol Rowell Council was the student co-founder along with Dr. Joyce Nower, a literature instructor. The SUNY-Buffalo program was also the result of intense debate and feminist organizing led by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, and it was eventually birthed out of the American Studies department. In 1972, Sarah Lawrence College became the first institution to grant Masters degrees Women's History. Throughout the later 1970s many universities and colleges created departments and programs in women's studies, and professorships became available in the field which did not require the sponsorship of other departments.^{[citation needed]}

By the late twentieth century, women's studies courses were available at many universities and colleges around the world. A 2007 survey conducted by the ^[2] National Women's Studies Association included 576 institutions offering women's studies or gender studies at some level. Currently there are 678 listed in their online searchable database,^[3] of institutions offering women's/gender studies courses and degrees with 15 institutions offering a Ph.D. in the United States.^[4] Courses in the United Kingdom can be found through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.^[5]

Methodologies and curricula

Women's studies faculty practice a diverse array of pedagogies, though there are some common themes to the way many Women's Studies courses are taught. Women’s studies curricula often encourage students to engage in hands-on activities, including discussion and reflection upon course materials. The development of critical reading, writing, and oral expression are often key to these courses. The decentralization of the professor as the source of knowledge and wisdom is also common. Courses are often more egalitarian, stressing critical analysis of texts, and the development of critical writing. Some courses offer pedagogical methods of teaching which involves in-depth participation from both instructor and students of the course. Like gender studies, Women’s Studies employs feminist, queer, and critical theories.^{[citation needed]} Since the 1970s, Women’s Studies has taken a post-modern approach to understanding gender and how it intersects with race, class, ethnicity, religion, age, and (dis)ability to produce and maintain power structures within society that ensure social inequality. With this, there has been a focus on language, subjectivity, and social hegemony, and how the lives of subjects, however they identify, are constituted. At the core of these theories is the notion that however one identifies, gender, sex, and sexuality are not intrinsic, but are socially constructed.^{[citation needed]}

Women studies programs are involved in social justice and design curriculums that are embedded with theory and also activism outside of the classroom. Some Women Studies programs offer internships that are community-based allowing students the opportunity to gain a better understanding of how oppression directly affects women’s lives. This experience, informed by theory from feminist studies, queer theory, black feminist theory, African studies, and many other theoretical frameworks, allows students the opportunity to critically analyze experience as well as create creative solutions for issues on a local level.^{[citation needed]} However, Daphne Patai, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has criticized this aspect of women's studies programs, arguing that they place politics over education, arguing that "the strategies of faculty members in these programs have included policing insensitive language, championing research methods deemed congenial to women (such as qualitative over quantitative methods), and conducting classes as if they were therapy sessions."^[6] It is important to note, however, that many Women’s Studies curricula engage with a variety of different epistemological and methodological practices. Feminist scholarship is diverse and utilizes positivism, critical realism, and standpoint theory in its interdisciplinary scholarship.^[7]

Activism

Feminist activism not only focuses on women’s issues but has spread throughout many other movements including (but not limited to) environmental issues, body politics, feminist art, identity issues, reproductive rights, gender issues, animal rights, homosexual rights, and African American rights. These forms of activism can include letter writing, boycotting, protesting, the visual arts, bodily demonstrations, education, and leafleting. In current feminism, the focus has shifted to encompass an outlook and desire for equality for all—identifying oppressive systems and forces around the world that affect all types of beings. Feminist activism explores the intersections of social, political, and cultural histories (among various others denominators), their implications, and dedicates time and energy to the liberation of all people from injustices.^{[citation needed]}

Simply studying or being a student of women’s studies can be seen as activism in it of itself. Therefore, for most students of women’s studies, an activism status is already engaged. To foster the growth of the study body, one of the key aspects of women’s studies classes and programs is to connect the classroom to social change. Women’s studies classes and programs focus on power structures, oppression, inequality, and social suffering. Within these categories, women’s studies students learn through a humanistic/multicultural approach, questioning the world we live in and envisioning alternative realities. Learning is through educative experiences, linking the outside world to the classroom. Students are encouraged to bridge their learning and community involvement and take action in the world to foster positive social transformation. Students and feminist activists not only learn about oppression in society but also look at the possibility for a global unity in difference.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Feminist economics
• Feminist theory
• French feminism
• Men's studies
• Social criticism
• Women artists
• Women's history

References

1. ^ SDSU Women's Studies Department
2. ^ National Women's Studies Association
3. ^ NWSA searchable database
4. ^ Artemis Guide to Women's Studies in the U.S.
5. ^ Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, United Kingdom
6. ^ Patai, Daphne (January 23, 1998). "Why Not A Feminist Overhaul of Higher Education?". 'Why Not A Feminist Overhaul of Higher Education?'. Chronicle of Higher Education. http://userpages.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/fem_overhaul.html. Retrieved 2007-05-04. 
7. ^ Sprague, Joey. Feminist Methodologies for Critical Researchers: Bridging Differences. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 2005.

• Borland, K. (1991). That's not what I said: Interpretive conflict in oral narrative research. In Giuck, S. & Patai, D. (Eds.), Women's Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History (pp 63–76). NY: Routledge
• Brooks, A. (2007). Feminist standpoint epistemology: Building knowledge and empowerment through women’s lived experiences. In Hesse-Biber, S.N. & Leavy, P.L. (Eds.), Feminist Research Practice (pp. 53–82). CA: Sage Publications.
• Brooks, A. & Hesse-Biber, S.N. (2007). An invitation to feminist research. In Hesse-Biber, S.N. & Leavy, P.L. (Eds.), Feminist Research Practice (pp. 1–24). CA: Sage Publications.
• Buch, E.D. & Staller, K.M. (2007). The feminist practice of ethnography. In Hesse-Biber, S.N. & Leavy, P.L. (Eds.), Feminist Research Practice (pp. 187–221). CA: Sage Publications.
• Dill, T.B & Zambrana, R. (2009) Emerging Intersections: Race, Class and Gender in Theory, Policy and Practice. NJ: Rutgers University Press.
• Halse, C. & Honey, A. (2005). Unraveling ethics: Illuminating the moral dilemmas of research ethics. Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 30 (4), 2141-2162.
• Harding, S. (1987). Introduction: Is there a feminist method? In Harding, S. (ed.), Feminism & Methodology. (pp. 1–14). IN: Indiana University Press.
• Hesse-Biber, S.N. (2007). The practice of feminist in-depth interviewing. In Hesse-Biber, S.N. & Leavy, P.L. (Eds.), Feminist Research Practice (pp. 111–148). CA: Sage Publications.
• Hyam, M. (2004). Hearing girls' silences: Thoughts on the politics and practices of a feminist method of group discussion. Gender, Place, and Culture, 11 (1), 105-119.
• Leavy, P.L. (2007a). Feminist postmodernism and poststructuralism. In Hesse-Biber, S.N. & Leavy, P.L. (Eds.), Feminist Research Practice (pp. 83–108). CA: Sage Publications.
• Leavy, P.L. (2007b). The practice of feminist oral history and focus group interviews. In Hesse-Biber, S.N. & Leavy, P.L. (Eds.), Feminist Research Practice (pp. 149–186). CA: Sage Publications.
• Leavy, P.L. (2007c). The feminist practice of content analysis. In Hesse-Biber, S.N. & Leavy, P.L. (Eds.), Feminist Research Practice (pp. 223–248). CA: Sage Publications.
• Leckenby, D. (2007). Feminist empiricism: Challenging gender bias and “setting the record straight.” In Hesse-Biber, S.N. & Leavy, P.L. (Eds.), Feminist Research Practice (pp. 27–52). CA: Sage Publications.
• Lykes, M.B. & Coquillon, E. (2006). Participatory and Action Research and feminisms: Towards Transformative Praxis. In Sharlene Hesse-Biber (Ed.). Handbook of Feminist Research: Theory and Praxis. CA: Sage Publications.
• Miner-Rubino, K. & Jayaratne, T.E. (2007). Feminist survey research. In Hesse-Biber, S.N. & Leavy, P.L. (Eds.), Feminist Research Practice (pp. 293–325). CA: Sage Publications.

