WS 101 M/W- Cora Agatucci

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Women's & Gender Studies Links
see also WS 102 LINKS - HUMANITIES TOPICS

"My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures,
instead of flattering their fascinating graces,
and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood,
unable to stand alone." -- Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792; more)

First try these internet resources developed by Joan Korenman,
Director of Women's Studies & Professor of English
at University of Maryland, Baltimore County:
Women's Studies/Women's Issues Resource Sites
Women-Related WWW Sites in the Arts and Humanities
and Korenman's
What is Women's Studies?
<http://www-unix.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/whatis.html>

Other good general resources:
Voice of the Shuttle: Gender Studies Page ("woven" by Alan Liu, Univ. of California at Santa Barbara), with these categories: General Resources; Women's Studies & Feminist Theory; Gay, Lesbian, and Queer Studies; Men's Movements; and Cybergender & Techgender.
WSSLINKS: Women and Gender Studies Web Sites (prepared by Mary Faith for the Assoc. of College & Research Libraries)

"Why is gender important? The simplest answer is because it's there.
'Gender,' meaning the differentiation, usually on the basis of sex,
between social roles and functions labeled as 'masculine' and 'feminine,' is universal:
all societies known to us in all time periods make some sort of gender distinctions.
As a central feature of all cultures, gender seems worth some attention."
from "What Is Feminism (and why do we have to talk about it so much)?"
Mary Klages (U. Colorado, Boulder)

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
Marie Curie, Nobel Laureate (1867-1934; Poland/France)

"It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts."
Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991, Burma (Myanmar)

Learn more about Women's & Gender Studies from the National Women's History Project, including these links: Cindy's Women's Issues Links (out of Wellesley);
Education Index: Women's Studies (resources arranged by field); and FeMiNa: A Woman-Focused Information Resource (a search engine for women-related online information)

"My wish is to ride the tempest, tame the waves, kill the sharks. I will not resign myself to the usual lot of women who bow their heads and become concubines."
TrieuThi Trinh, Peasant who led an insurrection against Chinese invaders
(240 C.E./A.D., Vietnam)

"Who has forbidden women to engage in private and individual studies?
Have they not a rational soul as men do?...I have this inclination to study
and if it is evil I am not the one who formed me thus -
I was born with it and with it I shall die."
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz - Letter to Father Nunez, 1681, Mexico

"The object of this Essay is to explain as clearly as I am able grounds of an opinion which I have held from the very earliest period when I had formed any opinions at all on social political matters . . . That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes--the legal subordination of one sex to the other--is wrong itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other." --John Stuart Mill, from Ch. 1 of The Subjection of Women, 1869 (full electronic text is based upon the Everyman's Library edition, originally published in 1929, reprinted in 1992; from inform-editor@umail.umd.edu).

Sweet Briar College's Gifts of Speech! is well worth a visit: informative and inspirational "Women's Speeches from Around the World"--a site "dedicated to preserving and creating access to speeches made by influential contemporary women. (1996-1997).

"Although I am a woman and young,
I have more than enough courage to suffer this death and a thousand more."
La Pola, statement before execution in wars of independence, 1817, Colombia

"That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?" --Sojourner Truth [1797-1883], from "Ain't I a Woman?" a speech delivered in 1851 at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio. To read the full text, click here; and see Gale Research's biography of Sojourner Truth

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal..."
Click here to read the full text of the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls Convention, 1848,
prepared by Elizabeth Cady Stanton [1815-1902]:
see also Gale Research's bio of Stanton & history and photos of Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Women Win the Vote!, from the National Women's History Project, offers: (1) Who Were They? 75 Suffragists Profiled; (2) Taking a New Look at the Woman Suffrage Movement; (3) A Few Important Dates from the Woman Suffrage Movement; (4) The Men Behind the Women...; (5) And Still They Persevered...A Brief History. To put it all in context, see a good introductory essay on Women's History in America, from the International Women's Center (San Diego, CA), plus a list of Women's Resources on the Net; and One Hundred Years toward Suffrage: An Overview (compiled by E. Susan Barber with additions by Barbara Orbach Natanson) from "Votes for Women" Suffrage Pictures, 1850 - 1920, part of the Library of Congress' American Memory collection. See also a timeline of the History of Woman Suffrage in the United States (The Women's History Project of Lexington Area National Organization for Women) and Upstate New York and the Women's Rights Movement (Univ. of Rochester Library).

