The Graduate School and University Center

From the Director:

A report on the activities of
The Center for the Study of Women and Society

Spring 1995

Women for Women Against the "Contract with America"

As I write the "Director's Letter"
in the Spring of 1995, I can’t
help reflecting that we are living
in an era in the U.S. marked by
unprecedented meanness and
venality. The 1994 election,
decided by the smallest of
margins by a minority of the
electorate. seems to have created
a unidimensional message
emphasizing attacks on women,
children and the poor. in
particular. The onslaught
includes all levels of
government: local. state and
national.

The messages that
continue to be pounded away in
the media and by public officials

or two years to welfare mothers.
Others are gendered in their
impact. For example, proposed
cuts in day care and long-term
home health care for the elderly
under Medicaid, would
disproportionately affect the
lives of women who remain
primary caregivers in our
society. Still other attacks are
directed at affirmative action,
and have an explicitly anti-
feminist and anti-minority cast.
Finally, the thrust of anti-
regulatory programs which often
emphasize bloc grants to the
states are designed to erode
national standards and
responsibility in such key areas

through op ed pieces,
articles from sympathetic
joumalists, and through a
coverage of events that we
hold such as the "Speak
Out" against the "Contract
for America" held on March
8th by our Women’s
Studies faculty and friends.
We must give voice to
another perspective - one
which opposes the new
right wing "conventional
wisdom." Second, we must
not accept the "Contract for
America" and other more
localized "contracts" - like
initiatives, as a given, to
which we must submit. We

CONTENTS emphasize cutting spending for as the environment and health must join with other groups,
the poor; the tactics include protection. Of course, those of such as women community

4... From the Director savage attacks on social service us at CUNY and the community activists and welfare rights

2...-From the Deputy programs and tax savings for all concerned with access to public groups to create coalitions

Director
.. Spring Calender
... Fall Course Listings
... Talks Around Town
.. Book Party
... NGO Forum, Beijing
.. Conferences

ONOUSW

9...News Around the

Nation
10.. Feminist Directory

other groups. Many of the cuts
are targeted specifically at the
poor, including abolition of
nutritional programs for mothers
and children and public housing;
some explicitly affect women,
such as the efforts to deny
welfare benefits to unmarried
mothers under 18 and
curtailment of benefits after one

higher education for all are
concemed with the fate of our
institutions, faced with current
threats from the state.

What can we do to
affect what seems to be an
inexorable tide of reaction and
even repression? First, we must
seek to break what some have
referred to as a “press barrier"--

(Continued on page 2)

Director: Joyce Gelb
Deputy Director: Patricia Laurence

to oppose the "new politics"
and to provide alternative
approaches. Every kind of
tactic, from discussion, to
dialogue, to lobbying, to
direct action and protest,
must be utilized, in
conjunction with other
groups. No individuals or
parties should be "written
off" in terms of targeting;

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The Center for the Study of Women and Society

The Graduate School and University Center
The City University of New York

Mailing Address:

33 West 42 Street, New York, NY 10036
Tel: 212 642-2954 Fax: 212 642-1906
25 West 43 Street, Room 410

New York, NY

Editors: Patricia Laurence, Heather Dalmage
Staff: Robin Isserles, Manjula Giri, Frances
Madeson


Fall 95 Course Listing
WOMEN’S CERTIFICATE STUDIES PROGRAM

U717 - Proseminar in Women’s U810.02 - Selected Topics: History U810.01 - Selected Topics: Gender
Studies of Feminisms and Public Policy in Comparative
Profs. Kachuck and O’Neill Prof. Anderson Perspective
GC: M, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 3 credits GC: M, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 3 credits Prof. Gelb

GC: Th, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 3 credits
U810.05 - Selected Topics: Early U810.04 - Selected Topics: Re-
English Novels by Women: 1660- writing Womanhood: Victorian U810.05 - Selected Topics: Feminist
1800 and Early Modern Literature Epistemology: Feminist Research -
Prof. Rizzo Profs. Timko and Laurence A Debate
GC: T, 2:00-4:00 p.m., 3 credits GC: T, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 3 credits Profs. Silver and Katz Rothman

GC: W, 2:00-4:00 p.m., 3 credits
U808.01 - Major Feminist Texts U810.03 - Selected Topics: Third
Prof. DiSalvo World Women
GC: T, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 3 credits Prof. Mencher

GC: W, 4:15-6:15 p.m., 3 credits

ON LINE...The Intersection of Internet and Wornen at CUNY

The growing world of internet can be quite helpful in studying women’s lives. In this age of electronic communication and interaction
many newsgroups are centered on topics important to women. Anyone with an e-mail address may subscribe to a number of newsgroups
such as soc.women, soc.feminism, and soc. gender-issues. In addition individuals can subscribe to other lists such as: ECOFEM which
focuses on women and the environment (to subscribe enter: listserv@csf.colorade.edu), QSTUDY-L which focuses on queer theory {to
subscribe enter: listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu). Also available is a FILE RETRIEVAL service which can be used to access current
happenings in women’s studies and the WORLD WIDE WEB through which information about women internationally is available.

