HIST 237 History of Feminism

This course will trace the development of feminism in Europe and the United States and will consider policy issues in applications of feminism in contemporary American law and within the global human rights movement. In early modern times popular conceptualizations of the intersection of gender ethnicity and class divided women from each other just as feminism emerged from a debate on women's nature to a debate on opportunities for women: to be educated to write to speak out to preach to express one's individuality in dress and demeanor to work in one's chosen occupation. For the transformation in political theory from Lockean family representation to Suffragette individual representation in the state we shall explore the literature on "rights" from Wollstonecraft to United Nations declarations on Women's Rights. Participating in contemporary feminism students will debate alternative viewpoints on issues such as abortion violence against women and discrimination; and we shall also experience together a diversity of feminist films.