Women's Studies

Information about Women's Studies

Women's studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. It often includes feminist theory, women's history (e.g. a history of women's suffrage) and social history, women's fiction, women's health, and the feminist and gender studies-influenced practice of most of the humanities and social sciences.

History

Women's studies was first conceived as an academic rubric apart from other departments in the late 1960s, 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. The first Women's Studies Program in the United States was established on May 21, 1970 at San Diego State College (now San Diego State University) 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. A second program followed within weeks at Richmond College of the City University of New York (now the College of Staten Island). In the 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.

Current courses in women's studies

Women's studies courses are available at many universities and colleges around the world. Many universities that offer degrees in Women’s Studies offer classes in Gender Issues, Women and Religion, Female Sexuality, and Sex Crimes. Many also include with their program an option for gay/lesbian studies. In 2006, the Artemis Guide to Women's Studies^[2] provides a listing of 395 programs in the United States, but may be out of date. Courses in the United Kingdom can be found through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service^[3].

Criticism

A number of authors have criticized scholarship standards within women's studies programs. These authors include feminists like Camille Paglia, Christina Hoff-Sommers and Phyllis Chesler; and journalists and social commentators like Karen Lerhman. Researchers Daphne Patai and Koertge note that the type of feminism espoused in the vast majority of women's studies departments in the United States 'espouses a totalizing world view.'

References

1. ^ SDSU Women's Studies Department
2. ^ Artemis Guide to Women's Studies in the U.S.
3. ^ Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, United Kingdom

External links

Interdisciplinarity is the act of drawing from and integrating two or more academic disciplines, professions, technologies, departments, their methods and insights, in the pursuit of a common goal.
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worldwide view of the subject.
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A woman is a female human. The term woman (irregular plural: women
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Feminism is an ideology focusing on equality of the sexes.^[1] Feminism comprises a number of social, cultural and political movements, theories and moral philosophies concerned with gender inequalities and discrimination against women.
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In sociology, gender identity describes the gender with which a person identifies (i.e, whether one perceives oneself to be a man, a woman, or describes oneself in some other way), but can also be used to refer to the gender that other people attribute to the individual on the
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Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious
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Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical, ground. It encompasses work done in a broad variety of disciplines, prominently including the approaches to women's roles and lives and feminist politics in anthropology and sociology, economics,
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Women's history is the history of female human beings.

Rights and equality

Women's rights refers to the social and human rights of women. One of the first women's rights declaration was the "Declaration of Sentiments".
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The term women's suffrage refers to an economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage — the right to vote — to women. The movement's origins are usually traced to the United States in the 1820s.
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Social history is an area of historical study considered by some to be a social science that attempts to view historical evidence from the point of view of developing social trends.
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Women's fiction is an umbrella term for a wide-ranging collection of literary sub-genres that are marketed to female readers, including many mainstream novels, romantic fiction, "chick lit," and other sub genres.
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Women's health refers to health issues specific to human female anatomy. These often relate to structures such as female genitalia and breasts or to conditions caused by hormones specific to, or most notable in, females.
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Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyzes the phenomenon of gender. It examines both cultural representations of gender and people's lived experience. Gender Studies is sometimes related to studies of class, race, ethnicity and location.
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The humanities are those academic disciplines which study the human condition using methods that are largely analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences.
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The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. They diverge from the arts and humanities in that the social sciences tend to emphasize the use of the scientific method in the study of humanity, including quantitative and qualitative
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Second-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the late 1980s.

Overview

Second Wave Feminism is generally identified with a period beginning in the early nineteen sixties.
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Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. This action is in support of, or opposition to, one side of an often controversial argument.
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American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. It incorporates the study of economics, history, literature, art, the media, film, urban studies, women's studies, and culture of the United States, among
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African American studies (also known as Black studies and/or Africana studies) is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans.
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May 21 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

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San Diego State University (SDSU), founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area (generally the City and County of San Diego), and is part of the California State University system.
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Consciousness raising (often abbreviated c.r.) is a form of political activism, pioneered by United States radical feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group of people on some cause or
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Carol Rowell Council is the co-founder of the women's studies department at San Diego State University, the first women’s studies program in the United States in 1969. The other co-founder is Dr. Joyce Nower. Today, there are over 600 women's studies programs around the world.
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City University of New York (CUNY; acronym: IPA pronunciation: [kjuni]), is the public university system of New York City.
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College of Staten Island (CSI) is a four-year, senior college of The City University of New York and is one of the 11 senior colleges of The City University of New York (CUNY).
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Motto
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