JAHANGIR'S PUBLICATIONS GENDER STUDIES jor CSS «all other Relevant Exams M. Nawaz Khalid Aarbi MPhil Gender Studies, MSc Gender & Women Studies, MA English, LLBCSS NEW SYLLABUS Gender Studies (100 Marks) INTRODUCTION TO GENDER StupiEs © Introduction to Gender Studies © Difference between Gender and Women Studies Multi-disciplinary nature of Gender Studies 12 Autonomy vs. Integration Debate in Gender Studies Status of Gender Studies in Pakistan SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER Historicizing Constructionism Problematizing the category of “Sex”: Queer Theory Is “Sex” socially determined, too? Masculinities and Feminism Nature versus Culture: A Debate in Gender Development ooooo FEMINIST THEORIES AND PRACTICE Q_ Whatis Feminism & Liberal Feminism '@ Radical Feminism WW Marxist/Socialist Feminism Q Psychoanalytical Feminism QQ Men’s Feminism §@ Postmodem Feminism ‘int in Paltiston Feminist Movements impacts of feminism ‘ / ¢, First Wave, Second Wave and Third Wave, Feminism, ini: the West, a GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT ' ene tives of Gender Colonial and Cepitalisic PersPOt he cries; Modemization Theory, World System i it piece ee of Devoe roca Functionalism pany aera Development: Women in Development (WID), Women and aa ea Aer WAD), Gender ‘and Development (GAD); Gender Critique of Structural Development (WAD), Adjustment Policies (SAPS)- Q Globalization and Gender10 VI. STATUS OF WOMEN IN PAKISTAN status of Women’s health in Pakistan Status of Women in Education J Women and Employment Gg Women and Law VII. GENDER AND GOVERNANCE Q__ Defining Governance Q Suffragist Movement €27 Gender Issues in Women as Voters Q Gender Issues in Women as Candidates Q > Gender Issues in Women as Representatives hp Q Impact of Political Quota in Pakistan yr GENDER BASED VIOLENCE Defining Gender Based Violence Theories of Violence against Women Structural and Direct Forms of Violence Q Strategies to Eliminate Violence against Women IX. CASE Stupies oF V2 Mukhvaran Mai “1 Mallala Yousaf Zai ¥2" Shermin Ubaid ChinoyGx ) INTRODUCTION TO GENDER STUDIES SYNOPSIS A, Introduction to Gender Studies 2. Life in a Gendered World 3. | Sex vs. Gender 4. | Masculine vs. Feminine Traits 5, | Gender Roles and Relations 6. ° Shifting Gender Relations (a) Patriarchy (>) Feminism (©) Masculinity (@) Femininity Gender Discrimination Gender Mainstreaming Gender Aims to Achieve Equity rather than Equality 10. Gender Symbols (a) Lambda (b) Flags Y (©) Triangles - IX Difference between Gender and Women Studies 12. Women’s / Gender Studies in Asia-Pacific “13, Features of Gender Studies 1. Multidisciplinary Nature of Gender Studies ‘wv Autonomy vs. Integration Debate in Gender Studies Status of Gender Studies in Pakistan eeINTRODUCTION TO GENDER STUDIES GENDER STUDIES ~ BASIC CONCEPTS ~ Men and women are two essential characters of human life, Creation of Adam was not considered complete till the emergence of eve, The literature is filled with the clichés and proverbs which emphasize the significance of the both partners in life, It is interesting that this, significance is interpreted differently by different groups of thoughts. Some groups want to believe that women and men have hierarchical positions, men being superior. ‘The other extreme group wants to believe that men and women are absolutely equal, and this equality is misinterpreted as sameness. One may be a very staunch advocate of the equality of men and women in a society. However, a strong belief that men and women should be equally treated does not indicate that they are identical. Rather, it means that they should have equal rights, equal opportunities, equal significance, equal benefits and equal share of responsibilities. One should not forget that equal is not synonymous of sameness. Men and women are different - biologically, and also to some extent socially and emotionally. Biological factors determine the physical differences between men and women, whereas, social, cultural and environmental factors give rise to personality differences, temperamental differences and the differences in the roles and expectations of the members of both sexes. ‘Think of the activities that take place in an average household during the course of a day. Food is cooked; cleaning is done - sweeping, mopping, and dusting. Groceries and other household items are purchased. Clothes are washed, dried, ironed. Sometimes household repairs are carried out. Garbage is discarded. Also, the people who live in the house need to be looked after. Sometimes they may have special needs — for example babies need constant supervision. ‘These are some of the things that are required to be done to keep homes functioning. These activities take a lot of time, and many are to be done on a daily basis. The people who do them expend a lot of energy and may be exhausted when they are finished. Most of the time, women perform these tasks. Put together, these tasks are called housework. Given this name, it may be surprising to learn that housework is not considered to be work in economic or social terms. It is seen as a set of tasks that is naturally performed by the women of a household, It is not, for example, calculated as part of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (the sum of all goods and services produced in a country in a given period). This is in spite of the fact that if the women of the house are unable or unwilling to do these tasks, other people will do them ~ but only if they are paid to do so. Housework is not the only area in which women’s work is not recognized as work. But according to the prevalent statistics, only a tiny fraction of women are in the workforce. The question that is to be raised, then, is ‘why is the ‘economic contribution of so many women seen as being trivial?” Gender studies recognizes that gender has to be taken seriously. It is also a field that recognizes that often, within academic disciplines and also other spheres of society, the perspective that has been27 applied has been that of the most powerfull people in society, and that this is often at the expense of less powerful people. Gender studies then exists as an important means of correcting such imbalances. LIFE IN A GENDERED WoRLD People may advise a young person on which subjects to take in school or college by saying, “you should study this — it is a good subject for a girl” or “that is not the right subject for a boy”. In this way, education is also gendered, as is the job market — different opportunities are considered to be appropriate for girls and boys. Certain careers are gendered — nursing, for example, is a profession that has more women than men and which is not deemed appropriate for men. Physical spaces may be gendered. Think of the roads of a city — can anyone be out on the street at any time? There are no rules prohibiting anyone from going out onto the street. Yet you may have observed it is found that women do not stay out on the streets as late, Women also do not spend time hanging around women on public on the streets — at a teashop, for instance, alone or chatting transport. What does with friends? Men and women thus have different kinds of this say about public access to streets, and have different experiences of being out transport being on the streets. In these ways, physical spaces are also gendered? Thus various aspects of living world are gendered. They differ for different genders, the experiences of them differ in ways that depending upon the gender. The study of the gendered nature of the social and physical world is an important part of gender studies. The perspective of gender studies can be applied to a variety of situations, examples of which have been given. These examples were all from different academic disciplines — sociology, political science, biology, law, and economics. Thus gender studies encompass many disciplines. It is multidisciplinary. This is an important dimension of gender studies because it has also pointed out certain gaps in various disciplines. As a discipline gender studies has developed certain terms and concepts which are used while studying the phenomenon of gender. An understanding of their meaning and implications allows us to see and connect various aspects of it. SEX vs GENDER Sometimes it is hard to understand exactly what is meant by the term ‘gender’ and how it differs from the closely related term 'sex'. Understanding of the social construction of gender starts with explaining the two concepts, i.e., gender and sex. Often these two terms are used interchangeably: however, they bear different meanings as concepts. "Sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women. It is defined as the anatomical and physiological characteristics that signify the biological malenesé: and femaleness of an individual. "Gender" refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. Gender emphasizes that masculinity and femininity are products of social, cultural and psychological factors and are acquired by an individual in the process of becoming a man or woman. ‘Gender is the term widely used to refer to those ways in which a culture reformulates what begins as a fact of nature. The biological sexes are redefined, represented, valued, and channeled into different roles in various culturally dependent ways. , 4 — from anatomical and physiological S defined earlier is the