ABSTRACT
Given this activity and all the activity gathered over the past five decades, many question the need for Women’s Studies today. Hasn’t enough already changed to allow Women’s Studies to disappear? Haven’t we heard enough about women-the wage gap, the voting gap, their poverty, and the double shift? News of the constant violence against women becomes depressing or boring or we grow immune to it. It is normal, we say, all this evidence of women’s abuse, so let’s just get used to it. Besides that, women’s situation seems to have improved dramatically. Today’s students have not only seen women beside them in the classroom but active as television anchors or as authoritative commentators on issues of the day. Have things really changed all that much? Women’s Studies
advocates say “no,” adding that important information and new ways of thinking come forth every day. In this chapter we look at the pros and cons for continuing Women’s Studies. We also look at some of the areas where Women’s Studies pioneering is still in its infancy and where dramatic change continues to take place. Social and political questions affecting the status of women form an important part of our debate, and we evaluate the place of women in the economy. This is a place where you, the reader, have your own judgments to draw about the value of Women’s Studies and
its place in your society and the world. We ask you to decide whether Women’s Studies still has a role to play.
