Women's Studies

Women's studies centers the experiences, histories, and status of women and examines gender inequality across society.

Scope

It covers women's history and experience, the politics of gender, women's movements, and feminist scholarship across disciplines.

Core questions

• What are women's distinctive experiences and histories?
• How is women's subordination produced?
• How have women organized for change?
• How does centering women transform knowledge?

Key concepts

• Patriarchy
• Women's experience
• Second-wave feminism
• Consciousness-raising
• Women's history
• The personal is political

Key theories

The problem with no name

Friedan named the discontent of mid-century women, catalyzing second-wave feminism.

Sexual politics

Millett analysed patriarchy as a political system of male dominance pervading culture.

History

Women's studies institutionalized with second-wave feminism (Friedan, Millett), establishing women's experience as a field of study that later broadened into gender studies.

Debates

Women's studies versus gender studies

Whether to center women specifically or gender and sexuality broadly.

Key figures

• Betty Friedan
• Kate Millett

Seminal works

• friedan-1963
• millett-1970

Frequently asked questions

What is 'the personal is political'?

A core feminist insight that personal experiences (e.g., in the family) are shaped by, and reveal, political power relations.