Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Grass Roots Women's Studies: Southern Missouri, Betty Burnett

Women's Studies Quarterly

[With this article, we begin a series of reports written by Contributing Editors, responsible for particular regions they have chosen to cover. Additions, corrections and other remarks responding to this report will be welcome. If you are interested in becoming a Contributing Editor—and writing such a report—see the Spring 1975 Women's Studies Newsletter.]

Missouri is a conservative state, and southern Missouri is its most conservative area. The ERA has been defeated twice, and mainly through the efforts of women. Last spring during the ERA campaign, a lot of bad feeling was aroused and a lot of hysterical talk was heard. …

Intervention In Sex-Role Socialization, Sandra Stotsky

Women's Studies Quarterly

The teacher had assigned Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink to a reading group in her fifth grade classroom. That evening an irate parent, a local police officer, telephoned the teacher at home demanding to know why his son was reading a "girl's book." When he was assured that his son could substitute another book for the class assignment, the matter was smoothed over. Several days later, with his mother's encouragement, the boy had begun to read the story and confessed to the teacher that it really was a good story—even if Caddie was a girl! This incident, the only …

Regional Women's Studies Associations, The Feminist Press

Women's Studies Quarterly

East Coast Regional Women's Studies Association (temporary center is 2157 Boylan Hall, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11210) . The ECRWSA is still in the process of formation. An ad hoc committee was formed in December 1975 at a regional women's studies conference at Brooklyn College and plans are underway for a founding convention.

Esther Manning Westervelt: A Memorial Minute, Sheila Tobias

Women's Studies Quarterly

As a colleague Esther Westervelt was a joy to work with. Her good looks, combined with her energy and her quick mind, put a lie to any stereotype one might have had about a successful woman of her generation. Long before I met her personally, I had already encountered her spirit through one of her students, a young woman who had not only been directed to a new career by Esther's teaching but who had learned to trust her own judgment by Esther's example.

Planning A National Women's Studies Association, Elsa Greene, Elaine Reuben

Women's Studies Quarterly

On Saturday, March 20, thirty women came together in Philadelphia to begin laying the groundwork for a National Women's Studies Association and to plan for a national founding convention at which the Association will be launched. After two days of intense and high energy discussion, the group agreed in principle on a working paper which proposes a shape for the Association; they also created and approved an outline for a three-day, representational convention to be held in mid-November at San Jose State University.

Closeup: Michigan State University, Barrie Thorne

Women's Studies Quarterly

Since the end of spring term 1975, Michigan State University has had a formal undergraduate program in women's studies. The program is called a "thematic concentration ," a new device at M.S.U. for facilitating interdisciplinary work in selected areas at no extra cost to the university (there are also thematic concentrations in Jewish, Islamic and film studies). For the student, this entails completing a minimum of 0 credits, or five to seven courses, chosen from at least three disciplines from an official list of women's studies courses approved by the university curriculum committee. Upon the student's graduation, the assistant dean …

Review Of The Lay Of The Land: Metaphor As Experience And History In American Life And Letters, Jeannine Dobbs

Women's Studies Quarterly

The Lay of the Land: Metaphor as Experience and History in American Life and Letters by Annette Kolodny. The University of North Carolina Press, 1975.

Kolodny, a colonial American literature specialist with extensive training in psycholinguistics, examines the recurring personification of the American landscape as both mother and mistress.

Newsbriefs, The Feminist Press

Women's Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Doing Research On Black American Women, Barbara Smith

Women's Studies Quarterly

"Fascinating" as black women are, there are as many unexplored questions about black women's lives as there are people to ask them. Less is known about this group, whose identity encompasses membership in two oppressed castes, than is known about either of these castes separately. Black studies and research focus almost exclusively on black men and women's studies and research focus almost entirely on white women. Black women, whose experience is unique, are seldom recognized as a particular social-cultural entity and are seldom thought to be important enough for serious scholarly consideration. This invisibility, however, means that the opportunities for …

Front Matter, The Feminist Press

Women's Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Women In English Departments Before 1930 - And After: A Note, John C. Gerber

Women's Studies Quarterly

[These remarks were prepared for a panel at the Modern Language Association Convention of December 1974.]

In at least the schools I know something about, mainly in the midwest, women were added to the permanent staffs of English departments rather frequently from 1900 to 1930, almost not at all from 1930 to the mid-sixties, and in steadily increasing numbers since the mid-sixties.

In the first of these periods, 1900 to 1930, women composed a fraction of the English staffs, maybe about a fourth or a third. Some of them became highly respected scholars. I'm thinking of persons such as Helen …

Newsbriefs, The Feminist Press

Women's Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

New Curricular Focus In Women's Studies Programs, Florence Howe

Women's Studies Quarterly

In a year during which we have read each week of cutbacks in some college or univers ity system, it is heartening to be able to report that the growth of women's studies has continued at least at its previous rate. No programs have been lost. We seem to have reached no plateau—the growth is still accelerating slightly. While in the previous 18 months (from the summer of 1973 until December 1974) 37 new programs were announced, in the past 12 months, 40 new programs have appeared. Perhaps more important than the continued rise in the number of programs is …

Review Of Feminist Literary Criticism: Explorations In Theory, Florence Howe

Women's Studies Quarterly

FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM: EXPLORATIONS IN THEORY, edited by Josephine Donovan (The University Press of Kentucky, 1975.) 81 pp. Five essays never before published plus the editor's brief preface and afterword, this slim volume is a useful addition to the growing shelf of feminist criticism.

