Identity area
Type of entity
University unit
Authorized form of name
Women's Studies Program, Faculty of Arts
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Centre for Women's Studies
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1976 - 2000
History
The Women’s Studies Program was established at the Australian National University in 1976 as a result of activism applied by students connected to the Women's Liberation movement. Dr Ann Curthoys was appointed as a Lecturing Fellow to develop and teach the course as a full-year single unit. A second course was added in 1978, and Susan Magarey took over as lecturer. In 1984, Dr Dorothy Broom (Department of Sociology) was appointed lecturer and convenor of the program. Dr Jill Julius Matthews (Department of History) was also appointed lecturer in 1984, becoming convenor in 1987, a role which alternated between them. In September 1995 the Program was reviewed by the University Council and designated the Centre for Women’s Studies, with Matthews as Director. Dr Jan Jindy Pettman (Department of Political Science) was appointed Director and Reader from the beginning of 1997 and at this time, there were four lecturers: Dr Jill Matthews, Dr Rosanne Kennedy, Dr Fiona Paisley and Dr E Wilson. In July 2000, the Centre for Women's Studies was abolished in a general reorganisation of the Faculty of Arts. In 2001, the 25th anniversary of the Women’s Studies Program was celebrated with a seminar featuring current and former staff including Ann Curthoys, Susan Magarey and Liz O’Brien.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
teaching and learning
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Entered from deposit description on 14 August 2012, updated 16 Jan 2017
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
ANU Archives: Records of the Women’s Studies Program, ANUA 22 and 102
ANU Archives: Records of Professor Jill Matthews, ANUA 424
ANU Archives: Council minutes, 1995-2000, ANUA 198
ANU annual reports, calendars and staff lists
A Curthoys, ‘Women’s Studies at the Australian National University: The early years’, Australian Feminist Studies, 13:27 (1998) 75-80.
JJ Matthews and D Broom, ‘Orphans of the storm: The attrition of the ANU women’s studies program’, Australian Universities’ Review, 34:2 (1991) 12-14.