The Future of Women's Studies

During the past 15 years, a vigorous body of scholarship in humanities, social sciences and life sciences has begun to illuminate the political, cultural, economic, and social roles of women, to assess the contributions of women to society and culture, and to analyze the function of gender in a wide spectrum of societies and cultures. Under the broad rubric of Women's Studies, that scholarship has both produced new knowledge and revised our understanding of established information and modes of thought Scholars have tapped neglected resources that reveal women's experiences, and have brought to the forefront often forgotten texts and other cultural products by women. The scholarly interest in women has also generated innovative, often interdisciplinary inquiry.

'The Committee on Women's Studies has worked to expand and revise the 'regular' curriculum.' --Dr. Judith Kates

'Harvard's reluctance to act on Women's Studies is embarrassing and suspect.'   -Elizabeth Young

The energy and enthusiasm for these curricular developments have clearly been both intellectual and ideological. The scholarly enterprise parallels and to some extent results from the energy generated by the women's movement. Perceptions of the low value, even invisibility of women, in the "real world" led to perceptions of women's invisibility within scholarly disciplines as well Both faculty and student interest in studying women has been generated by a renewed emphasis on women's importance and value in the world at large. The scholarly and curricular development of Women's Studies has now taken on a life of its own, recognized as a significant academic development. But institutions commitment to and support of Women's Studies continues to be connected to political or ideological issues in that support for Women's Studies is seen as recognition of the significance and importance of women. This symbolic function is particularly important in highly prestigious, co-educational universities where the status of women has not been unproblematic.

Nevertheless, the development of a new area and a new approach within the curriculum is a complicated, lengthy enterprise. In the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences a faculty student Committee on Women's Studies established by the Faculty Council, has been working since 1978 to integrate the study of women into the curriculum. Because this new scholarship on women involves many disciplines and is intrinsically related to most subjects studied within those disciplines, the Committee on Women's Studies has worked to expand and revise the "regular" curriculum. It encourages both the development of new courses and re-thinking of existing courses in departments, in the Core and under non-departmental instruction. The Women's Studies pages in the course catalogue, put together by the Committee, list in easily accessible form current course offerings that deal either centrally or partially with the study of women.

The Committee also provided the impetus for the first introductory, interdisciplinary course in Women's Studies, General Education 100, taught by a team of faculty members in the fall term last year and again this spring (59 women and men are enrolled this year). This course was specially designed to help students both learn about new materials available for the study of women within specific disciplines and understand the new questions, concepts and approaches which are being developed and refined within Women's Studies to broaden and revise traditional disciplines. Students in the course can then pursue their studies in departmental and other courses with new perspectives, enabling them to ask questions and do research about women. In addition, the Committee, in collaboration with many departments and other curricular committees and with Radcliffe College, has effectively increased the resources in Women's Studies around the edges of the curriculum. A wide variety of lectures and symposia has brought an exciting array of scholars here to talk on topics ranging from "Problems and Progress for Chinese Women," to this week's talk by Prof. Natalie Davis of Princeton on "The Sacred and Conjugal Sexuality in Sixteenth-Century Lyons."

Integration does not mean simply adding material on women to traditional courses, although this is an important first step. As one scholar has put it, "to add women and stir is not enough," and can even be misleading. It a history or government course simply adds a unit on women's suffrage without any other discussion of women, students can end up with the impression that women are important only when they participate in the public sphere in the same way as men women's studies also emphasizes the significance of the "private sphere" in which most women have lived, and develops ways to make "visible" what could not be seen from traditional academic perspectives. For example, scholars of 19th century American history have begun to illuminate the net works of female friendships which eventually formed an essential part of the abolition and suffrage movements.

These promising beginnings have deepened the Harvard community's awareness of the range and excellence of scholarship and scholars in Women's Studies. But scholarship in this area remains seriously underrepresented on our faculty. To develop our curriculum effectively, to provide more advanced courses and courses in major areas of Women's Studies not currently taught here, we need more faculty members for whom the study of women constitutes a major research and teaching interest. To accomplish this, departments need to give a high priority to recruitment of both senior and junior faculty who can contribute to Women's Studies. A university that hopes to preserve its proud tradition of scholarly excellence and leadership must cultivate this vital field of study.

Dr. Judith Kates '62 is the Director of the Office of Special Programs and the coordinator for the Committee on Women's Studies.