Australian National University

From

1976
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Occupations

Tertiary education institution

Alternative Names

• Centre for Women's Studies

Website

http://arts.anu.edu.au/gender

Summary

The Women's Studies Unit was established at the Australian National University in 1976, as the result of activism and political pressure applied by students who were connected to the Women's Liberation movement. In the first instance, the program's key aims were to explore the position and representation of women in Australian and other societies, the forces producing female subjectivity and women's experiences of feminitity. Moving the examination of these questions into the academy was an important step in the development of a feminist critique of existing disciplines and insititutional structures and the development of feminist scholarship in general.

Sources used to compile this entry: Rebecca Devitt and Melinda Mawson, What's in a Name? 25 Years of Women's Studies at the ANU, http://arts.anu.edu.au/gender/page2.html.