concept that emerges characteristies that differentiates males and females biologically whereas gender can be scen-as a social construct manifested by masculine and feminine roles prevalent in a culture or a society. Thusender can be seen as an artifact of social, cultural and psychological factors which are attained during the process of socialization of an individual. What is the significance of the concept ‘gender’? In talking about the social and cultural Construction of masculinity and femininity, gender allows us to see these dimensions of human roles and personalities as based not on nature but on social factors. It then allows us to address issues like Subordination and discrimination as issues where change is possible. Therefore the meaning of sex ant Bender, femininity and masculinity fluctuates within societies and cultures across the globe, \ The key differences between these two terms are: Sex Gender It is a social construct. Itis natural Its biological. It denotes to visible differences | It is a socio-cultural construct and ] . ae ” 0 i in genitalia and related differences in | masculine and feminine qualities, vane procreative function. Patterns, related roles and responsibility, ete. Biological Acquired Male or female: Feminine & Masculine Physical category, natural, born with. Socially constructed Cannot be changed. Can be changed It determines roles, relationships between man & women It is influence by: Class, Race, Age, Culture, Religion, Politics, War, Education etc GENDER STEREOTYPES Gender stereotypes are simpl eneralizations about the gender attributes, differences, and the rofes“of individuals and/or groups. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, but iey rarely communicate accurate information about others. Gender has appeared in religious, philosophical, and + literary works for centuries. Consider the following excerpts, from ancient times to the present: “Woman is more compassionate than man and has a greater propensity to tears... But the male... is more disposed to give assistance in danger, and is more courageous than the female". (Aristotle, cited in Miles, 1935). (we are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up ithin the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live. (Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah) “To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman. If by strength is ‘’ meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?" (Mahatma Gandhi, cited in Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1960) ™~"A man will say what he kn Emile, 1762/1955) ‘Man with the head and : “ woman with the heart; Man to command and w t 5 else confusion." (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1842) aaiemced Although the past three di roles possible for each gender, ‘ows, @ woman says what will please." (Jean Jacques Rousseau, lecades have brought a new level of awareness about the wide Tange of Strong beliefs about gender difference remain, The commonest female stereotypical role that is prevalent is of the homemaker. It is imperative for her to put her family's welfare before her own; she is loving, compassionate, caring, nurturing, emotional and sympathetic. The male's role on the other hand is to be the provider. He is also to be assertive, competitive, independenit, aggressive, courageous, rational, career- oriented and pragmatic, pi 38 © — Women's life experiences, needs, issues and priorities are different for different ethnic groups © The life experiences, needs, issues, and priorities vary for different groups of women (dependent on age, ethnicity, disability, income levels, employment status, marital status, sexual orientation and whether they have dependants) Different strategies may be necessary to achieve equitable outcomes for women and men and different groups of women GENDER ANALYSES AIMS TO ACHIEVE EQUITY, RATHER THAN EQUALITY Gender based on the premise that women and men should be treated in the same way. This falls to recognize that equal treatment will not produce equitable results, because women and men have different life experiences. Gender equity takes into consideration the differences in women’s and men’s lives and recognizes that different approaches may be needed to produce outcomes that are equitable. Gender analysis provides a basis for robust analysis of the differences between women’s and men’s lives, and this removes the possibility of analysis being based on incorrect assumptions and stereotypes. SEXUAL ORIENTATION The phrase sexual orientation is used to describe different forms of erotic attraction: toward people of the same gender (homosexual), the opposite gender (heterosexual), or both (bi-sexual). Like any simplistic categorization, such definitions quickly become mired in contradictions and complications. For instance, is the label "heterosexual" to be reserved for people who only have sexual interactions with members of the other sex, so that those who deviate from this pattern are classed as homosexuals regardless of the number of same-sex relationships they have had, even if the opposite- sex relationships far outnumber them? When can an individual be labeled heterosexual? bisexual, homosexual, or The influential study of Alfred Kinsey on American males in 1948 and his later study of females first pointed out the difficulties of such classification. To overcome it, he developed a 7-point scale with 0 representing individuals who only had heterosexual intercourse, and 6, those who only had same-sex activities. Unsurprisingly, Kinsey found that 37 percent of the males and 13 percent of the females in their sample had at least one homosexual encounter. The scale, however, did not establish numerical ranges for categorizing sexual orientation. Is a man who has sexual relations with females 70 percent of the time and with males 30 percent of the time a homosexual? Is a woman who has sex with males 30 percent of the time and with other women 70 percent a lesbian? Are they both bisexual? The issue is further complicated by the fact that many people do considerable experimentation before confining themselves to one sex. Others might originally have only partners of the opposite sex, but as they age they have increasing numbers of partners of the same sex and settle down with a same-sex partner. This pattern is even more marked in many non-Western Societies, where same-sex sexual experimentation may be expected as a premarital phase; a highly institutionalized version of the age- specific structure was documented by Gil Herdt in parts of Melanesia, where before Christian missionizing changed sexual mores, every male was expected to progress through a series of alternating same-sex and heterosexual phases. ‘These attractions are generally subsumed under heterosexuality homosexuality, and bisexuality, while asexuality (the lack of sexual attraction to others) is sometimes identified as the fourth category. »39 ‘These categories are aspects of the more nuanced nature of sexual identity. For example, people may use other labels, such as pansexual or polysexual, or none at all. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviours, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions”, ‘There is no consensus among scientists about why a person develops a particular sexual orientation. Many scientists think that nature and nurture — a combination of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences — factor into the cause of sexual orientation, They favour biologically-based theories, which point to genetic factors, the early uterine environment, both, or the inclusion of genetic and social factors. There is no substantive evidence which suggests parenting or early childhood experiences play a role when it comes to sexual orientation; when it comes to same-sex sexual behaviour, shared or familial environment plays no role for men and minor role for women. Research ‘over several decades has demonstrated that sexual orientation ranges along a continuum, from exclusive attraction to the opposite sex to exclusive attraction to the same sex. _Sexual identity and sexual behaviour are closely related to sexual orientation, but they are distinguished, with sexual identity referring to an individual's conception of themselves, behaviour referring to actual sexual acts performed by the individual, and orientation referring to "fantasies, attachments and longings." Individuals may or may not express their sexual orientation in their behaviours. People who have a homosexual sexual orientation that does not align with their sexual identity are sometimes referred to as ‘closeted’. The term may, however, reflect a certain cultural context and particular stage of transition in societies which are gradually dealing with integrating sexual minorities, In studies related to sexual orientation, when dealing with the degree to which a person's sexual attractions, behaviours and identity match, scientists usually use the terms concordance or discordance, Thus, a woman who is attracted to other women, but calls herself heterosexual and only has sexual relations with men, can be said to experience discordance between her sexual orientation (homosexual or lesbian) and her sexual identity and behaviours (heterosexual). Sexual identity may also be used to describe a person's perception of his or her own sex, rather than sexual