Much more is available through internet. The Center has obtaincu a copy of "Electronic Access to Research on Women: A Short Guide,”
by Judith Hudson and Kathleen Turek. If you are conducting research about women in any country or facet of life you may want to
consult this resource. Call (212) 642-2954 if you are interested.

In order to enhance our own feminist network we are in the process of establishing a newsgroup. We encourage you to obtain an E-mail
address as soon as possible. We also hope to put the Feminist Directory, the Center Newsletter and other current information on-line
sometime next year.

From the Deputy Director (Continued from page 2)

groups to organize about women’s issues in the workplace:
But after all the imagination is largely the child of the flesh. One could not be Mrs. Giles of Durham
because one’s body had never stood at the wash-tub; one’s hands had never wrung and scrubbed and
chopped up whatever the meat may be that makes a miner’s supper...One sat in an armchair or read a
book. One saw landscapes and seascapes, perhaps Greece or Italy, where Mrs. Giles or Mrs, Edwards
must have seen slag heaps and rows of slate roofed houses...Bakers and butchers did not call for orders.
They did not sign a cheque to pay the weekly bill, or order, over the telephone, a cheap but quite
adequate seat at the Opera. If they travelled it was on excursion day, with string bags and babies in their
arms. They did not stroll through the house and say, that cover must go to the wash or those sheets need
changing. They plunged their arms in hot water and scrubbed the clothes themselves.
Though dated in some of its imagery, the passage makes a point. We as public intellectuals have to speak in a
collective voice with the women who will suffer the brunt of economic hardship, and with our students who will
struggle with the denial of their education given the tuition hike, and cuts in TAP funds and student loans. But
we also need to allow community women and students to speak for themselves and to create opportunities for
expression of their half-hidden voices in academic forums. To underline Joyce Gelb’s call, the Center seeks
suggestions for ways to create a forum for the collective voice of women in the coming year.

Patricia Laurence
Deputy Director

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Talks ...

Brown Bag Series Spring 1995
Feminist Scholars Abroad
International Perspectives

..At the Center

Thursday, April 27, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 16, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Women and the Latin American Church: From
The Vitality of Feminism in India Bastions of Humility to Religious Activism
Florence Howe, Graduate Center; Director of the Electa Arenal, Graduate Center and College of Staten
Feminist Press CUNY Island

Meena Alexander Graduate Center and Hunter College Audrey Glynn, College of Staten Island
Bernadette Desmond, M.M., Borough of Manhattan
Community College

All events are free and open to the public. Events are held in the Center for the Study of Women and Society, 25
West 43rd Street, Room 410. For more information call (212) 642-2954

Around CUNY

Workshop on Women and German Colonialism
March 1995 at the CUNY Graduate Center

Cosponsored by the Center for the Study of Women and Society

Friday, March 3, 1995, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Theory, Methodology, and Historical Background
Saturday, March 4, 1995, 9:30 am. to 4:45 p.m.

Colonial Policies and Colonizers and Colonized

The Bildner Center for
Western Hemisphere Studies
4th Annual Research Seminar on the
Dominican Republic

Friday, March 24, 1995, 4:15 to 6:00 p.m.

Dominican Women: Approaching the 21st Century

Magaly Pineda, Director of the Centro de Investigacion Para la Accion Feminina (CIPAF) in the
Dominican Republic. Location: Room 1700-B, City University of New York Graduate Center, 33 West
42nd Street. Seating is limited, R.S.V.P. (212) 642-2950

Society for Women in Philosophy
CUNY Graduate Center, 33 West 42nd St.

Thursday, April 6, 1995, 5:00 p.m. Friday, May 5, 1995, 5:00 p.m.

"Are Feminist Critiques of Reason Rational?" “Nomadic Subjects"

Linda Alcoff, Departement of Philosophy, Syracuse Rosi Braidotti, Department of Women’s Studies,
University University of Utrecht

Location: Room 1400 Location: Room 4000 A & B, Grace Building

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Talks...

Around the City:

Rutgers University
Institute for Research on Women

March 2, 1995 April 18, 1995
‘ *

Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Rey Chow, Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Lynne Segal,

University of California, Irvine, The Dream of a Butterfly Middlesex University, Feminism and the Politics of
4:00 p.m. Pleasure 4:00 p.m.

