San Diego State University
SEX POWER AND US POLITICS/WMNST 375
Dr. Kathleen B. Jones
KJones@sciences.sdsu.edu
Spring 1993

      As a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary field, women's
studies provides important analysis and critique of research in
the social sciences.  Within the social sciences, women's
studies scholars evaluate the effects of gender bias on the
production of reliable and accurate knowledge about social
reality.  An important area of concern to all citizens in a
democratic society is the way that politics affects the quality
of life and the structure of opportunities for different groups
in the social system.  How we understand politics affecting us
in, in large part, dependent on our conceptualization of
politics.

      Despite the fact that politics impinges on us all in both
immediate and distant ways, it had been a long-held belief in
political science that women were relatively uninterested in
politics.  At the same time, the prevailing assumption in much
modern political research had been that the basic concepts and
methods of research in political science were gender-neutral.
In this class, we will subject these beliefs and assumptions to
critical evaluation.

      This course will introduce students to the relationship
between gender and politics by examining the American Political
System in historical and comparative perspective.  Among the
topics that will be covered are: the history of the women's
movement as a political movement; gender, race and class issues
in the women's movement; the feminist critiques of political
theory; feminist political theories and strategies for change;
women and "official" politics (interest groups and elections;
women as office holders); and "women's interests" and social
change in a global perspective.  Although the focus will be on
the American Political System, we will study this within the
context of the global political economic system.

REQUIRED TEXTS

      Lois Lovelace Duke, Women in Politics: Outsiders or
           Insiders?
      Alice Echols, Daring to be Bad: Radical Feminism in
           America, 1967-1975.
      Cynthia Enloe, Bananas, Beaches and Bases.
      Kathleen B. Jones, edit., Women and Politics Reader (K.B.
           Books)
      Anne Witte Garland, Women Activists: Challenging the Abuse
           of Power.
      Sheila Rowbotham, Women in Movement: Feminism and Social
           Action.
      Judith McDaniel, Sanctuary (recommended)
      Alice Walker, Meridian.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS (100 points possible)
1.    Exam I (20) Multiple choice/short answer quiz on basic
concepts and topics covered first five weeks.  Tuesday, Mar 1.

2.    Exam II (20) Short essay exam. Questions will be
distributed in advance, on March 18. A selection from these
will constitute the in-class exam. You must be precise and
extensive in your references. You may use notes; submit them
along with blue book exam. Thursday, Mar 25.

3.    Exam III (30) Description of women's activism through
interview, observation and collected written materials.  Choose
one woman whom you have identified as an activist at the local
level, or at the national level if you have access to such a
person.  Collect information on this woman's actions, her
political focus and agenda concerning women's issues.  Write a
5 page, typed essay describing the factors contributing to her
political involvement. How does she engage in politics? Is she
feminist? According to what definition of feminism? What major
issues does she see confronting the struggle for women's
equality today? What strategies for political change does she
support? Due Apr 20.

4.    Exam IV (30) Using all the materials from the class, as
well as your own research and observations/interviews, analyze
and explain the significance of the activist whom you have
studied in terms of the idealogy(ies) of feminism. From this
person's perspective, answer the following questions: what
issues are central in women's struggle for political change,
what political vision does this person have, what view of
politics (what it is, how to be active), how does this action
fit into the contemporary women's movement?  How do you
evaluate this person's views. Make reference to course
materials when appropriate. Due Thursday, May 20.

4.    Class attendance  Because this class is demanding,
absences will seriously detract from successful course
participation and completion.  You are allowed two unexcused
absences. Each absence after that removes one-half letter grade
from your final grade.

GRADING POLICIES
No late submissions.  No incompletes.  Grades are calculated on
standard scale, with pluses and minuses as appropriate.
Reminder: see "attendance" section above.

OFFICE HOURS
Office:     Adams Humanities 3139
Hours:      Mon 2:00-3:00, Tues 1:00-2:00, or by appointment
Phone:      594-6524


COURSE SYNOPSIS (Assigned readings should be completed by the
     date indicated in parenthesis after READING)
      1. Introduction (1/26)

      2. Women's Studies and the Critique of Political Science
         (1/26-1/28)

               a. Transforming Concepts
               b. Gender as a Category of Analysis: toward identity
                  politics?

READING (1/26)
Iva Deutchman, "Feminist Theory and the Politics of Empowerment,"
in Duke, Women in Politics, pp. 3-15; and Nancie Caraway, "The
Riddle of Consciousness," in Duke, Women in Politics, pp 16-29. c.
"I'm Not a Feminist But... :" Generational Differences in
Attitudes Toward Feminism.

