I. Introduction to Gender Studies
What is women studies?
Answer: According to National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA), women’s studies is an academic field which interrogates the identity, power, and privilege of not just category “women” but it goes beyond it. The field has made the conceptual claims, and theoretical practices of intersectionality which examines how categories of identity (e.g., sexuality, race, class, gender, age, ability, etc.) and structures of inequality are mutually constituted and must continually be understood in relationship to one another, and transnationalism, which focuses on cultures, structures and relationships that are formed as a result of the flows of people and resources across geopolitical borders, foundations of the discipline.
National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA), USA
Established in 1977, the National Women's Studies Association has as one of its primary objectives promoting and supporting the production and dissemination of knowledge about women and gender through teaching, learning, research and service in academic and other settings. The Association has more than 3,000 individual and 350 institutional members working in varied specialties across the United States and around the world.
What is gender studies?
Answer: The academic discipline which analyses constructions of gender in
society, often with reference to class, race, sexuality and
other sociological characteristics. It critically examines how gender
shapes our identities, and our social interactions with world. In other words,
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary approach which is used to study the world
with gender lens and examines the intersection of gender with other categories
of identity such as ethnicity, sexuality, class, and nationality.
Difference between Gender and Women Studies
Women’s studies, since its inception in around the mid-20th century, was the study of the particular issues about women. It concerned itself with the problems and struggles women used to face. Such studies led to development program like Women in Development (WID) in the 1970s.
The women's studies deal with the issues; psychology of women, women's history, literature, etc. It also covers the examination of some "unique" biological and reproductive factors such as menstruation, childbirth, etc. in terms of their meaning to the individual and society.
However, Gender studies on the other hand studies the relationship between both men and women, and also their relationships with their societies as a whole. How they are conceived and shaped, how they presume their identity and their roles within those identities. It is a much more diverse type of study than women’s studies.
Modern day, gender studies also covers the study of genders other than just man and woman. It also covers the study of LGBTQ culture and their social movement.
The Gender Studies interrogates the way societies conceive gender, how those cultural categories affect the way individuals are treated within society.
Multi-disciplinary nature of Gender Studies
Gender studies developed alongside and emerged out of Women’s Studies during the second wave of feminism, which consolidated as an academic field of inquiry in the 1970s. This was a contested development. Even though the ‘women’s studies’ also focused on empowerment for feminist knowledge, yet it pulled critique that men too are gendered. There begin to develop Men’s study in 1980s. Consequently, books on men and masculinity proliferated in 1990s recognized “Men’s Studies” as separate specialist area of academic focus. In this context, women’s study and men’s study become increasingly contested terms. Additionally, women studies just dealt the particular issues of women it does not covered the areas like social construction of gender or what a gender means to a society?
Feminist felt that the women studies has lost its confidence and sense of direction, a subject that grew out of controversy and political radicalism. Thus, there was need to introduce a new subject “Gender Studies” which may cover all genders and their problems which had emerged as a result of gender relationship with each other and society.
There are elements of truth that there was the need to establish Gender Studies as distinct discipline. As it better incorporates not only men and masculinity studies, but also those who take the post-Judith Butler view that gender assignation only takes meaning through performance and iteration. Proponents of the women’s studies has to accept that a monolithical model of ‘women’ can exclude and affirm inequality, and gender studies is one way of addressing this concern.
Autonomy vs. Integration Debate in Gender Studies
The autonomy
and integration debate of women studies in higher education started in 1980s
that whether women studies should be ‘integrated’ with mainstream departments
or it should remain ‘autonomous’ field of study. The feminists were in support
of autonomy of the subject. Integrationist were in favor of merging subject
with mainstream.
To cope the
situation Southwest Institute for Research on Women (SIROW), University of
Arizona, called conference “Integrate Women’s Studies into Liberal Arts
Curriculum”, at New Jersey in August, 1981. The conference was attended by the
directors of 17 projects involved in integrating materials on women into
college curriculum. The conference could not reach any final decision.
In 1983
National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) USA decided to form a task force
for integration of women’s studies into mainstream curriculum.
Merits and Demerits of Autonomy and Integration are as follows:
- Integration of the subject will not face any criticism on development of its theories as its development will be natural.
- Autonomy of the subject will promote critical and unhindered development as new material from biology and social sciences could be added to modify curriculum accordingly.
- All it in both ways, a separate area of study and also integrate it with main-curricula.
- Status of Gender Studies in Pakistan
The scope of
subject is high as it is an inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary academic
field devoted to various aspects of identity and representation across
societies and cultures. It provides gender specialists and analysts for public
and private sector, NGOs, INGOs, GOs, IGOs and public policy matters; and trains
future academics and researchers in the discipline.
Institute of
Women Studies Lahore (IWSL) was stablished in 1986. It offered diploma and
certificate programs in women’s studies for the first time in Pakistan. In
March 1994, it organized a National Multidisciplinary Women’s Studies
Conference in Lahore. The Women’s Studies Conference was the first such event
initiated in Pakistan. Some 60 women who wrote papers for the Conference came
together from across Pakistan from different disciplines to share and pool
their expressions into a collective whole in the form of Women’s Studies in
Pakistan. The Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies (CEWS) at University
of Karachi was established by ministry of women development in 1989. The first
M.A in Women’s Studies in Pakistan began in 1996 at the University of Karachi.
In 2002 Centre initiated M.Phil / Ph.D program. From January 2007 BS (Hons.) 4
years program was launched. Pakistan Association for Women’s Studies (PAWS) was
established in March 1991. The purpose of its establishment was to provide,
forum for interaction to those who are doing research and training on women’s
studies, and to translate findings into policy. The Centre for Women’s Studies,
University of the Punjab, was made a department at the initiative of the
University in 2001. The Women’s Studies Centre at Peshawar University, has now
become a full-fledged department of Gender and Women’s Studies. The Institute
of Women Development Studies at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, was also established.
Journals of Women Studies
- Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies: Alam-e-Niswan by Pakistan Association for Women’s Studies, Karachi
- The Women: Annual Research Journal of Women Studies by Institute of Women Development Studies, University of Sindh, Jamshoro
The subject is being offered in different Pakistani universities, such as, Qaud-i-Azam University, International Islamic University, University of Punjab, Fatima Jinnah Women University, University of Sindh, University of Baluchistan, Peshawar University and many other institutes. The subject and related theories evolved in the west and are generally being understood and taught from those perspectives. However, the growth of gender studies as an academic field is slow because of following reasons: Absence of content in indigenous context, prospects of employment are limited as it is only academic field, social stigma on women empowerment, lack of education to understand role of subject in societal development, NGOs in Pakistan are only working on women issues, role of media is biased, they do not show actual picture and focus on only issues of urban women, funding issues to establish women employment opportunities, and scholarly community’s focus is on research focus is on areas other than gender studies.
Journals of Gender Studies
- Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies by Centre of Excellence Women's Studies, University of Karachi
- Journal of Gender & Social Issues by Fatima Jinnah Women University, The Mall, Rawalpindi
