Women's studies in Australian higher education - Introduction and brief history - Origins and Development

Oct 15, 2026

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The text examines women’s studies in Australian higher education, framing it as an analytical field focused on the social condition of women and its relationship to feminism. It traces origins and development through defined historical phases from the early 1970s to the early 1990s, comparing revolutionary and liberal feminist approaches. It also describes how university topics and foundational curricula emerged from student and staff activism and evolved into institutional majors, highlighting ongoing intellectual concerns and debates within feminist research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

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Definitions

Origins and Development

Phase One 1972-1982: revolutionary feminism versus liberal feminism

Women's studies in Australian highereducation:Introduction and brief history Lyndall Ryan, Flindere University What is Women's Studies?What are its origins and develop-ment in Australian higher education?How is it currently organ-iscd?What are its current intellectual preoccupations and wheredoesits futurelie in Australian universities?The articles collectedfor this issue of Australian Universities'Review,address thesequestions. # Definitions Women's Studies is the analysis of the condition of womenrather than a set of political conclusions about them.This analysisis now called feminism.There are many kinds offeministanalysisranging from radical,liberal,socialist and Marxist feminism toecofeminism and the many forms of postmodern feminism.Theyall share the belief that women's status is a social matter ratherthan anaturalcondition,and that this status can bechanged.Theirdifferences lie in the ways in which they see how women's statuscan be changed.In 1983,Susan Magarey defined Women'sStudies as a‘transdisciplinary field of knowledge and inquirywhich focuses upon the position of women,but extends to thewhole social formation³(Magarey1983:167).Judith Allen pursuesthese definitions in her article in this issuc. As Susan Sheridan points out:'Women's Studies is often usedas an umbrella term to cover a wide range of research and teachingon women and gender³and that it is a distinectively interdisciplinaryproject in feminist research and teach-ingthat isinstitutionally located in highereducationbut ohich has somedegree of independence from particular disciplines and vocationalcoMrses(Sheridan 1987:2). # Origins and Development The emergence of Women's Studies in Australian universitiescan be placed in three phases:1973-1982;1983-1988;and 1989-1991. ## Phase One 1972-1982:revolutionary feminism versusliberal feminism The first Women's Studies topics offered in Australian univer-sities came as a result of agication from univcrsity students andstaff in the Women's Liberation movement who wanted to ques-tion the hegemony of patriarchal course structures and content.This happened in two ways:by offering a 'Women and...'topicthat challenged the discipline wichin existing structures;and byoffering Women's Studies as a new interdisciplinary topic. The first direction began in 1972when Beverly Kingston beganteaching about women in Australian history at the University ofNew South Wales.Since she could find no published primarysources about women to fulfil her teaching strategies,Kingstonbegan a project to recover women's past in Australia.Her mono-graph My Wife,MyDaughterand PoorMary Ann(1975)and her bookof documents,The World Moves Slowly(1977),were among the firstchallenges to the patriarchal nationalism of Australian historiogra-phy.Now there are countless'Womenand History'topics offeredin Australian universities,to which have been added a range of Page 2 The Australian Unicersities'Reviezo other'Women and ‘topics as diverse as'Women andGeography','Women and Politics','Women and Biological Science'and'Women and Literature.These topics have usually provideduniversity students with the firstintroductiontofeministperspec-tives in a traditional disciplinary framework. The second direction came in 1973 when Jean Curthoys wasappointed as a tutor in the Philosophy Discipline at FlindersUniversity to offerthe first Women'sStudies topic.Susan Sheridanconsiders that this topic pursued the radical educational goals of student group self-manage-ment and self-assessment,believing that these were crucial for thedevelopment of zomen's confidence and solidarity.The curriculum ofits foundation course was not discipline-based but was rarher a classicof the kind of integratrve feminist work that shapes iself around the幼omen's liberation movement's concerns woith the nature ofoppressionand the conditions for liberation.The course had marginal -indeedprecarious -status in the university,being dependent on one depart-ment's setting as

FAQs

What does women's studies mean in this text?

It is presented as analysis of women’s conditions, commonly equated with feminism, rather than a fixed set of political conclusions.

How does the text describe feminism and its variations?

It explains multiple kinds of feminist analysis, from radical and liberal to socialist, Marxist, ecofeminism, and postmodern feminism, while emphasizing shared beliefs about women’s status as social and changeable.

What were the main phases for the emergence of women's studies in Australian universities?

The emergence is placed in three phases: 1973–1982, 1983–1988, and 1989–1991, with detailed discussion beginning in Phase One.

Oct 15, 2026

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