READING (1/28)
Elizabeth Adell Cook, "The Generations of Feminism,"
in Duke, Women in Politics, pp. 57-66.

        3. Modern Women's Movements and the Struggle for Equality
           (2/2)
                 a. From "Woman's Movement" to "Feminism" (2/2)b.
                    Class and Race Divisions in the US Women's
                    Movement, 1920s-1930s (2/2)

READING (2/2)
Sheila Rowbotham, chaps. 1-2 in Rowbotham, Women in Movement.

Film (2/4): "The Woman's Film" (questions on film to be returned
       2/9)

                  c. Contemporary US Women's Movements: Civil
                      Rights and the Women's Movement (2/9-2/11)

READING (2/9)
Sheila Rowbotham, chap. 24; Alice Walker, Meridian;

READING (2/11)
Echols, Daring to Be Bad, chap. 1.

Film (2/16): "Mississippi: Is This America?"

                   d. The Left and the Women's Movement: Nineteenth
                      and Twentieth Century Comparisons (2/16-2/18)

READING (2/16-2/18)
Rowbotham, Women in Movement, chaps. 12-17.
Echols, Daring to Be Bad, chaps 2-3.

                   e. Radical Feminism and Sexual Politics: 1920s
                       and 1970s

READING (2/23-2/25)
Rowbotham, Women in Movement, chap. 22, 25-26
Echols, Daring to Bad, chaps
                March 2, EXAM I (IN CLASS)

             4. Political Ideologies and Political Strategies of
                the Women's Movement: The Struggle over Equality
                and Difference

                    a. Sexual Politics and Egalitarianism: Some
                       Historical Antecedents to Debates about
                       Equality and Difference (3/4)

READING (3/4-3/9)
Rowbotham, Women in Movement, chaps. 3-8, 18, 23

                    b. Gender Differences and Political Behavior

READING (3/9-3/11)
Clark and Clark, "The Gender Gap 1988," Bennett and
Bennett, "Changing Views About Gender Equality in Politics,"
and Steuernagle and Yantek, "More than Pink and Blue," all in
Duke, Women in Politics, pp. 32-45, 46-56 and pp. 79-94

                    c. Control of Sexuality, Gender Identity and
                       the Politics of Choice.
READING (3/16-3/18)
Adrienne Rich, "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,"
in Jones, Reader.
Cynthia Enloe, Bananas, Beaches and Bases, Chaps. 1-4.

                    d. Political Economy of Race, Class and Gender
                         in a Global Political Context (3/23-3/25)

READING (3/23-3/25)
Enloe, Bananas, Beaches and Bases, chaps. 6-8.
Gloria Anzaldua, "La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Towards a New
 Consciousness,"  in Jones, Reader.
                       March 25, EXAM II (IN CLASS)

               5.      Women and Governing

                    a. Contemporary Research on Women and Politics:
                        Some General Considerations (3/30)

READING (3/30)
K.B. Jones, "Citizenship in a Woman-Friendly Polity," Signs, 15, 4
(1990): 781-812 (class handout)


       Film (4/1):  "Wilmar 8"


                   Spring Break: April 5-9

                    b. Women as Citizens and Activists (4/13-4/15)

READING (4/13-4/15)
Garland, Women Activists chaps. 1-7; Ida Susser, "Working Class
Women, Social Protest, and Changing Ideologies," Rowbotham,
Women in Movement, chap. 27,  and excerpts from Breaking
Barriers, in Jones, Reader.


                    Apr 20: EXAM III DUE


                       c. Women as Leaders (Week of 4/20-4/27)


                            1. leadership and gender
                            2. access to governmental office
READING (4/20-4/27)
Duke, Women in Politics, chaps. 3-5 (entire sections)

                6.       Organizing for Change: Global Issues


                       a. "Women's Interests," Representation and
                         Politics (4/29)

READING (4/29)
Marion Blackwell-Stratton et.al., "Smashing Icons:
Disabled Women and the Disability and Women's Movements," in
Jones, Reader, Blair, "The Handmaid's Tale and the Birth
Dearth," in Duke, Women in Politics, pp. 200-11, and Jaquette
and Staudt, "Politics, Population, and Gender, in Jones,
Reader.


                       b. Journeys into Politics (5/4-5/6)

READING (5/4-5/6)
Garland, Women Activists, chaps. 8-9, Enloe, Bananas,
Beaches, and Bases.


                       c. What is to be Done -- general discussion
                         and review (Week of 5/11-13)


                     May 20, EXAM IV DUE