Further reading

• Berkin, Carol R., Judith L. Pinch, and Carole S. Appel, Exploring Women's Studies: Looking Forward, Looking Back, 2005, ISBN 0-13-185088-1 . OCLC 57391427. 
• Boxer, Marilyn J. (1998). When Women ask the Questions: Creating Women's Studies in America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801858348. OCLC 37981599. 
• Carter, Sarah, and Maureen Ritchie (1990). Women's Studies: A Guide to Information Sources. London, England and Jefferson, NC: Mansell and McFarland. ISBN 0720120586. OCLC 20392079. 
• Committee on Women's Studies in Asia (1995). Changing Lives: Life Stories of Asian Pioneers in Women's Studies. New York, NY: Feminist Press at the City University of New York. ISBN 1558611088. OCLC 31867161. 
• Davis, Kathy, Mary Evans and Judith Lorber (editors) (2006). Handbook of Gender and Women's Studies. London, England; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 0761943900. OCLC 69392297. 
• Grewal, Inderpal and Caren Kaplan, An Introduction to Women's Studies: Gender in a Transnational World, ISBN 0-07-109380-X . OCLC 47161269. 
• Griffin, Gabriele (2005). Doing Women's Studies: Employment Opportunities, Personal Impacts and Social Consequences. London, England: Zed Books in association with the University of Hull and the European Union. ISBN 1842775014. OCLC 56641855. 
• Ginsberg, Alice E. The Evolution of American Women's Studies: Reflections on Triumphs, Controversies and Change (Palgrave Macmillan: 2009). Online interview with Ginsberg
• Griffin, Gabriele and Rosi Braidotti (eds.), Thinking Differently : A Reader in European Women's Studies, London etc. : Zed Books, 2002 ISBN 1842770020 . OCLC 49375751. 
• Howe, Florence (ed.), The Politics of Women's Studies: Testimony from Thirty Founding Mothers, Paperback edition, New York: Feminist Press 2001, ISBN 1-55861-241-6 . OCLC 44313456. 
• Hunter College Women's Studies Collective (2005). Women's Realities, Women's Choices: An Introduction to Women's Studies (3rd edition ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019515035X. OCLC 55870949. 
• Jacobs, Sue-Ellen (1974). Women in Perspective: A Guide for Cross-Cultural Studies. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252002997. OCLC 1050797. 
• Kennedy, Elizabeth Lapovsky and Agatha Beins (2005). Women's Studies for the Future: Foundations, Interrogations, Politics. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813536189. OCLC 56951279. 
• Krikos, Linda A. and Cindy Ingold (2004). Women's Studies: A Recommended Bibliography (3rd edition ed.). Westport, CN: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 1563085666. OCLC 54079621. 
• Larson, Andrea and R. Edward Freeman (1997). Women's Studies and Business Ethics: Toward a New Conversation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195107586. OCLC 35762696. 
• Loeb, Catherine, Susan E. Searing, and Esther F. Lanigan (1987). Women's Studies: A Recommended Core Bibliography, 1980-1985. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 0872874729. OCLC 14716751. 
• Luebke, Barbara F. and Mary Ellen Reilly (1995). Women's Studies Graduates: The First Generation. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University. ISBN 0807762741. OCLC 31076831. 
• MacNabb, Elizabeth L. (2001). Transforming the Disciplines: A Women's Studies Primer. New York, NY: Haworth Press. ISBN 156023959X. OCLC 44118091. 
• Messer-Davidow, Ellen, Disciplining Feminism : From Social Activism to Academic Discourse, Durham, NC etc. : Duke University Press, 2002 ISBN 0822328291 . OCLC 47705543. 
• Patai, Daphne and Noretta Koertge (2003). Professing Feminism: Education and Indoctrination in Women's Studies (New and Expanded edition ed.). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN 0739104543. OCLC 50228164. 
• Rao, Aruna (1991). Women's Studies International: Nairobi and Beyond. New York, NY: Feminist Press at the City University of New York. ISBN 1558610316. OCLC 22490140. 
• Rogers, Mary F. and C. D. Garrett (2002). Who's Afraid of Women's Studies?: Feminisms in Everyday Life. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. ISBN 0759101736. OCLC 50530054. 
• Rosenberg, Roberta (2001). Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Anthology. New York, NY: Peter Lang. ISBN 082044443X. OCLC 45115816. 
• Ruth, Sheila, Issues In Feminism: An Introduction to Women's Studies, 2000, ISBN 0-7674-1644-9 . OCLC 43978372. 
• Simien, Evelyn M. (2007). "Black Feminist Theory: Charting a Course for Black Women's Studies in Political Science". In Kristin Waters and Carol B. Conaway. Black Women's Intellectual Traditions: Speaking their Minds. Burlington, VT and Hanover, NH: University of Vermont Press and the University Press of New England. ISBN 9781584656333. OCLC 76140356. 
• Tierney, Helen (1989-1991). Women's Studies Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313246467. OCLC 18779445. 
• Wiegman, Robyn (editor), Women's Studies on Its Own: A Next Wave Reader in Institutional Change, Duke University Press, 2002. ISBN 0822329506 . OCLC 49421587. 

External links

• WSSLinks: women's studies web links from the American Library Association
• Women's Studies web resources
• Feminist Theory and Criticism 1. 1963-1972
• Center for Women's Studies of Tehran University, Iran
• The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
• Karen Lerhman, Off Course, Mother Jones, September 1993
• Main focus "Frauen- und Geschlechtergeschichte in Westfalen"