Text of the EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT:
"Section 1. Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex.
"Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
"Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification."
"The Equal Rights Amendment was written in 1921 by suffragist Alice Paul [1885-1977: Paul's biography]. It has been introduced in Congress every session since 1923. It passed Congress in 1972, but failed to be ratified by the necessary thirty-eight states by the July 1982 deadline. It was ratified by thirty-five states. Supporters contend that the ERA is needed because the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not provide adequate protection against sex discrimination.
Opponents claim that the ERA will provide no benefits, and may hurt women."
(Larisa Kofman, Univ. of Maryland).
Related readings: "How 'Sex' Got Into Title VII [of the 1964 Civil Rights Act]:Persistent Opportunism as a Maker of Public Policy" and "From Protection to Equal Opportunity: The Revolution in Women's Legal Status," both by Jo Freeman (City Univ. of New York). Browse links to more academic papers on varied topics in women's and gender studies,
from the Univ. of Maryland at College Park.

"But history, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in... I read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all -- it is very tiresome"
--Catherine Morland in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey (1817) See Jane Austen Information Page
See also Women and Literature (Sunsite) and A Celebration of Women Writers (John Mark Ockerbloom)

Links to Selected Topics in Women's & Gender Studies:
See the interactive syllabus for WMST 231 "Women in Perspective" (Dawnelle Loiselle, Towson State Univ.): scroll half way down to "Thinking Women"
and explore the links on a variety of topics.

The Feminist Chronicles 1953 - 1993 (chronology of the feminist movement [primarily in the U.S.],
including early documents from the National Organization for Women and a bibliography);
see also The Feminist Theory Website (though still under construction as of 12/97)

International Women's Human Rights Links
(from DIANA: International Human Rights Database, Bora Laskin Law Library,University of Toronto)
The World's Women On-Line! (creative research by Arizona State Univ., originally established for presentation
at the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Bejing, China in 1995)
"demonstrates the professionalism and achievement of women artists internationally;
bridges language barriers through art imagery; and promotes
the interdisciplinary collaboration between technologists and artists."

"Women have always struggled with their men-folk for the abolition of slavery,
the liberation of countries from colonialism, the dismantling of apartheid and the attainment of peace.
It is now the turn of men to join women in their struggle for equality."
Gertrude Mongella (Tanzania), Secretary General of the Fourth World Conference on Women
Beijing '95 - Women, Power, and Change; United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women;
Background & Objectives: Action for Equality,Development and Peace (4-15 September 1995, Beijing, China)
Critical Areas of Concern: 1.Poverty; 2.Education; 3.Health; 4.Violence Against Women;
5.Effects of Armed Conflict; 6.Economic Structures & Policies;
7.Inequality of Men and Women in Decision-Making; 8.Gender Equality;
9.Women's Human Rights; 10.Media; 11.Environment;
12.Girl Child; & 13.Financial Commitments
Beijing '95 - Women, Power, and Change: Follow-Up and Implementation
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

American Men's Studies Association (AMSA) "is an organization of men and women
dedicated to teaching, research and clinical practice in the field of men's studies.
Our goal as an association is to providea forum for teachers, researchers and therapists
to exchange information and gain support for their work with men."
See WWW Virtual Library's Men's Issues Page
See also "Bringing the Wildman Back Home: Television and the Politics of Masculinity,"
applying modern men's movements to an in-depth analysis of the TV show Home Improvement,
by Charmaine McEachern (Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture 7:2 (1994)

The AIDS Memorial Quilt: Too Many Names to Forget

Women Nobel Prize Laureates (Nobel Prize Internet Archive):
the first female prize winner was Marie Curie in 1903.
See also Notable Women Ancestors (Sam Behling) and Female Heroes! (Lyn Reese,
Women in the World History Curriculum), and a list of Women's Rights in Ancient Egypt
Advancing Women in Leadership (online juried journal);
Women & Politics Worldwide (course materials and links from Prof. Rebecca Davis, Virginia Tech);
or try Gale Research's sources & activities on Women, Business, & Advertising

"Just as Fierce," by Katherine Dunn (Mojowire and Mother Jones):
"In a provocative essay, feminist and author Katherine Dunn rejects the assumption
that women are inherently less aggressive than men.
'With the possibility of genuine equality visible in the distance,'
she argues, 'it is self-destructive lunacy to deny the existence of
women's enormous fighting heart.
We don't just deserve power, we have it. It includes the ability to inflict damage.'"

Center for the American Woman and Politics (Eagleton Institute of Politics - Rutgers University, New Brunswick)
Univ. of Iowa's Border Crossings with categorized links to
Cyborgs, Gender, LesBiGay, Diaspora, La Frontera, Border Incidents, Other Borders
WWW Sites for Women's Health, including Eating Disorders, Breast Cancer Information Clearinghouse (New York State Education and Research Network), and Family Health International: AIDS/HIV/STD, family planning, reproductive health and women's studies: Family Health International works to improve reproductive health around the world.
"What do Buddhism and Christianity believe about the morality of birth control and abortion?"

Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics (UCLA), 4000 Years of Women in Science (Univ. of Alabama), Archives of Women in Science and Engineering and Related Sites (Tanya Zanish-Belcher, Special Collections,
Iowa State Univ.), Chronological Index of Women Mathematicians (Larry Riddle, Agnes Scott Univ.)
Bibliography of WOMEN IN SCIENCE (Caltech Women's Center Library Holdings)
Feminista, online journal of "art, literature, social commentary, philosophy, wit, humor, and respect"
Women in Music: A Pathfinder for Sources (Duke Univ. Libraries); MUSE: The Journal of Women in Music; Early Women Composers & other links to Women in Music and the Arts

Gender Bias in the Classroom in Higher Education (Fall 1993 Bibliography)
Statement by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
(http://www.aacte.org/gender.html):
“Gender equity, as defined by the panel,
provides an equal chance for learning for females and males;
equitable options to learn subjects and prepare for future education, jobs, and careers;
no limits on expectations due to gender;
equal encouragement for both females and males to develop, achieve, and learn;
and equitable treatment of both male and female students.”
(cited in "Netting Gender Myths: Seeing Pink (or Pour One for Dennis Rodman)"
by Pris M. Hayes (with J. Elaine Terrell), the Liberated Women's Channel on the net)
*40% of all internet users are now women*
"How Hard Can it Be?" by Karen Coyle (Draft, Jan. 1996; published in Wired_Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace from Seal Press, 1996) - an excerpt:
"In 8.3 million households in America a woman is the primary home computer user.
Two out of every three on-the-job computer users is a woman.
But we still see computers as being a "guy thing."
Stereotypes outweigh reality, like when Rosie the Riveter did a "man's job."
How could it be a man's job while a woman is doing it?
How can computers be masculine when women and girls use them every day?
But this masculine image is constantly reinforced in the computer culture
and in the images presented in the consumer computing market."

Lists of Women's Studies Programs:
Artemis Guide to Women's Studies Programs in the U.S.
Joan Korenman's Guide to Women's Studies Programs in the U.S. and Around the World.

In Memoriam
Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

"The liberated woman is not that modern doll who wears make-up and tasteless clothes. ....The liberation woman is a person who believes that she is as human as a man.
The liberated woman does not insist on her freedom so as to abuse it."
Ghada Samman, writer, 1961, Syria

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