Encouraging Diverse Enrollment in Womens Studies Courses :: Essays Papers

Encouraging Diverse Enrollment in Womens Studies Courses What stands in the trend of a more diversity in Womens Studies classes such as Feminism 101? The posing of this question is in and of itself a whole tone to increasing diversity, for in the answers we find, we may also expose solutions to these roadblocks. I go out therefore, be discussing causes of the current white, female, young, middle-class, and non-disabled majority in Womens Studies class rosters. once Ive established what is causing a majority to be present, I bequeath then attempt to answer those problems with possible solutions, or at least(prenominal) steps in the right direction.Cross-racial hostility keeps minority races from interacting effectively with each(prenominal) other. Racism in general separates the white feminist community from everyone else. Internalized sexism tells us that we atomic number 18 just women, prone to bickering and infighting, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Heterosex ism and lesbian bating (accusing a woman of being a lesbian if she is independent and freethinking) keep possible womens studies students far away from our classrooms. Everyone is held back by the labels which separate us. at present I dont agree that these are the only oppressive forces dividing the feminist race and keeping new people from joining, but I would postulate that these conflicts manoeuver the same in Womens Studies as they do in the feminist military campaign in general. These are the central expressions of oppression that make cohesive, equal, cooperation seem beyond our grasp.bell hooks, a black feminist writer, wrote in her book womens rightist Theory From Margin to Center, Women in lower-class and poor groups, particularly those who are non-white, would not have defined womens liberation as women gaining sociable equality with men, since they are continually reminded in their everyday lives that all women do not share a common social status. (19).This passage contains they constitute that answers the question of why people of color are not correspond equally in our womens studies classes with white people. Because Womens Studies (and Feminism) had been cast as the sports stadium of white women, who had the time and money to start the movement, women of color are little likely to think the classes are relevant to them. And they are overwhelmingly female. How then, fortify with our understanding of this problem, can we get a more racially diverse student body interested in what Womens Studies has to offer?