> Guardian - March 25, 2008
> <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/mar/25/gender?
> gusrc=rss&feed=wo>
>
> Postfeminist passions
> The demise of women's studies has more to do with changes in the job
> market than lost battles
>
> Angela McRobbie
>
> The disappearance of women's studies at undergraduate level from
> British universities, to be marked in July by the graduation of the
> final batch of 12 students from London Metropolitan University, is
> symbolic of the changes that have been taking place in the landscape
> of gender, sexuality and feminism during the last decade.
>
> oung women, in many universities including my own, flow through the
> doors of academy from across the world. In Britain, the success of
> girls in education has in itself been a key factor in the expansion
> of higher education. More and more young women expect to gain a
> degree qualification as a requirement for an interesting and
> rewarding career, which in many ways has replaced marriage and
> motherhood. This in itself, when considered as a global trend, is the
> mark of a quite epochal change, such that the need for women's
> studies to understand its consequences might be obvious. But alas, as
> this graph of participation rises, so does the popularity of women's
> studies decline.
>
> Opinion is divided among the academic feminist community. Some point
> to the vilification of feminism within popular culture as a
> deterrent. If women's studies is only associated in the popular
> imagination with 70s radical feminism, then it is not surprising it
> is no longer deemed worthy of study. Many feminists work hard to
> counter this view, but it is an uphill struggle. Others point to the
> way in which women's studies has been mainstreamed. It has
> transmogrified into gender and sexuality studies which, when offered
> as options within humanities, social science, law, business studies
> and management degrees, are among the most popular subjects. Given
> the more career-oriented outlook of students today, this is not so
> surprising. There are also those who see the passing away of women's
> studies as a sign that gender equality has been won. This
> postfeminist position is almost always reluctant to acknowledge the
> energy and massive commitment that was required to make a case for a
> curriculum which brought gender issues to the forefront across what
> we might call epistemic communities.
>
> The feminist academy I inhabit might not have women's studies on
> offer, but it is nevertheless a place of intensity, enthusiasm and
> experimentation. I observe a number of patterns that merit further
> sociological analysis. In my undergraduate classroom of up to about
> 100 students, of whom about 80% are female and come from around the
> world, there is a high degree of interest in women's issues,
> including questions of gender and sexuality. This is also the case
> for young British Muslim women tackling questions of reconciling
> faith with the secular values of the university. Outside the
> classroom I am frequently asked questions like "What can you
> recommend as reading for our Muslim women's study group on
> prostitution?", or "What did feminists in the 70s have to say about
> the family and housework?".
>
> Often it seems feminism has become a kind of private passion, a way
> of working through the intractable issues of the day in regard to
> sexuality, and the requirement to fulfil so many normative
> expectations. There is also a genuine interest in feminism from the
> late 1960s onwards. But so denigrated and devalued is the women's
> movement that it is often hard to dislodge the assumptions that it
> routinely required hostility to men. In fact it is as though the
> thing young women most fear is being seen as critical of men. Tired
> of trying to counter this feminist image, I often find myself
> persuading them that, actually, most reasonable men had respect for
> female grievance and found diminishing, as they might also do today,
> the endless need to be pleasing to men.
>
> · The Aftermath of Feminism by Angela McRobbie will be published in July
>
>
>
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