March 28, 1995 May 23, 1995
* INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN, INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN,

Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
13th Annual Celebration of our Work Conference:
WOMEN AND EDUCATION

Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Carroll Smith-
Rosenberg, Black Gothic: Profits, Pestilence and the
Production of the Middle Class American 4:00 p.m.

April 1, 1995 Contact Information:
* INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN, INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN
Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Deborah E, 27 Clifton Avenue
McDowell, University of Virginia. Negotiating Identities Douglass College Campus
in the American: Race, Class, Gender Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
April 12, 1995 (908) 932-9072

* INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Claudia Tate.
Washington University, W.E.B. DuBois: Desire and
Propaganda 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Graduate Students Needed to Come to Our Book Party!
Review or Summarize Books for In Honor of 1994 Women’s Studies
Our Newsletter Faculty Publications

the Center for the study of W 17 When: Wednesday. May 17th
e Center for the Study of Women and Society is
proud of our growing library and journal Where: Center for the Study_ of
collection. We would like students to review =
recent publications in our bi-annual newsletter. Women and S cie
Please contact us at (212) 642-2954 if you would 25 West 43rd St. Rm 410
like to review/summarize a book. ; -
Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm

RSVP (212) 642-2954

NINA E. FORTIN MEMORIAL FUND DISSERTATION PROPOSAL AWARD
$300 plus tuition to a student at the Graduate Center.

Deadline: April 1, 1995

Contact: Ms. Elizabeth Small, Women’s Studies Certificate Program, Room 40-07

CUNY Graduate Center, 33 West 42nd Street

NYC 10036 (212) 642-2247

Congratulations to this year’s recipient, Ara Wilson of the Anthropology Department.

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UNITED NATIONS NGO FORUM, BEIJING
August 30 - September 8, 1995

NGO FORUM ON WOMEN: BEIJING, AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 8, 1995

The NGO Forum on Women is the Non-Governmental Organization program parallel to the UN Fourth
World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, August 30-September 8, 1995. This Forum overlaps the
UN Conference on Women, September 4-15. It has two goals: to influence the document called the
Platform of Action that UN member states will adopt in Beijing; and to hold a Forum that highlights
women’s vision and strategy for the world in the 21st century. The Forum’s theme and challenge is to
"look at the world through women’s eyes." The Forum will take place at the Beijing Workers’ Sports
Services Center.

Anyone interested in attending the NGO Forum must register with the NGO Forum on Women
Office. Official registration form, $50, 2 passport size photos must ‘be mailed to the NGO Office by April
30th, 1995. No registration will be taken on site. Travel arrangments are being handled through Koelzer
Travel. Contact: Ms. Karen Koelzer
10061 Talbert Avenue, Suite 200
Fountain Valley, CA 92728-8298
(800) 858-2742 Fax: (714) 842-8247

NGO Forum on Women

211 East 43rd Street, Suite 1500 New York, N.Y. 10017

(212) 922-9262 or (212) 922-9267 Registration for the Forum does not give NGO’s access to the UN
Conference.

To obtain observer status to the UN Conference, NGO’s have to be accredited. For information
on the accreditation for the UN Conference, contact: NGO Accreditation, UN Fourth World Conference
on Women, 2 UN Plaza, Room 1204, New York, N.Y. 10017 or Fax: (212) 963-3463

There are three panels connected with the Center for the Study of Women and Society for the
NGO Forum on Women in Beijing.

*Professors Joyce Gelb (Women’s Studies), Sue Zalk (Psychology) and Ms. Emma Broisman have
proposed a panel on "Women in the Urban Environment: Creating Sustainable Working and Living
Conditions"

*Professor June Nash (Anthropology) has proposed a panel on "Collective Action: Redefining Work."
*Professor Patricia Laurence (Women’s Studies) has proposed a panel "Identity and National Goals:
Twentieth-Century Chinese Women’s Literature," Prospective panelists, please send to Patricia Laurence,
Center for the Study of Women and Society, 25 West 43rd, New York, N.Y. 10036.

* The Center for the Study of Women and Society has received a $5,000 grant from the New
York Foundation for a conference entitled "Expanding the Activist Agenda: Women, Power
and Politics in New York City."" The Conference has been rescheduled to October 1995.

*CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR DEPUTY DIRECTOR, PATRICIA LAURENCE!
Patricia Laurence will receive the 1995 Mina Shaughnessy Writing Award at the College
Composition and Communication Conference in Washington in March.

