GENDER STUDIES, WOMEN'S STUDIES -DO WE REALLY NEED THEM?

GENDER STUDIES, WOMEN’S STUDIES—DO WE REALLY STILL NEED THEM?

You remember women’s studies – started around the time young women were supposedly burning their bras.  If you’re a supporter of the programs, they are a place to learn the history of feminism, equality, and women’s accomplishments in the world.  If you aren’t a supporter, those programs are for women with short hair and Birkenstocks to learn how to resent men.  Fortunately, both those stereotypes are off the mark.  So – what is women’s studies and how are such programs relevant today?

We’ll get those answers and more as Yi-Chun Tricia Lin, Director and Professor of the Women’s Studies Program at Southern Connecticut State University, joins us for Saturday’s show.  Growing up in Taiwan, Tricia was expected to follow a life as previous generations of women had- obedient and submissive to patriarchy.  That didn’t work for her, and instead she went to graduate school and became a teacher focusing on social justice issues, including gender, racial, and socio-economic issues.  She also is very active in leadership of a number of academic and political organizations, including Veteran Feminists of America, New Haven League of Women Voters, and the National Women’s Studies Association.  Tricia also contributed to several publications including a special issue on transnational Indigenous feminism with Lectora (University of Barcelona), forthcoming in 2016.  If anyone knows the current status of women’s studies, it is Tricia.