Women's studies
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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 (eg history of women's suffrage) and social history, women's literature, women's health, and the feminist and gender studies-influenced practice of most of the humanities and social sciences.
"Women's studies" was first conceived as an academic rubric apart from other departments in the 1960s, as the "second wave" of feminism gained political influence in the academy through student and faculty activism. 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.
Related fields include gender studies, gender and sexuality studies, and queer studies.
Further Reading
- Florence Howe (ed), Mari Jo Buhle (introduction), The Politics of Women's Studies: Testimony from Thirty Founding Mothers,Paperback edition, Feminist Press 2001
External links
- WSSLinks: women's studies web links from the American Library Association (http://libr.org/wss/WSSLinks/index.html)
- Women's Studies web resources (http://research.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/)