The Case For A National Women's Studies Association, Elsa Greene

Women's Studies Quarterly

Thinking wishfully, the case for a national women's studies association is very straightforward: Most of us who are committed to the study of women are short on time, energy and money. By organizing ourselves, we could make our work easier and more effective.

Since 1973, when Catharine Stimpson first suggested the formation of a national association, there has been widespread consensus about a few basic functions that such an organization might serve. First, we clearly need a nationwide communications network. Learning administrative tactics through trial and error is expensive. We would benefit from prompt reporting on our strategic failures and …

New Law In State Of Washington, Sally Bader Mackle

Women's Studies Quarterly

As of June 9, 1975 the state of Washington has a new law that deals effectively with the problem of sex discrimination in the public schools. The new legislation, House Bill 413, outlaws "inequality in the educational opportunities afforded women and girls at all levels of the public schools in Washington state," since such inequality would be a breach of the state's Equal Rights Amendment. Specifically, the new law gives the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) the power to "develop regulations and guidelines to eliminate sex discrimination as it applies to public school employment, counseling and guidance services to students, …

Closeup: Women In Print, Rebecca Anne Sive-Tomashefsky

Women's Studies Quarterly

For several years the Center for Continuing Education at Loop College, City Colleges of Chicago, has offered a variety of courses in women's studies. This past spring, a course called Women in Print, taught by lnforwomen, the women's publishing group of the Chicago Women's Directory, offered information about publishing, which could be learned nowhere else in Chicago for $5 and one hour of college credit.

Picture Books With Female Heroes, Joanne E. Bernstein

Women's Studies Quarterly

During the past several years, articles have been appearing in the women's magazines and in educational journals which have told of the meager or negative portrayal of females to be found in books for the youngest children. During 1973 and 1974, in preparation for a workshop concerning female roles in literature, I searched libraries for books which feature females. In addition, I contacted 21 major publishers and asked for such books. Twelve publishers kindly allowed me to examine all the books they considered to be appropriate—that is, books which would have female protagonists. After my visits to countless libraries and …

Review Of Nonsexist Education For Young Children: A Practical Guide, Selma Greenberg

Women's Studies Quarterly

NONSEXIST EDUCATION FOR YOUNG CHILDREN: A PRACTICAL GUIDE, edited by Barbara Sprung (New York: Citation Press, 1975, $3.25). I can sum up my response to this publication in four words: Buy it! Read it! Although primarily designed for teachers and administrators of early childhood education programs, it will interest the parents of young children, particularly those involved in cooperative or parent-directed early childhood programs. However, all persons interested in the reduction and elimination of sexism in the educational process will find this book well-written, well-documented, and sound in its views of past and present early childhood education. The commitment to …

Review Of Women In Perspective: A Guide To Cross-Cultural Studies, Susan Lowes

Women's Studies Quarterly

WOMEN IN PERSPECTIVE: A GUIDE TO CROSS CULTURAL STUDIES, by Sue-Ellen Jacobs (University of Illinois Press, 1974: $3.45). It's hard to believe that an extended bibliography could be an underground classic, but in a sense this one was until this inexpensive paperback edition came out. Before that it circulated as a two-inch thick mimeographed 8½ x 11 tome. As a reference, this book is invaluable and should be useful to people in many fields—anthropology, sociology, political science, etc.

The Future Of Women's Studies, Joanne Mckim, Elsa Greene, Suzette A. Henke, Jane Lee Yare

Women's Studies Quarterly

from SANTA ANA COLLEGE

Santa Ana College (SAC), a two-year community college in southern California, is offering a unique program in women's studies. Beginning in the academic year 1975-1976, SAC is making a major in women's studies available. The program is designed to meet a comprehensive set of specific feminist objectives and goals. Accordingly, it is one of the first community colleges in the nation to adopt a commitment to feminism far more solid and long term than the typical patchwork "course-here-and-there" approach that most two-year colleges use in this subject area...

...from the UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA...

...from …

Women's Studies Programs, The Feminist Press

Women's Studies Quarterly

Most of the programs listed below are interdisciplinary, i.e., they combine courses in literature, language or culture with work in sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, history, philosophy, psychology, biology and related fields. Some programs offer minors (denoted by*). others award the B.A. (denoted by**) or A.A. degree (denoted by***). still others offer the M.A. (denoted by+). Three programs offer the Ph.D. (denoted by †). Programs listed without a specific label offer a roster of elective courses. Where no chairperson is listed, either the program is still in the process of organization or it has chosen to function through a committee, …

Back Matter, The Feminist Press

Women's Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Feminist Press Author Reveals Identity, Mary Howell

Women's Studies Quarterly

In 1972 I was appointed Associate Dean for Student Affairs at the Harvard Medical School, the first woman in the school's history to hold a position in the ranks of "high administration." I took this job because I want to believe that women physicians and medical students can make real contributions to the women's health movement, and because I know that we need the support, good sense and good politics of other feminists, working together to revolutionize our understanding of health and health care. I hoped to make connections between the two groups and to be a voice for change …

News From Spain, Phyllis Zatlin Boring

Women's Studies Quarterly

Jornadas Catalanes de la Dona. More than 2000 women representing 100 organizations in northeastern Spain participated in a four-day women's meeting at the end of May, the first such conference to be held in Barcelona during the 40-year period since the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Topics of discuss ion during the much-publicized meetings included women in the workforce, women and the family, women and politics, women and education, women and the law, women and sexuality. One point made in the conference was that women had greater legal equality during the period preceding the war than they have …