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Conferences...

dn the Area

March 31 - April 2, 1995 May 19-21, 1995

* Civil Liberties and Public Policy, Hampshire * Beyond Difference As a Model For Studying
College. Fight for Abortion Rights and Gender: In Search of New Stories to Tell,
Reproductive Freedom. (413) 582-5645 Radcliffe College. (617) 495-8140

April 1, 1995 July 9 - July 16, 1995

* National Institute for the Psychotherapies, * 21st Annual Feminist Women’s Writing

Ethical Culture Society. The Oedipus Complex: Workshops, Ine P.O. Box 6583, Ithaca, NY 14851
New Perspectives in the Treatment of Children and Ruth Stone, author of numerous books, including In
Adults. (212) 582-1566 an Iridescent Time, and Who is the Widow’s

Muse?, will offer a multi-session writing workshop
for participants.

..At CUNY

The New World (Dis)Order and International Political Economy: A
Gender Perspective Organized by Roslyn Wallach Bologh

Friday, May 12, 1995 8:30-5:00 p.m.
Graduate School and University Center
33 West 42nd Street, Room 1700
New York, New York

The Economy in Crisis: Demystifying Debt, Credit and Austerity
Keynote Speakers: /lene Grabel, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
Mariamma Williams, Department of Social Sciences, Fashion Institute of Technology

* Questions and Commentary with CUNY Faculty and Graduate Students
* Complimentary Lunch

Rethinking Theory in Light of the New World Order
Marnia Lazreg, Department of Sociology and Women’s Studies, Hunter College and
Graduate Center, CUNY
Break-Out Groups with CUNY Faculty and Graduate Students
Creating a Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century that includes the Global Political Economy
Creating a Manifesto on "The Wealth of Nations: A Feminist Analysis and Alternative"
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To register for CUNY Conference on The New World (Dis)Order and International Political Economy:A
Gender Perspective, detach and return by May 1 to Roslyn W. Bologh, Center for the Study of Women and
Society, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 33 W. 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036

Name: Department: College:

Office Phone: Home Phone:

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NEWS...

..From Albany

Letter Writing Campaign

The proposed budgets cuts, if adopted, will mean $162.6 million cut CUNY-wide with as much as
$11.4 million being cut from the Graduate Center. President Frances Degen Horowitz is asking
for all our help in a letter writing campaign which is taking place CUNY-wide. All program
offices should have a list of representatives by zip code. Letters should be addressed:

The Honorable The Honorable

New York State Assembly New York State Senate
Albany, NY 12248 Albany, NY 12247
Dear Assemblymember : Dear Senator :

..From Washington

The U.S. Congress allocated $2.1 million for the International Labor Office’s International Program for the
Elimination of Child Labor. The grant will affect up to 200 million children globally.

"International Labor Standards and Women Workers," an information kit created by the International Labor
Office, contains information and items aimed at increasing women worker’s awareness of their rights and
improving their status as workers. Contact: ILO Publications Center, 49 Sheridan Ave, Albany, N.Y. 12210
(518) 436-9686.

Join us in Washington:
RALLY FOR WOMEN’S LIVES
- We Won’t Go Back -
A mass mobilization to End Violence Against Women
April 9, 1995 in Washington, D.C.
Assemble: 12:00 noon
The Mall in front of the Capital.
Call 202-331-0066 for more info.

CALL FOR PAPERS

THE POLITICS OF CARING II: CREATING SAFE AND HEALING ENVIRONMENTS,

a conference to be held November 10-12, 1995 seeks interdisciplinary solutions to the problems that disrupt women’s
lives. Contact: Rose B. Canon, Planning Committee Chair, Nell Hodgson, Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory
University, 531 Asbury Circle, Atlanta, GA 30322 (404) 727-1374. Deadline: March 15.

WOMEN TO WOMEN: 19th-CENTURY AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS in the 21st CENTURY, a
conference to be held May 30, 1996 to June 1, 1996 seeks innovative formats for sessions, and individual papers.
Send a one-page proposal and a one-page c.v. to Jo Blattit, Director, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, 77 Forest Street,
Hartford, CT 06105. Deadline: May 15, 1995

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THE FEMINIST DIRECTORY

The Directory is a comprehensive list of CUNY Women Faculty members who are engaged in work about
and for women. We have included the courses, research interests, and scholarship which reflect the
incredible breadth and diversity of talent throughout the CUNY community. In addition there is a brief
description of the many impressive Women’s Studies Programs throughout CUNY.

Suggested contributions of $10.00 faculty, $5.00 Please fill out the form at the bottom to reserve

students are requested for the development of your copy and mail along with contribution to:

the Center library. The Center for the Study of Women and
Society

ORDERS SHOULD BE PRE-PAID Graduate Center of the City University of New
York

33 West 42nd Street, Room N410
New York, NY 100036 (212)642-2954.

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Name
Address

Phone Number
Student: $5.00 Faculty: $10.00

Center for the Study of Women and Society
City University of New York

33 West 42nd Street

New York, New York 10036