Because our subject is the state of womens studies, and--more broadly--feminist scholarship, in Australia at the beginning of the twenty-first century, we want to organize our discussion under three spatial headings.
Any narrative about the origins of womens studies in Western democracies in the 1970s is likely to begin with its relationship to the broader womens movement of those times.
Womens studies drew on all the elements of this ferment to produce a heady brew of its own, one that challenged not only women-less and gender-blind accounts of society and culture but also academic authority and hierarchies.
Because such programs necessarily took some of their shape from the surrounding environment of the institutions in which they endeavored to take hold, womens studies courses in the 19705 varied widely.
It has been a distinctive feature of womens studies in Australian universities since these early years that such feminist disciplinary critiques coexisted with interdisciplinary courses (usually initiated by graduate students).
Looking back from the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is possible to see the challenge presented by womens studies as part of a larger development which would produce even more extensive challenges, from within as well as without, to the conventions maintaining the traditional disciplines of knowledge.
ERIC Descriptors: Females; Barriers; Annual Reports; Advocacy; Social Justice; Professional Associations;
Womens Studies; Donors; Outreach Programs; Court Litigation; Financial Support; Social Support Groups; Lifelong Learning; Mathematics Achievement; Social Work; Social Science Research; Critical Theory; Leadership; Mentors; Comparable Worth; Participation; Group Membership