Teaching Pluralism What are Womens Studies

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Teaching PluralismWhat are Womens Studies?

• Valerie H. Barske
• Associate Lecturer
• Womens Studies UWSP

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Gender Assumptions

• A mother and her son were driving on the
  highway. Suddenly a big truck crashed into their
  car and the mother was killed instantly. An
  ambulance rushed the boy to a nearby hospital. As
  the boy was carried into the emergency room, a
  nurse on duty gasped "Oh my god! What has
  happened to my son?!"Who is the nurse?

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Brainstorming Myths and Stereotypes

• Womens Studies
• Feminism
• Gender

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Dispelling Common Myths

• Womens Studies is not real scholarship, only
  feminist propaganda.
• Womens Studies is a white middle-class thing
• Womens Studies is only about studying womens
  issues
• Feminists are evil man-bashers
• Gender is biologically determined.

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History of Womens Studies First Wave of Feminism

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) Sojourner
  Truth (1797-1883)
• Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

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History of Womens Studies Second Wave of
Feminism

• 1960s-1970s Social Activism, Political Protest
• Personal is Political

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History of Womens Studies Birth of a New
Academic Field

• Womens Studies born out of 1960s-1970s activism
• First Womens Studies Program established in 1970
  at San Diego State University
• Interdisciplinary Academic Field, challenges how
  knowledge is produced
• Focus on the importance of personal narratives,
  reclaiming womens voices

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History of Womens Studies Third Wave Feminisms

• As of 2000, over 700 Womens Studies Programs
  exist across the U.S.
• New faces of feminism

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Working Definitions, Key Terms

• Womens Studies an interdisciplinary academic
  field that challenges traditional power
  structures and ways of knowing. Womens Studies
  not only focuses on women, but also on the role
  of gender in social, political, economic, and
  cultural contexts.

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Working Definitions, Key Terms

• Feminism(s) a belief in the equality of human
  beings various movements that challenge unequal
  power relations eco-feminism, integrative
  feminism, socialist feminism, etc.

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Working Definitions, Key Terms

• Gender socially and culturally constructed
  patterns, actions, identities, or roles, such as
  masculine or feminine. Gender is not
  biologically determined and differs from society
  to society. Even for a single individual, gender
  patterns may change over time and within
  different social contexts.

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Personal History through Gendered Glasses

• Esther Schmal (1922-2001)
• Oldest of 9 children, poor farmers
• Middle school education only
• Fruit peddler, hard labor welding
• Riveter for Pullman in Chicago
• Womens Army Auxiliary Corps 1944
• Built military ships and fixed planes
• Honorable discharge, married 1945
• Enough flying time to be a pilot
• Mother of two, worked odd jobs

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Womens StudiesClassroom and Beyond

• UWSP Womens Studies Program
• http//www.uwsp.edu/womenstudy/womstud.htm
• Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
  Womens History
• http//www.free.ed.gov/subjects.cfm?Subject_id26
  res_feature_request1
• National Womens History Project (NWHP)
• http//www.nwhp.org/