orientation. The term sexual preference has a similar meaning to sexual orientation, and the two terms are often used interchangeably, but sexual preference suggests a degree of voluntary choice. The term has been a listed by the American Psychological Association's Committee on Gay and Lesbian Concems as a wording that advances a “heterosexual bias". ANDROPHILIA, GYNEPHILIA Androphilia and gynephilia (or gynecophilia) are terms used in behavioral science to describe sexual attraction, as an alternative to a homosexual and heterosexual conceptualization. They are used for identifying a subject's object of attraction without attributing a sex assignment or gender identity to the subject. Related terms such as pansexual and polysexual do not make any such assignations to the subject. People may also use terms such as queer, pansensual, polyfidelitous, ambisexual, or personalized identities such as bykeor biphilic. SGL (Same Gender Loving) is considered to be more than a different term for gay; it introduces the coficept of love into the discussion. SGL also acknowledges relationships between people of like identities, for example third gender individuals who may be oriented toward each other, and expands the discussion of sexuality beyond the original man/woman gender duality. The complexity of transgender orientation is also more completely understood within this perspective. Using androphilia and gynephilia can avoid confusion and offense when describing people in non-western cultures, as well as when describing intersex and transgender people.40 GENDER SyMBoLs THE Lamapa ol which continues to remain popular is the lower case Grek wae ee symbol was originally chosen by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970, The GAA was a group which broke away from the larger Gay Liberation Front at the end of 1969, only six months after it's foundation in response to the Stonewall Riots, While the GLE Sranted to work side by side with the black and women’s liberation ‘Movements to gain unity and acceptance, the GAA wanted to focus their efforts more concisely on only Gay and Lesbian issues. Because of its official adoption by the GAA, which sponsored public events for the gay community, the lambda soon became a quick way for the community to identify each other. The reasoning was that the lambda would eas, allege fraternity symbol and ignored by the majority of the population. Event headquarters was torched by an arsonist, destroying not only the building but records, and the movement never recovered from the loss. ‘Th Now what the symbol means or meant when it was introduced are a prime topic for speculation and a morass of public Tumouring. Some of the more Popular rumours are: © Simply, the Greek letter "L" stands for "liberation." * The Greek Spartans believed that the lambda Tepresented unity. © The Romans took it as meanin; ignorance." The charged energy of the gay movement, This stems from the lambda’s use in chemistry and physics to denote energy in equations, members of the gay ily be mistaken for a tually though, the GAA all of the organization's 1 symbol, however, lived on, B “the light of knowledge shining into the darkness of The synergy which results when gays and lesbians work together towards a common goal (@ gestalt theory which also stems from the physics-energy theory) The notion that straights and gays, or gays and lesbians, or any pairing of these three, are on different wavelengths when it comes to sex, sexuality, comes from the lambda's presence in chemistry and physics, where 1 w= sometimes used to represent the wavelength of certain types of energy. An iconic rendering of the scales of justice and the constant force that keeps opposing sides from overcoming each other. The hook at the bottom of the right leg would then signify the action and initiative needed to reach and maintain balance. ‘The lambda is also though by some to have appeared on the shields of Spartan and/or Theben warriors. The Thebes version is more popular because, as legend has it, the city State organized the Theban Band from groups of idealized lovers, which made then extremely fierce and dedicated warriors. Eventually however, the army was completely decimated by Kind Philip 11, but was later honored by his son Alexander the Great, B time it ‘Whatever the lambda meant or means today, it's everywhere. Even though at one y acquired a strictly male connotation, it is used by both gays and lesbians today, Back in December of41 1974, the lambda was officially declared the intemational symbol for gay and lesbian rights by the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, Fiacs Rainbow Flag Original Rainbow Flag AIDS Flag Leather Pride Flags Bear Flag RAINBOW FLAG The rainbow flag has become one of the most widely used and recognized symbols of the gay pride movement. The concept of the rainbow is hardly a new one. Rainbows have used since ancient times in all kinds of cultures- Greek, African, Native American and Celtic, to name only a few. Even Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition has made use of the rainbow has a freedom symbol. The Rainbow Flag as we know it today was developed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. At the time, there was a need for a gay symbol which could be used year after year for the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. Baker took inspiration from xy sources, from the hippies movement to the black civil rights movement, and came up with a flag with eight stripes. Color has’always played an important power in the gay right movement- Victorian England symbolized homosexuality with the color green, lavender became popular in the 1960s, and and pink from the pink triangle has caught on as well- and the colors of the gay flag were no different. Baker explained that his colors each stood for a different aspect of gay and lesbian life: © — Hot pink for sexuality, Red for life, Orange for healing, Yellow for the sun, Green for nature, Blue for art, Indigo for harmony, Violet for spirit. Baker himself and thirty other volunteers hand-stitched and hand-dyed to large prototype flags for the 1978 parade. It was an immediate hit. However, when Baker took his design to the San Francisco Flag Co. to have it mass-produced for the 1979 parade, he had to remove ihe het pink stripe. Baker had hand-dyed the color, and unfortunately pink was not a commercially availabie color. Later that year, when the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, was assassinated, the 1979 Pride Parade Committee found in Baker's flag the perfect symbol for the entire gay community to unite under in protest of this tragedy. The committee got rid of the indigo stripe to make the colors evenly divisible along the parade route: red, orange, and yellow on one side of the street; green, blue, and purple on the other. (This version also conforms to traditional color theory- the three primary colors and three secondary colors in art- rather than the spectrum of light colors of RO Y GBI V. Thus, today’s six-colour flag was born and displayed during the 1979 Pride Parade.42 The flag quickly caught on like wildfire in citi the count, It was even officially recognized by the national Congress of Flag Makers. In 1989 the flag » #1¥en international recognition when West Hollywood resident John Stout successfully sued his landlords after they tried to Prohibit him from hanging the flag from his apartment balcony, At New York's Stonewall 25 Parade in 1994, a gigantic 30-foot wide, one mile long rainbow flag was carried through the parade Toute by over 10,000 volunteers any symbol, the varieties that the rainbow flag currently comes in are limitless, Shown American flag version featuring the stars-and-stripes motif, the flag with triangle, and the flag with the lambda symbol incorporated. It also went on to inspire freedom rings- Six metal rings in cach of the flag's six colors on a chain, usually worn as a necklace, bracelet or keychain. Incidentally, the flag has also been an amazing fun-raising tool for the Gay Rights Movement. When large rainbow flags were first carried along Parade routes with the carriers at the comers and along the sides, they found that people along the parade route with throw change into convenient valley created in the flag's center. At first, some people in the gay community took offense to this- they didn't want people to feel that they were pitiable and in need of charity, But mowements cannot exist on spirit alone, so many organizations took to this occurrence with enthusiasm and the practice continues to this day. I personally dig the rainbow flag because it endorses gay rights without making a Statement about the person- it's an all-purpose symbol which can be used by anyone regardless of their own sexual orientation This aspect has also made the rainbow flag useful for displaying in businesses which are "gay friendly," but which may not necessarily be owned or operated by a gay or bisexual person. This kind of equality and all- inclusiveness is what the gay rights movement strives for Victory Over AIDS FLAG The gay community has been one of the hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic. A San Francisco group suggested a modification to the traditional rainbow flag by adding a black stripe to the bottom of it to commemorate everyone who we've lost to the AIDS virus over the years. Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, a well-decorated Vietnam War Veteran who is dying of AIDS, proposed that when a cure for AIDS was found, all of the black stripes should be removed from these flags and ceremoniously burned in Washington D.C.LEATHER PRIDE FLAG The Leather Pride Flag was created by artist Tony DeBlase and was first displayed on May 28, 1989 at the Chicago Mr. Leather contest. It stands as a symbol for the leather community- people who are into leather, sado- masochism, bondage, domination, uniforms, rubber and other kind of sexual fetishes. This flag is most often found in the gay ‘community, but it encompasses all orientations. Another Leather Pride Flag which hasn't gained quite as much popularity is a modified rainbow flag in which the purple stripe is replaced by a black stripe. This variety though is easily confused with the Victory Over AIDS Flag BEAR PRIDE FLAG "Bear" is an affectionate term used for a gay man with an abundance of body hair, especially on his face and chest, Bears developed by a Seattle bear bar named Spags. The blue stripes represents the sky and the green stripe represent the earth. In between these two are all the bears of the world- white for polar bears, black for black bears, and brown for brown bears. The yellow paw print is the sun, representing the spirit. While this is the most widely seen bear symbol, it is not really official. Bear groups tend to develop their own individual flags and symbols to represent them. also tend to be a bit older and chubbier, but this is a convenient stereotype. The Bear Pride Flag symbolizes this group. It was TRIANGLES © Pink Triangle © Black Triangle © Burgundy Triangle © Bisexual Triangles PINK TRIANGLE As most everyone knows, the pink triangle is a symbol taken directly from the Nazi concentration camps. Usually when concentration camps and Nazis are mentioned, most people tend to think of Jews and the Jewish Holocaust (for Bood reason). But the fact that a large number of homosexual prisoners were in those same camps is an often ignored or overlooked fact of history. The real story behind the pink triangle begin: prior to World War Il. Paragraph 175, a clause in German law, prohibited homosexual relations (much like many states in the USS. today have laws against "crimes of nature"). In 1935, during Hitler's rise to power, he extended this law to include homosexual kissing, embracing, and even having homosexual fantasies. An estimated 25,000 people were convicted under this law between 1937 and 1939 alone. They were sent to prisons and later concentration camps. Their sentence also included sterilization, most commonly in the form of castration. In 1942, Hitler extended the punishment for homosexuality to death Prisoners in Nazi concentration camps were labeled according to their crimes by inverted colored triangles. "Regular" criminals were denoted by a green triangle, political prisoners by red44 tangles and Jews by two overlapping yellow triangles (to form the Star of David, the most common Jewish symbol). Homosexual prisoners were labels with pink triangles. Gay Jews- the lowest form of Prisoner- had overlapping yellow and pink triangles. This system also created a social hierarchy among the prisoners, and it has been reported that the pink triangle prisoners often received the worst workloads and were continually harassed and beaten by both guards and other prisoners. Although homosexual prisoners were not shipped en mass to the Aushwitz death camps like so many of the Jewish prisoners, there were still large numbers of gay men executed there along with other non-Jewish prisoners. The real tragedy though occurred after the war. When the Allies defeated the Germany and the Nazi Regime, the political and remaining Jewish prisoners were released from the camps (the regular criminals- murderers, rapists, etc.- were not released for obvious reasons). The homosexual prisoners were never released though because Paragraph 175 remained West German law until 1969. So these innocent men watched as their fellow prisoners were set free, but remained prisoners for 24 more years. In the 1970s, the pink triangle started to be used in conjunction with the gay liberation movement. When people, especially public figures such as law makers, were confronted with such a symbol, they risked being associated with the Nazis if he or she were to attempt to openly limit or prosecute gays. In the 1980s, when the triangle's popularity truly began to take off, ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) adopted the it as their symbol, but tumed it upright to suggest an active fight rather than passive resignation. I've also been told that some people wear their triangles pointing up if they personally know somebody who has tied of AIDS. In any case, the pink triangle is definitely a symbol very closely connected to oppression and the fight against it, and stands as a vow never to let another Holocaust happen again. Like the word "queer," it is a symbol of hate which has been reclaimed and now stands for pride. BLACK TRIANGLE The Pink Triangle was used exclusively with male prisoners- lesbians were not included under Paragraph 175. However, women were arrested and imprisoned for antisocial behavior," which include anything from feminism, lesbianism, and prostitution to any woman who didn't conform to the ideal Nazi image of a woman: cooking, cleaning, kitchen work, child raising, passive, etc. These women were labeled with a black triangle. Just as the pink triangle has been reclaimed, lesbians and feminists have begun using the black triangle as a symbol of pride and sisterhood. BURGUNDY TRIANGLE It is rumoured that there was a burgundy triangle which designated transgendered prisoners, but so for this is only a rumor and has not been substantiated with facts. BISEXUAL TRIANGLES Somewhere in all this excitement with gay and lesbian symbols, bisexuals appear to have slipped through the cracks. It has only been within the last decade or so that bisexuals have begun actively organizing and fighting for equal voices. One of the many good things to come out of this movement is a symbol that bisexuals can call all their own: the interlocking pink and blue triangles, sometimes referred to as the "biangles."45 Unfortunately, in contrast to most other pride symbols, the exact origin of this symbol is qui ; é , quite mysterious. I have polled a great number of national and intemational bisexual and gay/lesbian bisexual organizations, but nobody has been able to give me a definitive source. The pink triangle is obviously taken from the gay symbol. The blue triangle was never used by the Nazis. It may have been added as a foil for pink- pink for girls and blue for boys (because bisexuals have vexctions to both), with the overlapping purple triangle (purple has always been a very prominent anor in te gay pride movement) representing the middleground that bisexuals fall into. I've also heard stexplained thatthe pink triangle represent homosexuality while blue represents heterosexuality, Thus the averlap between the pink and blue triangles is the purple triangle of bisexuality. All these are personal explanations that I've gathered through Email, so if anyone has their own opinions or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. MALE, FEMALE, AND HETEROSEXUAL ‘These symbols have long been used to represent men and women. Symbols like these were given to each of the Roman gods (which were, of course, the same as the Greek gods, only with different names). They all involve a circle with some kind of identifying marks attached to it. The circle with an arrow attached at roughly the two o'clock position stands for Mars (Ares in Greek), the god of war, and a strong symbol of masculinity. Thus, this symbol has come to stand for men. The circle with the cross extending down stands for Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty, and a symbol of femininity. Thus, the Venus symbol represents women. I don't know if Mars and Venus were ever lovers for certain, but a good number of paintings, notably from the Romantic period, depicted the two in romantic encounters of one sort or another. Joining the two symbols together can mean several things. When compared to the symbols’ common uses in the gay, lesbian, and bisexual movements, it would obviously seem to indicate heterosexuality. In fact, one web site author I've seen felt left out by the gay movement's many pride symbols and so proclaimed that this symbol was a heterosexual's way of showing pride in his or own own orientation. More power to him. Also, at one time this linking of the male and female symbols also represented the combined forces of the gay and lesbian movements. It has also been used to show an understanding of the differences and diversity between men and women. Gay, LESBIAN, AND FEMINISM In the 1970s, gay men began using two interlocking male symbols to symbolize male homosexuality. The two, of course, had to be slightly off-center to avoid the arrow of one intersecting the circle of the other. Around the same time, some lesbians started using two interlocking female symbols to symbolize female homosexuality. However, this soon ran into trouble because some women in the Feminist movement were using the same symbol to represent the sisterhood of women, These feminists would have instead used three interlocking symbols