Wisconsin Women Making History

By the late 1960s, women’s studies was a growing academic field across the US. Universities began offering courses focused on women and their roles in society, history, and culture throughout existing departments. In 1970, San Diego State College (now University) was the first university in the US to offer a program in women’s studies, followed by Wichita State University in Kansas in 1971. In 1977, there were 275 women’s studies programs across the US.

Wisconsin women and their allies also recognized the importance of women’s studies. By the early 1970s, six UW campuses offered courses on women’s issues, even before establishing formal programs or departments. Topics included women and American culture, women’s literature, biology and reproduction, politics, feminist theory, and more. The courses were extremely popular and often had waiting lists of students wanting to enroll. 

Around this time, some campuses in the US began formalizing their women’s studies offerings, but there was some debate about whether establishing programs or departments would be better for the field. Both can offer majors (a larger set of specialized classes in one area of study) and minors or certificates (smaller sets of classes that provide additional expertise outside of a major). Some women’s studies scholars argued that programs offered an easier way for departments in other areas to incorporate women’s studies topics into their existing offerings. Others argued that departments would provide more stability and a stronger institutional voice.  

While campuses in Wisconsin did not have established women’s studies departments at this time, some offered degrees through their campus’s individualized major programs to address increasing student interest. In February of 1974, UW-Milwaukee established the first women’s studies program in the System. In the fall of that year, UW-Oshkosh became the first System campus to offer a minor in women’s studies. Also in 1974, UW-Green Bay established the Lucy Stone Center, the first women’s center on a UW campus. 

Like Indigenous studies or environmental studies, women’s studies is interdisciplinary, meaning it relates to two or more distinct academic fields. By this time, the UW System Board of Regents (the group appointed to lead the UW System) had recognized the importance of women’s studies and other interdisciplinary fields and formed groups to determine how to set them up on UW campuses. One of these groups was the UW System Task Force on Women’s Studies. The task force released its final report in 1974, which recommended that each campus:

• Provide or expand classes or other offerings in women’s studies
• Develop a program if possible, but all should proceed with at least one major, minor, or certificate offering 
• Provide a coordinator who is a faculty member with experience in women’s studies
• Establish a committee to advise and assist the coordinator
• Provide an adequate budget and support staff
• Revise existing courses or create new ones that include substantial women’s studies content  

UW–Madison, Eau Claire, and Whitewater established women’s studies programs in 1975. The following year, Platteville, Stevens Point, Stout, and Superior also started programs, all of which offered minors. UW–Madison founded the Women’s Studies Research Center in 1977.  

Another recommendation of the 1974 Task Force was to create a librarian position to support women’s studies across the System, and in 1977, the Women’s Studies Librarian-at-Large position was approved as a two-year pilot program. The position was made permanent in the 1980s and continues to serve the System today.  

Courses and programs grew rapidly across the UW campuses. UW-Parkside was the first to offer a course in gay and lesbian literature in 1979. UW-Whitewater’s women’s studies program was the first to become an official academic department in 1984. By 1986, all UW System campuses had women’s studies programs, and in 1989, the Women’s Studies Consortium was founded to formalize the network of women’s studies administrators across the state. 

Since then, women’s studies in the UW System has grown and achieved notable successes. Some campuses have created programs, others have established departments, and most have expanded to include “gender” or “sexuality” in their names and scopes. UW–Milwaukee offers a master’s degree in women’s and gender studies, and in 2023, UW–Madison began offering a doctoral degree in gender and women’s studies. 

With women’s and gender studies courses offered on each one of its campuses, the UW System is unique. While not without challenges, women’s and gender studies in the UW System remains rigorous, in-demand, and essential to the well-rounded education of its students. 

Some of the people who helped build women’s and gender studies across the UW System include:

• Lydia Binger (Superior)
• Edith Bjorklund (Milwaukee)
• Ruth Bleier (Madison)
• Sidney Bremer (Green Bay)
• Julie Brickley (Green Bay)
• Kathryn Clarenbach (Extension)
• Pat Clark (River Falls)
• Virginia Cox (Oshkosh)
• Barbara Desmarais (Whitewater)
• Leila Fraser (Milwaukee)
• Carol Fairbanks (Eau Claire)
• Susan Stanford Friedman (Madison)
• Fran Garb (Stout)
• Sarah Harder (Eau Claire)
• Lenore Harmon (Milwaukee)
• Dolores Harms (Superior)
• Edna Hood (Eau Claire)
• Diane Kravetz (Madison)
• Susannah Lloyd (La Crosse)
• Agate Nesaule Krouse (Whitewater)
• Estella Lauter (Green Bay and Oshkosh)
• Judith Leavitt (Madison)
• Nellie McKay (Madison)
• Karen Merritt (UW Central Administration)
• Vivian Munson (La Crosse)
• Janet Polansky (Stout)
• Laura Quinn (River Falls)
• Joan Roberts (Madison)
• Jacqueline Ross (Platteville)
• Carol Lee Saffioti (Parkside)
• Virginia Sapiro (Madison)
• Ruth Schauer (Whitewater)
• Rachel Skalitzky (Milwaukee)
• Bonnie Smith (Parkside)
• Barbara Sniffen (Oshkosh)
• Esther Stineman (UW System)
• Nadine St. Louis (Eau Claire)
• Marian Swoboda (UW Central Administration)
• Joan Taylor (Stevens Point)
• Helen Tierney (Plateville)
• Carole Vopat (Parkside)
• Lynn Walter (Green Bay)
• Mariamne Whatley (Madison)
• Nancy Worcester (Extension and Madison)
• Joan Yeatman (La Crosse)

LEARN MORE

Ginsburg, Maggie. “As if the World was Male.” Wisconsin Alumni Association, April 21, 2016. https://www.uwalumni.com/news/as-if-the-world-was-male/  

“History of Women at the University of Wisconsin.” University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, n.d. https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AUWWomen [Note: Includes several books available for download.]

Schmitt, Preston. “The Rise of Women’s Studies.” On Wisconsin, 2019. https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/the-rise-of-womens-studies/  

Researched and written by Karla J. Strand, Office of the Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian.