Challenges of Feminist Pedagogy and Practice

In the early days of the program, teaching feminist courses, particularly those crosslisted with the faculty member’s home department, offered particular challenges and benefits. Ann Ferguson commented on the resistance to philosophy by women's studies students. In the early years of the program, the women’s movement was fresh in many students’ minds and lives. They came into the classroom with existing awareness of feminist issues and politics. Many were engaged in activism. These students brought their feminist perspectives to their fellow students who had not necessarily enrolled in the course because of its attention to women, sex roles, or feminism. Also, they often called attention to male students’ entitlement and domination in the classroom. At the same time, many Women’s Studies students (who were overwhelmingly women) were suspicious of theory, a required course that Ann Ferguson sometimes taught. They were often more interested in the “real-world” applicability of the concepts and information they were learning. Many of these students were preparing for jobs and careers in health or counseling fields and did not see the utility of theory. In addition, due to male dominance in the fields of philosophy and political science, as well as the unequal training young men and women received in high school, many male students had more background in abstract theory. They therefore had more of a predilection for it as well as more developed skills. Upon recognizing this pattern, Professor Ferguson tried to incorporate more experiential teaching methods that might draw in some of the Women’s Studies students whose interest in theory was weak.²⁵

²⁵ Ann Ferguson interview, 1/21/11.