to represent lesbianism. Which seems rather wacky to me. Why not let two symbols mean lesbianism and three symbols mean the sisterhood of all women? That makes more sense to me, and apparently it did to them too. Two symbols now stand for lesbianism and three symbols stand for the sisterhood of women.oY 46 Bisexuat Indicating bisexual complicated. Wine ‘wallty with the gender symbols can get both fun and : male and female-female symbol i recognizable, bi aoe symbols are instantly tare ie configurations can be confusing to some. Basically, it atever sex the bis Seon side and a fem 1¢ bisexual person is and puts a male symbol on one For women, something wl explain the properties of colored light in science class. Which isn't a bad thing, Itresults in a rather attractive symbol, I think. ow ile on the other- a combination of the straight and gay symbols. this results in a nice, even row of symbols. For men, you get hich reminds me of the three colored circles that everyone uses to iser nwt £2" Some real confusion, try making a symbol which includes all isexuals regardless of sex. You end up with two of each symbol interlocked together: lesbian+straight+gay. Not exactly simple, but interesting. However, as is the case with most everything bisexual right now, these symbols aren't very predominant. Bisexuals have very few symbols of pride, and commonly the most complicated ones. TRANSGENDER Transgendered people have two symbols to choose from. The first and most obvious is a merging of the male and female symbols rather than interlocking. By putting both the cross and the arrow on the same ring, it symbolizes the male and female parts inherent in one person. This symbol is the most inclusive of the two and most recognizable. In the simplest sense, it indicates some level of androgyny. Another symbol though, disregards the Mars and Venus symbols altogether and uses the Mercury symbo!. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite (Venus) had a child with Mercury (Hermes). The child was named Hermaphroditus and possessed both male and female genitalia. Thus the origin of the word hermaphrodite. Since Hermaphroditus didn't have a specific symbol, the symbol for Mercury was borrowed in this instance to represent a transgendered person. Mercury's symbol has a cross extending down to represent femininity and a crescent moon at the top to represent masculinity. The two are placed at opposite ends of the circle to strike a balance between the male and female parts, This symbol seems to speak more to those trangendered persons who identify hermaphroditically or andgroynously. I feel it’s important to note here that, while transgendered people are commonly supported together with the gay, lesbian, and bisexual movements, transgender is not a sexual orientation, Transgendered persons have specific attractions to sexes. Being transgendered is related to gender identification and the roles of sex and gender. But because this falls into a similar category as sexual orientations, and many trangendered persons themselves may experience some confusion as to their own orientations, I openly include them here. RIBBONS Colored ribbons have become a prominent symbol of many causes in recent years. Ribbons of nearly every color are displayed and wom everyday, each one dedicated to a very important cause. Here are some of the more popular ribbons, most of which aren't specifically alt47 affiliated with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender movements at all. Like everything in life these causes touch all of us. © Red AIDS Awareness Ribbon © Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon © White Gay Teen Suicide Awareness Ribbon © Polyamory Awareness & Acceptance Ribbon © Blue Free Speech Online Ribbon © Others AIDS AWARENESS RIBBON ‘The Red Ribbon Project was created by singer/songwriter Paul Jabara and the New York-based Visual AIDS group in 1991. Visual AIDS is a charity group of art professionals aimed at recognizing and honoring friends and colleagues who are dying or have died of AIDS. Visual AIDS not only encourages art organizations, galleries, museums, and other AIDS organizations to commemorate those who have died of AIDS, but also to educate the public about the transmission of AIDS and HIV and the needs of those living with AIDS. It's raises funds for research and treatment of AIDS. ‘The red ribbon was originally inspired by the yellow ribbons prominently displayed during the Gulf War in support of U.S. soldiers. The color red was chosen because it is the color of blood — AIDS and HIV being blood-related diseases — and its symbolic connection to passion and love. The red ribbon made its public debut when host Jeremy Irons wore it during the 1991 Tony Awards. Since then, wearing the red ribbon has become a fashion statement and extremely politically correct. Some feel that the red ribbon has lost its importance, and is now simply lip service to AIDS causes. However, the Red Ribbon Project is still going strong and remains a driving force behind AIDS awareness. It is the Project's sincerest hope that one day it will no longer be needed. BREAST CANCER AWARENESS RIBBON The pink ribbon of Breast Cancer Awareness was inspired by the success of the red AIDS Awareness ribbon. Cancer is a very dangerous disease end continues to be widespread among Americans. Breast cancer is especially danger for women, and it's been found that breast cancer is more prevalent in women who do not bear children. Thus, the lesbian community is especially interested in breast cancer awareness and prevention. National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizationshttp://www.nabco.org/ GaY-TEEN SUICIDE AWARENESS RIBBON _ This ribbon, used mainly online, was created by Xavier Neptus, a personal Survivor of attempted teen suicide himself. He was inspired to create this campaign after hearing Jason Bolton, a young man who was thrown out of a suburban Detroit high school for being gay, speak about gay youth suicide at the 1997 Lansing, Michigan Pride March, According to Neptus, the color white was chosen to represent clarity of thought and innocence of youth. Neptus quotes on his site that an American teenager ©48 it i , lesbiai Alteinpts suicide every five ours because of difficulty dealing with the stresses of ae eal bisexual, or transgender. By spreading the word about this campaign and recommending p nurces, Neptus hopes to save other young people from suicide. POLYAMoRY AWARENESS & ACCEPTANCE RIBBON This ribbon is based on a flag created by Jim Evans in support of polyamory. Polyamory is the practice of being romantically involved with more than one person at a time. It does not mean promiscuousness or swinging, but rather a loving, honest, trusting relationship between more than two people. This is hardly a new concept. Many religions and countries recognize and ‘support such unions (historically though, it has been one man having multiple wives). The colors of the ribbon and flag have specific meanings. The color blue Tepresents "the openness and honesty among all partners with which we conduct Our multiple relationships," red represents love and passion (much like the red AIDS Awareness ribbon does), and black represents the solidarity that is held between the partners when they must hide their unaccepted relationship from the © eyes of popular society. The symbol in the center is the Greek lower case letter pi, which translates to "p" and stands for polyamory. The pi is in gold, to show the value which the partners place on each other, whether friendly or romantic (as opposed to simply physical). BLUE INTERNET FREE SPEECH RIBBON When the Communications Decency Act was drafted to try to control and censor the internet, it spawned a wave of criticism. Many people believe that the intemet is the true frontier of the right of free speech, and defend that belief vigorously. At first, web page authors started making the backgrounds of their sites all black in protest of such censorship. Since then, the blue ribbon has been adopted as the universal on-line symbol for freedom of speech. A good many sites carry this symbol nowadays. In an attempt to ward of stifling legislation, the internet has attempted to police itself. Some sites voluntarily rate themselves according to subject matter, and most which contain any kind of nudity or offensive language make warnings that viewer must be over 18. Many places with adult content use lock- out systems which require any potential user to register with an outside company for a small yearly fee, thereby verifying the user's age. So far, these attempts have been fairly successful in keeping censorship away from the internet. OTHER RIBBONS __ There are countless other colors of ribbons out there Tepresenting many different causes. Some environmentalists wear green ribbons to protest the destruction of rain forests. Some people use a Purple ribbon to signify the toll of urban violence on our cities. The blue ribbon was once also used to ote that ee eretess of crime victims’ rights. With all of these ribbons floating around, i's important to note that no one cause or organization is trying to outdo the others. Ribbons have simply become very effective and visual icon in today's culture for all causes. MISCELLANEOUS © Labrys . Australian Bisexual Symbol49 © Purple Hand © Purple Rhinoceros LaBRYs The labrys is less popular now