Contents:
Foreword by Catharine R. Stimpson
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction Speaking of Women's Studies
one Feminist Advocacy, Scholarly Inquiry, and the Experience of Women
two Constituting a New Field of Knowledge
three Challenging the Traditional Curriculum
four Changing the Classroom
five Embracing Diversity
six The Quest for Theory
seven ""Knowledge for What?""
eight Critics Inside and Outside the Academy
nine The ""Feminist Enlightenment"" and the University
Notes
Bibliography
Index
In When Women Ask the Questions, Marilyn Boxer traces the successes and failures of women's studies, examines the field's enduring impact on the world of higher education, and concludes that the rise of women's studies has challenged the university in the same way that feminism has challenged society at large. Drawing on her experiences as a historian, feminist, academic administrator, and former chair of a women's studies program, Boxer observes that by working for justiceand for changes necessary to make the attainment of justice a practical possibilitywomen's studies ensures that women are heard in the processes and places where knowledge is created, taught, and preserved. The intellectual transformation behind the emergence of women's studies, Boxer concludes, is one of historic proportions. Like other great moments in human experience, it has given rise to a flowering of art, literature, and science, and to the challenging of previously accepted authorities of text and tradition.