Effects of Women's Studies Courses on Gender-Related Attitudes of Women and Men

Abstract

Attitudes about feminism, gender equality, and gender differences were assessed for male and female students enrolled in three women's studies courses and four control courses at the beginning and end of an academic semester. Compared to control students, women's studies students agreed more with feminist and equality items, and disagreed more with gender difference items, at the beginning of the term. Nonetheless, belief in gender differences decreased among men, but not women, enrolled in women's studies courses. Additionally, women's studies courses produced increased feminist attitudes among women, but decreased feminist attitudes among the small sample of men in the study.

Gender Role and Feminism Revisited: A Follow-Up Study

“…Our findings also partially support those of Thomsen et al (1995), Bargad and Hyde (1991), and Henderson-King and Stewart (1999) that female college students' enrollment in a women's studies course increased self-identification as feminist. Twenty of the 30 participants in our study had taken a college course that deals with issues of gender.…”

“…Likewise, in a study of female students in a women's studies course, Henderson-King and Stewart (1999) found that women's levels of feminist self-identification increased over the course of the semester; similar increases were not found in a comparison group of students who were not enrolled in women's studies. Whereas the feminist attitudes of the male college students decreased, the feminist attitudes of the female students increased in Thomsen, Basu, and Reinitz's (1995) study of students enrolled in a women's studies course.…”

Unmasking moral dichotomies: can feminist pedagogy overcome student resistance?

“…The few empirical studies which measure the effectiveness of feminist pedagogy show that non-traditional learning does create long-term change among students Feminist pedagogy and student resistance 43 (Vedovato & Vaughter, 1980;Bargad & Hyde, 1991;Stake & Rose, 1994;Thomsen et al, 1995). These studies generally find that after participation in a class organized around feminist pedagogy, students (especially female students- Thomsen et al, 1995) are likely to self-identify as feminists and become more active in issues related to women.…”

“…These studies generally find that after participation in a class organized around feminist pedagogy, students (especially female students- Thomsen et al, 1995) are likely to self-identify as feminists and become more active in issues related to women. These findings hold true when students from women's studies classes are interviewed one year after completion of the course (Stake & Rose, 1994), and when women's studies classes are compared to other classes without a feminist pedagogy yet with discussions about gender (Bargad & Hyde, 1991).…”

‘I Carry Out Small Wars’: The Impact of Women's Studies on Palestinian and Jewish Students in Israel

“…Notes 1 Similar results were not discernible among male students who were enrolled in the same courses (Thomasen et al, 1995). 2 When making this statement we are referring to background of students attending institutions of higher education, not to the population at large.…”