that it once was, even though its connection to lesbianism and women began thousands of years ago. The labrys is basically a double bladed axe or hatchet which can be used for both harvesting and as a weapon. The first labrys is believed to have been created over 8,000 years ago. It was favored by tribes of female ‘Amazons that roamed the area around what is now Kazakstan in central ‘Asia. It has also been linked to the early town of Catal Huyuk in what is now Turkey around 6,000 BCE as a tool for clearing ground. Catal Huyuk was a peaceful town which worshipped the Earth goddess and prospered without conflict for 1,500 years. ‘An ancient civilization on the island Crete in the Mediterranean Sea also held the labrys in high standing. Little was known about the Minoan civilization (it lasted from around 3,000 to 1,100 BCE) except myths until archaeologists began excavating relics from Crete's pre- Minoan era around the beginning of the 20th century. The most amazing discovery on the island was the palace of Knossos, believed to be the royal palace, along with a 35,000 square foot maze of rooms and hallways. This maze was prolifically decorated with a double-axe motif, especially the principal reception room. The term labyrinth is derived from labrys. This site is believed to be linked to the myth of the minotaur. . The Minoan society, although possessing both a king and queen near its end, was predominantly matriarchal. Their religion centered around a bare-breasted Great Goddess who is believed to have been a protector of women. This goddess is often shown holding snakes in her hands, a symbol of fertility and agriculture, and surrounded by female worshippers with double axes which were used for filling soil, Preserved frescos from the time period also tend to show more girls than boys, usually in such dangerous sports as bull jumping (bulls were also a reoccurring theme in Minoan art) ‘The double axe quickly spread across Europe, becoming popular with the Etruscans, the Gauls, the Druids, and the Scandinavians. The labrys kept its religious connotation even when it was adopted by other cultures, having been scratched into a good many surfaces during pagan times. When the Roman Empire came along, the plow replaced the labrys as far as farming went, but it remained a formidable weapon. The labrys began to be seen less and less religiously, and soon took on the name "battleaxe" instead, From there it was passed through successive generations of war-torn Europe until it was replaced in popularity by the sword. The labrys was resurrected as a female symbol in the 1970s by a number of lesbian and feminist organizations. I's popularity grew when articles about its origins were published in feminist literature of the ime, Today, the labrys has been superseded by other symbols, but can still be seen adoring jewelry and women's specialty stores. ‘AUSTRALIAN BISEXUALITY SYMBOL a An interesting symbol which was adopted in Australia for the bisexual vement is the yin-yang combined with the gender symbols, as pictured ie ‘The South Australian Bisexual Network was formed in November of 2 and developed the symbol the following year to use on promotional5 inaterial. The Australian Bisexual Network adopted it shortly after as a national symbol to represent both the Network and bisexuality. The SABN has since disbanded and was replaced by fret the Adelaide Bisexual Collective and later the Adelaide Bisexual Support Group. Purpte HAND 50 The purple hand didn't last long. The story goes that, sometime in the 1970s, a stormed the San Francisco Examiner office protesting a homophobic editorial. The Purple inked poured over them in retaliation, and so they proceeded to stamp purple over the side of the building. Inspired by the New York mafia gang "The Black Hand," attempted to use the "purple hand" as a gay and lesbian symbol, with little success, PURPLE RHINOCEROS The purple rhino made its first appearance in December 1974, It was created by two Boston gay Tights activists: one source names Bernie Toal and Tom Morganti, another says it was Bernie Toal and Daniel Thaxton. The entire campaign was intended to bring gay issues further into public view. The rhino started being displayed in subways in Boston, but since the creators didn't qualify for a public service advertising rate, the campaign soon became too expensive for the activists to handle, The ads disappeared, and the rhino never caught on anywhere else, group of people Protestors had hand prints al} some activists widely recognized SAY pride color and the heart was added to represent love and the "common humanity of all people." The purple rhinoceros was never copyrighted and is public domain, MYTH OF THE MINOTAUR In Greek mythology, Crete was the home of the tyrant King Minos, son of Zues and the mortal woman Europa. Minos broke an oath to Poseidon, who had guaranteed his kingship, and in revenge the sea god caused Minos's wife to fall in love with a bull. The offspring of their unnatural union was the Minotaur, a monstrous creature, Part man and part bull, who lived at the center of the labyrinthine maze in the Palace of Minos at Knossos. Every year the Minotaur killed fourteen Athenians- seven girls and seven boys- exacted as an annual tribute by Minos. Eventually, the Athenian hero Theseus Killed the Minotaur and was rescued by Minos's daughter from the labyrinth. But when Theseus sailed home to Athens, he forgot the Prearranged signal to his father, King Aegeus, indicating that he was teturning safely. Believing his son dead, Acgeus threw himself into the sea and drowned. The Aegean Sea is named after the unfortunate king. (Adams 80) A51 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GENDER AND WOMEN STUDIES INTRODUCTION Women's Studies was an offshoot of second wave feminism. Gender Studi it ; 10 - ies reflects the third wave and the recognition that disempowerment and gender were more fluid Sarena oe previously thought. "Women's Studies" is older than the term "Gender Studies". Gender Studies includes Women's Studies plus other things like Queer Theory, etc. Women's Studies addresses not only the need for a fuller understanding of women in society but also for new criteria and methods of assessing the status of women. Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary field that concentrates on the new scholarship in women's and men's studies. The impact of gender on all levels of experience may be addressed from every liberal arts discipline, The struggle for gender equality in politics, education, the family, the labour force, in literature and the media are key topics; and, in many courses, this involves cross-cultural studies of gender relations. Gender Studies will discuss men just as equally as women, where Women's Studies will favour women for the most. Gender Studies is the intellectual examination of women from history; a fresh look in a non- Freudian way at the social psychology of women; the study of women in literature and images of women in arts; the economic and legal history of the family; and speculation about “androgyny” a state of society and a state of mind where sex differences might be socially, economically, and politically overcome. DEFINING WOMEN STUDIES The founders of the US National Women’s Studies Association defines it San education strategy for change” owing its existence to the women’s Liberation Movement. Though in 1990s HEF DEEIT-UEGAE ove whether women's studies is an extension to the women's movement or itis now structurally distant from that movement (Sheridan 1990) but it is obvious that Women’s Studies consists of both teaching and research. In other words we can say, it is an interaction and a process of Iearning along with feminist scholarship. It is leaning which takes place in the classroom which inspires, probes, reinforces expands and develops and transmit knowledge as the truth from expert to the ignorant. In Women’s Studies teachers and students try to create knowledge in an environment in . which all are leamers. Teachers and students both contribute to the existing knowledge of the + scholarship and bring rich experiences of their lives and contribute equally. A Rustenburg (1980) says .) that during learning experiences in women studies “the personal becomes the intellectual and the ., intellectual becomes the personal”, Women’s learning experiences are no longer distant from their "lives. Instead what emerges is an attempt to understand problems and to develop means of solving ~ them, Women’s Studies as a discipline stems from the attempt to blend theory and praxis, a rare case in other disciplines. Whether the topic is health, work, politics or literature, it discusses these topics from a perspective that puts women at its centre and allows us to compare and contrast our own and other people experiences and ideas with the given facts and figures. ; Women’s Studies gives an opportunity to its students and teachers to break down hierarchies, interact collectively, rather than competitively and also stresses the need to take each other seriously52 eee each other's different point of views particularly relevant among wome? from different the fein Cultural backgrounds. In women studies, feminist thoveh's vad ideologies that are raised by = na are ee and analyzed. i " a jomen’s: lives * do not exist in a vacuum: ey attr at context which includes the seuty of men ieee