Are gender studies courses/centres unfairly balanced in Ireland?

[belvoboy]

This is another thread that is an off-shoot from another discussion that went somewhat off-topic.

My point is that, for example, the Center for Gender and Women's Studies in Trinity should have more interest in Men's Studies.

The 17 people listed as staff on the site (Staff of the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies - Trinity College Dublin) are all female (and presumably feminists).
(there are three more people (all women) on here Louise - CGWS - Trinity College Dublin but don't know if they are just admin?).

I think one will have an unbalanced view of issues with this set up. In most academic areas, one would have specialists in particular areas. But they don't seem to have even one post for a specialist in Men's Studies.

I think without different perspectives one can end up with an unbalanced view in discussions.

Advocates for particular groups can be useful. Feminists are good at looking at things from a woman's point of view. Just as lot of individuals and groups are. People in charities for old people will probably be, if they've been involved long enough, good advocates for old people. Or other people may be good at looking at things from a children's perspective. Or looking at things from the perspective of people with a particular illness or disability. Or a particular race. Or a particular profession e.g. publicans, architects, farmers, etc (those three I heard in the media in recent times but I imagine there are a lot more).

But generally in society, one doesn't have a situation where people from a particular viewpoint are given all the influence or airtime.

Just as in a court, if one only heard from one set of lawyers, one would likely be convinced by whatever they were trying to convince you of.

I don't believe it is ideal that gender studies in Ireland is so unbalanced.

[Mar Tweedy]

Most of the women's/gender studies departments have their origins in the ground-breaking work done by feminists in looking at gender from a feminist perspective. They are at most, 20, or only slightly more possibly, years old.

They arose in a particular historical context, which was a society where women were assigned a lesser role, legally, financially and culturally.

I genuinely do not understand Belvoboy, given that it was only a short time since women's legal rights were achieved and that as academic disciplines go, a feminist perspective is a young academic discipline, why you would expect feminists to be making the running on establishing a male perspective on gender issues? They've enough to be doing catching up on the neglected area of studying womens' perspectives across various academic fields.

[belvoboy]

Most of the women's/gender studies departments have their origins in the ground-breaking work done by feminists in looking at gender from a feminist perspective. They are at most, 20, or only slightly more possibly, years old.

They arose in a particular historical context, which was a society where women were assigned a lesser role, legally, financially and culturally.

I genuinely do not understand Belvoboy, given that it was only a short time since women's legal rights were achieved and that as academic disciplines go, a feminist perspective is a young academic discipline, why you would expect feminists to be making the running on establishing a male perspective on gender issues? They've enough to be doing catching up on the neglected area of studying womens' perspectives across various academic fields.

If it's about studying womens' perspectives, why call it gender studies. It suggests it is taking a balanced view.

[Trampas]

They arose in a particular historical context, which was a society where women were assigned a lesser role, legally, financially and culturally.

You seem to be suggesting that the war is over. Most young women today would agree.

[Cirocco]

The general idea is that the "main" perspective on the world is in fact a male one, the default perspective. The whole point of these gender studies courses is to offer an alternative to the mainstream. So what would mens studies be like? What would you study? How men are being sidelined as women demand their full set of human rights for the first time in history? If that interests you and you think there would be interest in it from an academic perspective then go for, get studying and righting, set it up.

Do you think the universities decided one day to give women a building and some big salaried positions to fill so they could discuss life from a womens perspective?! Hell no women have fought long and hard for everything they have! And then some guys say "hey they've got something we dont have that's like oppression right?!".. Not saying thats what you're saying there I'm just pointing out how little just happens without someone fighting for it.

[cactusflower]

If it's about studying womens' perspectives, why call it gender studies. It suggests it is taking a balanced view.

If they are academics, they should be taking a balanced view of whatever they are studying. If that means taking a balanced view to the study of feminism, that's O.K., isn't it?

Tba, I find it hard to imagine studying it for three years, but whatever rocks yr boat.

[johnfás]

Academics outside of the sciences rarely take an objective or balanced view, let's be honest.

Sometimes I'm not even too sure if they do in the sciences either!

[Papinian]

The existence of womens studies departments in Irish universities is an embarrassment for Irish higher education.

If you look at leading British universities like Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and LSE you won't see any such departments. You certainly don't see them in universities in France or Germany. That is not to say that there are not at such universities academics who are feminists or that there are not courses influenced by womens' perspectives. There are. Having separate womens studies departments amounts to a ghettoisation of female perspectives when instead the relevant women should be part of departments such as sociology, English, law, politics, maybe even hard sciences, depending on what they are teaching.

Unfortunately, like so much that is wrong with Irish universities, the concept of womens studies departments comes straight from American universities, where the influence of interest group politics is pervasive.

One effect of having separate womens studies departments is that the academics and courses associated exclusively with such departments are not subjected to appropriate level of quality assessment. Also, the academic atmosphere in such departments is, in my experience, very insular and relatively hostile to other departments, whereas the essence of any academically meaningful concept of womens studies must be interdisciplinary collaboration.

There is an awful lot wrong with the Irish universities, but shutting down womens studies departments would be a good place to make a start at improving them.

[PAD10H]

Academics outside of the sciences rarely take an objective or balanced view, let's be honest.

eh?

what about rigour, internal validity and all that sh1te?

[Christine Murray]

l'd love to see more specialist areas in women's studies open up, for example there's tons of work to be done publishing in areas of women's philosophy that is neglected here. places like Milltown should also consider sharing their wealthy resources to further women's access to good library and research facilities. The speciality might be young as mar says but it remains woefully under-developed at a cross-disciplinary level in lreland.