Well as the natural and the man-made environment. Economic situation of WT is as juch part of women’s studies as is violence against women, dangers and possibilities in technol logical Psychological and ideological aspects of life and the various forms of art that has been created by Women, Women's Studies is not confined o specific women's issues" such a6 femeie biology, health care and reproduction, nor to studies on sexual division of labour or to women’s participation in men's trade unions of men's wars, In fact every human issue is women’s issue and atthe Cort of Women’s Studies lies the demand to look exitcally at every facet of life from inter persona! relationships to politics, from language to law, from the use of natural resources to the social construction of reality and to look at it differently, from a women-centred perspective. ; It is very clear from the above definition that ‘Women’s Studies is not confined to certain compartmentalization of knowledge but it encompasses many other disciplines regarding issues existing in the societies. Between 1971 and 1976, as Women’s concentrated on which are summarized as under: © Study of Women: What is a female personality @ Masculinity and Femininity: What are the implications of these terms? How are they defined? How is the behaviour learned? Is it universally the same? © Female Culture: What is common the female experience? How would it be evaluated ina male-dominated society? © Academic Disciplines: Having discovered the absence of women from history and the ‘minimizing of the subject of sex-role socialization, students and teachers proceeded to ‘iitmine the disciplines themselves for bias. In this period, feminist literary criticism and fundamental critique of social science methodology began to appear. @ Male Society and Culture: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the majority when viewed as male instead of human? © Theory and Practice of Gender: What is the outcome when gender, regarded as a social system for allocating tasks, rewards, and characteristics, is supported by a belief system justifying those arrangements? What are the ramifications of gender as sexism? (Tobias 1978 Despite these areas of focus, realy many other issues have become crucial subjects in women's studies such af feminist ideas“and perspectives on race, ethnicity, science and technology, feminist theory motherhood, health education and networking of women and the need for networking ‘within women organization and as well as with other organization in the world. Debates within Women’s Studies to the students who are studying feminism and gender relations have become very interesting and distinct feature of women’s studies. The development of Women's Studies courses has not been controlled by a single coherent theory of women’s studies or feminist education though some initial work has been done on this particular aspect. Looking at the production of scholarship in women’s studies - the body of knowledge classes in Women’s Studies are based on — various types of research that can be compensatory as defined by Leamer (1981). In her research she used - ca she a women — cantered perspective: lt studies is women, but women’s Studies proliferated the issues Women’s Studiesty where and what we currently call knowledge ftom which from are omitted, absent and trivial was and still a very relevant question that where were all the women in history? ra Compensatory research and the collection of data cannot take place without “eriticizing’. Which eventually leads to production of new theories, and models and this isan important aspect of fe research. For the last two decades there has been a virtual explosion in feminist scholarship, ‘There has been hardly any field that has not been touched by feminists, however, much of i is stil inline with the traditional concepts. Hence women’s studies as a discipline provides us the opportunity to look at and analyze the different existing theories and ideologies in the academic disciplines with « perspective of life inthe societies. THE NEED FOR WOMEN’S STUDIES AS AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE conomic position of women confirms that their priorities are not men’s xr socialist countries it can be seen that women’s stances it is deteriorating. Observing women’s in imperative impetus to resist in some way the onstruction of knowledge which is important A look at the soci priorities. Whether they live in western capitalist o1 Status is not only improving but also in many ini situation in the societies on the whole, gives them at existing power relations, When we look towards the ct aspect of human existence, we find that women’s ways of knowing and their interpretation of realities are being neglected against men's knowledge which is taken as a norm, true subjectivity and natural truth. This raises the question why there should be women’s studies? One answer is that, none of the established disciplines are reasonably suitable for disseminating women’s perspectives and their experiences and interpretation of social realities and their very development and present practice does not represent women as they are. ‘Therefore the construction of new basis in academia for the generation of knowledge has led women to the development of women's studies as a discipline. Women’s Studies has faced a lot of resistance because we live in a society where woman's status is not taken into account seriously and so the idea of an academic discipline about women and for ‘omen is in itself difficult to accept. When we look in different reports of almost all the countries in the world which reflect women’s contributions in socio-economic developments, their unpaid cmotional and material work, their labour of love and care at home - which is not just unpaid, ‘nrecognized but invisible in government statistics - then question appears that Why women’s studies be not a priority, a necessity? Women’s absence from position of power, policy and decision-making has intensified the need for women to establish an academic platform for their ideologies and thoughts in their struggle against oppression and subordination. There are people who hold the belief hat after taking few women as token in few policy and decision-making positions have opinions that the issues of women’s oppression is either solved or almost solved. But we can argue that why this question is not important? To whom it is important? Who decides what is significant? Who makes the rules and who profits? ‘Who controls? The crux of Women’s Studies is that it is not Just about facts and figures, it is not just another academic discipline — it involves a different way of viewing the world. It is about change in consciousness; in material and psychological circumstances; in power and control. As majority of feminist believe that women’s studies was developed in academia by feminist active in women’s liberation movement and therefore has been called ‘the educational arm of the Feminist Movement (Acker: 1980) i The rat ot some eur Dee power is reflected in the curriculum at all educational evels as well as in the research that is being pursued and is thought important in all the academic. disciplines. According to ‘Acker (1980) women who are in women’s studies ~ students and teachers ~ ygnize and feel women’s oppression from personal experience. By bringing these abilities to54 7 limelight is the attempt to oe av academics ‘de-construct’ and ‘rec, d it in an academic scholarly way in which not only women that includes women as a self-det ‘onstruct’ previous knowledge but also construct new knowledge end their status as underpai termining human beings, that empowers women to explore ways to paid and overworked, abused and exploited second-class citizens. ORIGIN OF WoMEN’s STUDIES Women's Stupies Women's studies is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that arose in the early 1970s. Within thirty years, it developed into a recognized discipline with undergraduate majors, masters and doctorates programs, university departments and programs, 9 Scholarly literature of books and journals, and professional associations. The origins ‘of women's studies are multiple, the scope and nature of the inquiry extensive, and its relationships to other campus ‘and community organizations related to women and gender diverse. DEFINITIONS The multdisciplinary study of the social status and societal contributions of women and the relationship between power and gender; © ‘The academic field which examines topics conceming women, feminism, gender and politics. ic premise is that Women's studies is the study of women and gender in every field. Its basi Sually upper-class, Caucasian, educated men-— traditional education is based on a study of men—u: while other groups of men and all different groups of women are erroneously subsumed under the category "mankind." Early on courses drew especially on history, literature, and sociology, but they Guickly expanded to the other humanities (philosophy, religious ‘studies, comparative literature, art, Aiisie) and the social sciences (anthropology, political science, economics, psychology, geography). Beene and technology have been slower to embrace women's studies, but biology, ‘math, technology, computer science, chemistry, physics, and medicine have all begun (0 examine their assumptions for capita and courses in "gender and physics," "women geologists," or "sexism and science" are de rigueur in most programs. ‘Over the years the term itself and the naming of the enterprise have been contested and changing, The first name was "female studies," but "women's studies" quickly found more adherents. changing. ‘rwomen's studies” has been criticized for its ambiguous apostrophe (the study of or by Women), for its (supposed) assumption that all women can be studied together, and for its "hegemonic narrowness" that does not take into account transgendered or lesbian identities. Some programs have changed their names to "gender studies," "women and gender studies," or "feminist rifles." And of course in the exporting of "women's studies” around the world, various languages Te so translate "gender" or "women's studies" in satisfactory ways. Iti safe to say, however, that ment of all permutations share some commonalities—that women matter and that their own assess their experiences is the starting point for description and analysis; that the history of women's Subordination is differently experienced but commonly shared; that the elimination of that sNbordination is a common goal. The concept of gender as a social construction that reflects and determines differences in power and ‘opportunity is employed as the primary analytic category. ORIGINS Women's studies, as a concept and a site of learning, really began with the second wave of the the late 1960s. But generations of work and information gathering preceded55 that time, particularly in the nineteenth-century penchant for writing stories of "great women" and fathering them in collections of "women worthies.” A later, more democratic strain of the study of eaaning i. begun by the historian Mary Beard, who in her 1946 volume Woman as Force in History aoanen jiferent tack. If one looks at "long history," one finds not "great women” only but everyday hho influenced their worlds, women who had agency, even women, not women as victims but women wi ¢ 0 cefines of a limited sphere, within the private realm. Simone de Beauvoir wrote of women Sl in he Second Sev 95), wn at Rn aaa he eben Oa the malaise and victimization of middle-class women, in The Feminine Mystique (1963), and Helen Hacker compared women's position to that ‘of minorities (1951). Yet all these important precursors did not initiate women's studies. It took a combination of the civil rights movement, the New Left, the peace movement (especially the protests against the war in Vietnam), and the various open university movements in the 1960s to help women coalesce and organize themselves into.the women's liberation movement. Many more women were attending colleges and ‘universities, many women were participating in the radical youth movements of the 1960s, and many women students and faculty were leaders in the civil rights and antiwar movements. It was thus almost inevitable that women would begin to question their role in those movements if they always had to make the coffee, do the typing, and be available as sex objects. Stokely Carmichael of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) famously said, "The only position of women in the movement is prone," infuriating many young women. The second wave of the women's movement began with hundreds of small consciousness- raising (CR) groups in many cities and towns; as women collectively started to understand and then — study theif situation, they initiated courses and classes on women's history, literature, and culture, first ‘ona community, ad hoc basis but quickly moving to the college classroom. The landscape of higher education changed dramatically in the 1960s as larger numbers of women and minorities entered the professorate and the number and size of institutions grew. There were hundreds of women's studies courses offered at colleges and universities in the Unite States in 1969, formal women's studies programs. rst at San a in hen—at ‘in New York. They were undergraduate team taught, and provided overviews of the issues that arose ot of the women's liberation movement. Many of the women who entered the academy in the next decade had been influenced by the women's movement and undertook research on women. Thus, scholarship on women grew in the existing disciplines and was designated as feminist scholarship. However, many of the questions that arose fell outside the bounds of disciplines as they were defined then. The field of women's studies emerged as the site for investigating these questions, forging new subject matter, employing multiple research methodologies, and experimenting with pedagogies that took into account gender differences in learning styles. ‘Women's studies refers to the campus administrative unit and concentration of courses covering this material on women. Women's studies grew rapidly in the 1970s, so that by the end of the i Women's Studies Association counted some 200 programs cies pee ae cise eee A typical major consisted of an introductory course, courses on women selected from cooperating departs, and a capstone seminar. Many incided internships tht enabled students to experience fsthand the fsues community women encountered. The introductory course covered some aspects of women's history, an examination of quantiative research on womens sas, selected reading of literary works by women, and attention to issues largely absent from the overall curriculum. These issues centered on the oppression of women, sexual assault, questions of marriage and family, theprofessional advancement .of women, pay equity, and representations of women in media, among other topics. Courses offered by departments~The Psychology of Women, for example-constituted the majority of courses for the major. Some programs and departments were able to offer special topics courses (i.e, Images of Girls in Literature) or additional core courses (i.c., Feminist Methods, Feminist Theories). Most programs attempted to offer a research seminar as a capstone course, enabling majors and minors to come together for research and reflection. As programs became departments and as departments grew, the course offerings of the major changed to reflect the emergent scholarship. Courses on identities and differences among women, courses with a global focus, courses that linked with other new fields (cultural studies, American studies, popular culture, media studies, ethnic studies, gay and lesbian studies, queer studies) all emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, The most significant shifts in course offerings at the undergraduate level occurred in the 1990s as the study of gender and of race were added to the study of women. Feminist scholarship on women grappled with the question of gender, that is, of the relationships among men and women, masculinity and femininity, and social power. Research revealed that new information and interpretations about women forced a reframing of what was known about men and masculinities at any given time or place. Advocates of research on gender argued that the expanded focus enabled scholars to see the sex/gender system holistically. Other scholars and many activists argued that a focus on gender buried a concer with the inequalities women still suffered in society and therefore did not advance an agenda of social change. By 2000 women's studies programs numbered nearly 800; most had added a concern with gender to their teaching and research missions while retaining a focus on women's inequality. Equally important to the origins and offerings of women's studies through its short history has been the question of identities, particularly those that are race based. While the initial scholarship focused on the ways in which al! women had suffered injustices, research as well as experience quickly revealed the obvious fact that there were substantial differences amongwomen that bore investigation. African-American women and lesbian women advocated greater attention to the ways in which being female was interwoven with other identities, demonstrating that each combination was reflected and refracted in the social world in a distinct way. Developing the conceptual tools as well as the methods to investigate these multiple manifestations of woman became the focus of scholarship. Just as the undergraduate subject matter of women's studies became more complex over time, the relationship of programs and departments to other campus units diversified. There are two primary sets oh ree ‘one with campus women's centers and the other with graduate schools. On most campuses, cither a women's studies program, usually housed in academic affairs, or a women's center, Oy coms comy a plc ec, Th ht tc wa sk 'S issues t i additional units to deal with the multifaceted needs of women Aaa Stee ae To compete for resources. Because their origins are distinct, their administrative homes different, theit missions discrete, and occasionally their audiences separate, the relationships between women's studies and women's centers vary from campus to cam Every year after that saw an increase, from 276 i offered minor, crite eager Poerans in 1976 to 680 in 1999. Mos ofthese niver Percent of community colleges; th nen's studies at the beginning of the twenty-first cen st number of students of any interdsciplinary field, The Department of Eduseden sere tiles Sareea credit for a women's studies course. But the